Monday, March 19, 2012

Progeny Press Study Guides for Literature

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There is a way to help your child get more out of the literature they are reading...Progeny Press Study Guides.  When offered the opportunity to review one of their study guides, I saw that the book, Across Five Aprils, by Irene Hunt, was a study guide available and, since I am teaching about the Civil War to the 6th-8th grade students at our homeshool co-op in which two of my children are involved, I gladly accepted the assignment.


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When I received the study guide, I realized that they have been using Progeny Press products at our co-op for years.  A good friend of mine has been teaching literature for a few years, and I recognized the study guides as Progeny Press guides.  I hadn't realized this previously.

There are many wonderful activities to further their learning while reading literature, and it is all done from a Christian perspective.  There are vocabulary activities and writing activities.  Depending on the book you choose to read, there are connections to history where you learn more about important historical figures and events as it is with Across Five Aprils.

Use of maps is incorporated.  Various elements of grammar such as learning about synonyms, personification, and overshadowing are part of the study guide as well.  There are exercises that allow the student to dig deeper by looking at how what they are reading applies to Scripture.  There are writing assignments that teach the student how to write persuasive essays.  There are so many topics touched upon by these study guides it makes it an invaluable tool along side any other language arts curriculum that might be used.  The student looks so closely at the book through all of these various topics that they are sure to get a greater understanding of what was written than they would have by simply just reading it.

Progeny Press has products available for all grade levels: Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, Middle School, and High School.  You can also search by genre and new titles.  There are also additional resources available.  There are items from time to time you can save money on, and there are also CDs available.  I did notice that they offer a military discount of 15% for all active duty military personnel.

There are 36 different study guides for middle school including The Giver, Anne of Green Gables, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Treasure Island, to name a few.  The study guides are available in three different formats: printed and bound booklet, CD in .pdf format, and as a .pdf in an email attachment.  No matter how you receive the material, it all has the same content.  The shipping cost is what varies.  If you receive your guides as an email attachment, there is a simple $3 flat rate fee to cover employee time for order downloads, payment processing, and time spent assembling sending emails.

Pricing is as follows (it seems as if this is for each study guide):
Booklet  - $18.99
CD - $16.99
CD and booklet - $23.99
Email attachment - $16.99

They also sell the books for each of their study guides.  Prices differ depending on the book purchased.

Check out their website for additional information.  There is a FAQ page, a link to physical stores that sell their products, and information about Progeny Press and using their materials.

They can be contacted by address at:

Progeny Press
PO Box 100
Fall Creek, WI  54742

or by phone at:

1-877-PROGENY.

Their email is progeny@progenypress.com.

I hope you will check them out and will enjoy their products as much as I do.

DISCLAIMER:  I received this product free of charge in order to review it and provide an honest review.