Friday, May 30, 2014

TOS Review - Progeny Press - Anne of Green Gables E-Guide

Progeny Press Review
 
I don't know about you, but to me there is nothing better than sitting down to read a really good book. Even better is getting to share a childhood favorite with your children. That is why literature is one of our favorite subjects to study together. Over the last six weeks we were given the opportunity to use the Anne of Green Gables E-Guide from Progeny Press through the TOS Review Crew. This is our second time reviewing a product from Progeny Press and we are never disappointed.
 
Progeny Press is a company run by Michael and Rebecca Gilleland. The mission of Progeny Press is, "To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it." In my opinion they do this very well with study and e-guides available for all ages. Progeny Press has been around since the 1990's and currently has 107 study guides available as of 2012. They have also evolved over the years by having more than just paper study guides available. Now you can get them downloaded straight to your computer, you can purchase a cd to make multiple copies, and you can use the interactive function to type the answers directly into the e-guide on your computer. This is a very flexible product that will fit in to whatever learning style and whatever recording method your child prefers. Progeny Press has a great video you might like to watch explaining more about how their company began and how the product works.
 
Progeny Press Review
We were offered a few different e-guides to chose from, but one had shining lights surrounding it - at least in my eyes it did. When I was young I waited, not so patiently, each year to watch Anne of Green Gables on our local PBS station. You see, they only showed it when the PBS station was raising money for the year. I watched that movie so many times over the years. I say all this because as much as I loved the movie, I never even thought about reading the book. About three years ago I finally read it aloud to me and Grace but didn't finish the last chapters. When the opportunity arose to read it again and delve deeper with the study guide, I literally jumped for joy. A full review period of Anne, Prince Edward Island, Marilla, Diana, and Gilbert was a chance we couldn't pass up. We received the study guide as a downloadable E-Guide. I have mentioned many times before that I love everything in paper form so I printed the guide and put it in a binder. Grace wrote all her answers on paper but the great thing about this guide is if the student prefers to type in their answers, they can and save it too. This guide has total interactive capabilities. If you wish to purchase the product we received it retails for $18.99 and you will need to buy the book separately. This guide is recommended for grades 5-8.
 
 
 
Let's talk about what type of activities the guide offers the student. One cool item I would like to mention is that the author of this guide is from Georgia and teaches at Toccoa Falls College which is a hop, skip and a jump from our house. Small world, isn't it? Okay back to the guide. The beginning of the guide starts the student out with a synopsis of the book and a short bio about the author. I also really like the pre-reading section that introduced us to Prince Edward Island and what life was like for children in this era, especially orphans. Each section of the guide is broken down into a few chapters at a time. Read the chapters, answer the comprehension questions, work on vocabulary, and complete other activities. I appreciated that even though vocabulary was addressed in each section, it was presented in a different format each time. This way the student doesn't get bored with monotonous work and creates different ways for a student to achieve the same result. Throughout the guide there are activities to help the student analyze literature like alliterations, similes, metaphors, and allusions. I also really like the way scripture was brought in to relate to many of the circumstances that take place in the book. Each section also provides the student with opportunities to write, illustrate, and just dig deeper into the story. We chose to also watch the movie as we went through the book to compare and contrast.
 
There are so many titles available from Progeny Press that you can find just about anything you need for a literature study. Progeny Press is a wonderful company with awesome products. Please click over to Progeny Press and check out what they have to offer. You will not be disappointed. Also take a jump over to the TOS Review Crew to see what other members had to say about their study guides.
 

 
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2 comments:

A Candle to Read By said...

We have used their literature guides over the years, too. We did Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and several others. They ARE wonderful! Glad you enjoyed Anne of Green Gables. Those are my favorites. We have the videos if you ever want to borrow them.

Unknown said...

This sounds great - like something my daughter might really enjoy. I enjoyed your review a lot! :-)