Mom of Many: Great Expectations E-Guide from Progeny Press: A TOS Crew Reviewt

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Great Expectations E-Guide from Progeny Press: A TOS Crew Reviewt

Great Expectations E-Guide from Progeny Press

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on all those classics we "meant" to read...but, didn't quite fit in during our busy school schedule. We are reading Charles Dickens this summer and using the Great Expectations E-Guide from Progeny Press as our guide. This is one is recommended for grades 9-12.

This E-Guide is a 72 page, downloadable PDF file. It's "interactive" label is because your student can type in their answers directly to the PDF. The guide is designed to take about 8-10 weeks to complete (depending on your student) and by completing 4 guides a year, they can earn a full high school credit.
The first thing I like to do, is to print out my copy and take and get it spiral bound. Progeny Press offers print options, but I do prefer the E-Guide for my students because of the interactive feature. (I guess I'm still "old school" wanting paper in my hands...) However, they like the ability to type it in, instead of writing.
The E-Guide begins with an overview, a brief synopsis of the book, information about the author, and helpful background information for the story.
A suggested schedule includes completely reading the novel the first week, while working on pre-reading activities. Then, completing one pages a day in the E-Guide until finished. We choose to read each section - then, complete the E-Guide pages for that section before reading the next section. This works great for us, especially when tackling a longer book like Great Expectations.

Ideas for Pre-Reading Activities and help "set the stage" for your student. For example, researching blacksmithing, Newgate Prison and the British colonial period adds more depth of understanding as my testers read this book. The E-Guide breaks down a variety of activities into manageable sections. Each section coves:

vocabulary
general comprehension questions
discussion and critical thinking questions
literary terms and analysis
"digging deeper" - Biblical worldview and applications (my favorite part!) Did the characters act in accordance to God's will, or not? Helping them to draw conclusions and applications that they can use in real life.
optional activities - writing, creating, and research ideas you can add.

My testers love that the E-Guide uses a variety of vocabulary exercises - sometimes matching, sometimes it's fill-in-the-blank, sometimes synonyms or antonyms. This keeps it from getting boring.
The questions are designed to encourage your high school student to think and apply. Fifteen Final Essay and Project ideas are included to encourage your student to research and write more in depth about a topic from the book.
If you want to "test" them to make sure they are learning, the Overview section makes a great high school grading or review tool. It also covers the literary devices and characters found in this book.

Also included is an Additional Resources section if you want to encourage more reading on similar themes.

Progeny Press guides are very easy to use, everything you need (just add the book) is laid out for you. The Answer Keys are included as well (a great bonus for busy moms that may not have had the time to read along with her high schoolers...)

I am wholly impressed with the quality of these guides. We have used many of them, and find the same high standard apply from study to study.

Be sure to check out the other titles being reviewed by the Review Crew! Progeny Press offers dozens of guides for all grade levels.