Redwall Study Guide & Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press: A TOS Crew Review

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

Redwall Study Guide & Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press

We have been long time fans of Progeny Press and their Interactive Study Guides! Check out our past reviews from 2016 - 2017- 2018- 2019 - 2020.!  

One of the things I most admire is the wide variety of selections for ALL grades. The guides are very easy to use, everything you need (just add the book) is clearly laid out for you. This year we are focusing on Redwall Study Guide (Grades 5–10) & Frankenstein Study Guide (Grades 10-12).

Both of these guides can be used with your high school students. They take about 8-10 weeks to complete and can count for 1/4 of a full high school credit. Completing four guides in one year gives a student a full high school credit. They have dozens of great titles to choose from at every grade level!

We love the format of these easy-to-use guides. They come as downloadable PDF with the ability to either print what you need, or use the interactive feature that allows you to type directly into the document. They are reusable for each of your students.

Each guide follows a similar design with a short Synopsis of the book, an About the Author and Background Information section to help you introduce the literature to your student.

Fun Pre-Reading Activities help set the stage and Final Projects help wrap up the study.  The Optional Essays and Projects and Related Resources let you expand the learning.

Each guide uses a variety of activities to teach the literature, chapter by chapter. The guides are designed for students to be able to work independently, and can be used with multiple students at the same time.



The Redwall Study Guide is a 73 page Interactive Guide designed for grades 5-10.  This fantasy story absolutely captivated my entire family, especially my boys!  The world of Redwall Abbey with unforgettable characters like Martin, Matthias, Cornflower, and one of the best villains ever... Cluny, the Scourge,  has become a family favorite! 

 

The Study guide teaches literature chapter-by-chapter with:

 

• Vocabulary Activities - with a variety of approaches including matching, fill-in-the-blanks, working synonyms & antonyms, crossword puzzles
• Comprehension and Thinking Questions - to check for understanding, and to teach a variety of literary techniques and devices
• Dig Deeper questions - to get students to connect literature and the Bible
• Class Discussions
• Chapter Activities - hands on ways to incorporate the book like cooking, crafts or additional writing activities

We love the variety included in each Progeny Press Guide!

The77 page Frankenstein Study Guide is another great choice for your high school students. 

                                                         

By reading this classic story, they are learning much more than just simple literary analysis, they are understanding history, science, morality and their significance today.

 I love that Progeny Press Guides are all written from a decidedly Christian worldview!  Several character qualities are explored in this guide, including: Motivation, hubris/pride, friendship, death, guilt/sin, human goodness, responsibility for our actions, revenge, man's nature, purpose, responsibility, God and His creation, ambition, moral framework.

The Questions, Anaylsis and Dig Deeper sections really get your student to think and compare literature to their lives.  These make EXCELLENT discussion topics at the dinner table as well!


Full Answer Keys are included with each guide as well (a great bonus for busy moms that may not have had the time to read along with her high schoolers...)

Progeny Press Interactive Guides have been a staple in our homeschool across all grades, we have appreciated their high quality year after after. We highly recommend them!

Check out several other titles the Crew is reviewing:

• Wagon Wheels Study Guide
• Cricket in Times Square Study Guide

Find Progeny Press on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/progenypress
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/progenypress

Hashtags: #hsreviews #homeschool #literature #reading #comprehension #unitstudies #progenypress

See what other members of the Crew thought here 

                     

Little Women Study Guide & Animal Farm Study Guide from Progeny Press: A TOS Crew Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way

Little Women Study Guide & Animal Farm Study Guide from Progeny Press

We have been long time fans of Progeny Press and their Interactive Study Guides! Check out our past reviews from 2016 - 2017- 2018- 2019. One of the things I most admire is the wide variety of selections for ALL grades. The guides are very easy to use, everything you need (just add the book) is clearly laid out for you. This year we are focusing on Little Women Study Guide & Animal Farm Study Guide from Progeny Press.

Both of these guides are designed for your high school students.  They take about 8-10 weeks to complete and can count for approx. 1/4 of a full high school credit.  Completing four guides in one year gives a student a full high school credit.  They have dozens of great titles to choose from at every level.

We love the format of these easy-to-use guides.  They come as downloadable PDF with the ability to either print what you need, or use the interactive feature that allows you to type directly into the document.  They are reusable for each of your students.

Each guide follows a similar design with a short Synopsis of the book, an About the Author and Background Information section to help you introduce the literature to your student.

 Fun Pre-Reading Activities help set the stage, and Optional Essays and Projects and Additional Resources let you expand the learning.

Each guide uses a variety of activities to teach the literature, chapter by chapter. The guides are designed for students to be able to work independently.  

A beloved family favorite, the Little Women Study Guide is a 111 page Interactive Guide that includes vocabulary activities which utilize a variety of approaches including matching, fill-in-the-blanks, working synonyms & antonyms, crossword puzzles and more.  We love the variety included in each guide.

Students are encouraged to Think About The Story. In this section, literary terms & analysis are introduced and explained, with examples from the reading included to help the student understand the context. Alliteration, epiphany, and poetic justice - just to name a few.

We loved all of the great ideas included in this guide - from recipes and cooking, dancing, and extra research, they have suggestions for all learning styles!

The 92 page Animal Farm Study Guide is another great choice for your high school students.  I still remember reading this one in high school - “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.” is still a familiar quote, and a timely one to introduce to our students, especially in our world today.

The guide uses short answer Questions that are designed to help your student understand what they are reading. Our favorites are the Dig Deeper questions that really encourage us to draw conclusions and make connections to Scripture. We love to do these questions out loud together!

Analogous Characters and Events is a section that focuses on important characters, places, or events that tie into history.  From Nazi Germany to Soviet Communism they are learning much more than just simple literary analysis, they are understanding history and it's significance today.

Full Answer Keys are included with each guide as well (a great bonus for busy moms that may not have had the time to read along with her high schoolers...) 

Progeny Press Interactive Guides have been a staple in our homeschool across all grades, we have appreciated their high quality year after after.  We highly recommend them!

Be sure to check out the other titles the Crew is reviewing:

• A New Coat for Anna Study Guide
• In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson Study Guide
• My Side of the Mountain Study Guide

Find Progeny Press on Social Media:

Facebook: facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter: twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest: pinterest.com/progenypress
YouTube: youtube.com/progenypress

Hashtags: #hsreviews #progenypress #literature #reading #learnathome #readingcomprehension

See what other members of the Crew thought here

LitWits Kits from LitWits: A TOS Crew Review

LitWits Kits from LitWits

I love when literature comes to life!  We have been discovering a fun way to liven up our literature studies with LitWits Kits.

LitWits is a company founded by two sisters that share a love of reading and experiencing books together.  They offer 46  LitWits Kits that bring great books to life for you and your family.

We have gotten the opportunity to take a peek at 4 titles:

• My Side of the Mountain - a great adventure to explore the outdoors  
• The Secret Garden - tea and botany, fun ways to explore Victorian era  
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond - colonial living and early American values 
• The Phantom Tollbooth - letters and numbers galore

Let me show you what a LitWit Kit is all about.  Check out this video:




Each LitWit kit arrives as an online experience.  You can also download all the great suggestions in a handy PDF as well.  It's well organized and very easy to use.

Each of the kits include:

• Welcome
• Overview  - a basic synopsis and introduction
• Prop Ideas - great ideas for items to display and ways to bring the book to life
• Hands-on Fun -   activities to get you moving and creating
• Bookbites - another way to experience the book - with your taste buds
• Takeaways - what did the characters learn, what can you learn?
• Hand-outs - printable worksheets - vocabulary, literary analysis, maps and more
• Learning Links - great ways to explore more
• Great Quotes - we LOVE quotes
• Copyright

We were excited to jump right in with our next literature book - The Phantom Tollbooth.  This is a fun book all about words and numbers!

Our LitWit kit gave us great ideas of ways to experience our book and to make it even more memorable.  Since we were doing this together at home, I skipped their Prop Suggestions.  But, this would be a fabulous addition to a coop literature class!

Our first activity was a Chromograph - basically we colored music.  We had so much fun jamming out to the William Tell Overture and creating colored music scores.

Next we created a fun project celebrating Norton and Jules from our reading.  The girls really enjoyed creating personalized maps with magazine letters and illustrations from the book - and we have a fun way to remember how much we enjoyed reading the book together!

 

One thing I love about LitWit Kits is that there is a wide variety of activities you can choose from - pick one, or all of them.  You can customize to your family. Most of our activities used supplies we readily had on hand.  All the work has been done for you.

Facing the Doecahedron (had to google how to say that one...) was a fun project to build a 3-d 12 sided shape decorated with all our facial expressions.  

Bookbites is a section that allows you "to taste the story".  The Quotes and Learning Links are sections that will take you to other useful resources on the web. 

The Takeaways section gives you plenty of topics to explore together - for instance brain hemispheres and etymology are topics from The Phantom Tollbooth to get you interested in learning more.  Valuing education and the visualizing of ideas are also topics to discuss and explore together. LitWits has made it easy for you.

A PDF section of Handouts is included as well.  Vocabulary, literary analysis, creative writing, math and more are all included to round out the learning.

I am very impressed with the quality and quantity of experiences each LitWit Kit includes!  You can really make reading an adventure, and all the hard work is done for you.  With so many titles to choose from, you will have no problem finding a good fit for your family.

Be sure to check them out!


Find LitWits on Social Media:



Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LitWits/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/litwits4kids/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LitWits4Kids
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/LitWits/


Hashtags:   #hsreviews #readforfunlearnforlife #litwits #litwitskits

See what other members of the Crew thought here

Mattie Richardson's Horses in History Series by Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books: A TOS Crew Review

Mattie Richardson's Horses in History Series by Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books

Do you have a history or horse loving reader?  If you don't here is a wonderful way to turn your children into one!  We have been enjoying a new discovery Mattie Richardson's Horses in History Series by Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books.

These delightful books combine horses and history into a great story aimed at your 8-14 year olds.  We have received four books:

Appaloosy - written when the author was just 13 years old!  This book is set among the Nez Perce Indians (same tribe as a family favorite American Girl...it's a great companion book)

Dusty's Trail - this story takes you on an exciting adventure along the Pony Express.

Golden Sunrise  - a family favorite - takes the reader to the Alamo and the unforgettable fight for Texas freedom.

Day and Night - The story is set in the Civil War, and follows two brothers caught in the conflict that divided our country. 

Each of the books was about 60-120 pages in length - perfect for your newly confident independent readers, or as a family read aloud.

The author, Mattie Richardson is an inspiring story in herself.  She began writing when she was just 13 years old, and has continued ever since.  This was a BIG encouragement to my daughters.

In each of the books, she combines her love of horses with history.  The stories are told through the eyes of the horse, giving a unique and endearing perspective that my girls simply loved. 

I love historical fiction and how stories can teach.  The books are filled with great life lessons and family values.  A rare treat in today's tween/teen literature to be sure!

The books are illustrated by Clarissa Richardson (another young person!) with sweet black and white drawings. 

Each book also contains "A Blast from the Past" section at the back that helps the readers learn more about the historical setting of the story.

We also had a chance to take a peek at the 100 page PDF of the brand new Day and Night Enrichment Guide to accompany the Day and Night book.  I love getting a chance to capture their interest, and get them learning too!

The PDF is filled with great ways to expand the learning - it could easily be a full unit study, or even used for a literature class. It's broken down into 8 parts.  Here's some of what you'll find:

• Reading Comprehension - Make sure they understand what they are reading, they also make great discussion questions.
• Vocabulary - matching and fill in the blank type exercises
• History - more information about the historical period.
• Geography - a great way to explore America .
• Horses - my girls loved learning more!
• Biography & Research - meet the famous figures of each era.
• Creating Writing - Mattie encourages them to begin writing their own storiesand shows them how.
• Living History - great ideas to help bring history to life!
• Soldier's Life - An inside look, includes recipes too.
• Further Reading Suggestions - recommendations for more.

My girls loved reading these!  They are well-written and capture the reader's interest right away.  What a great way to also sneak in some American History...

Check them out!

Find Author Mattie Richardson/Appaloosy Books on Social Media:


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Appaloosy7/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/appaloosybooks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AppaloosyBooks

Hashtags: #hsreviews #AppaloosyBooks #appaloosybooks #authormattierichardson #horsesinhistory





See what other members of the Crew thought here