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TOS Crew Product Review ~ Progeny Press Study Guides for "The Cay" and "Pride and Prejudice"


For this blog post, I will be reviewing two Study Guides from Progeny Press; one for The Cay (by Theodore Taylor) and the other for Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen).

Of the 100 Study Guides available from Progeny Press, I was thrilled to get these two! The Cay is one of my favorite books, and I still remember reading for the first time when I was in grade school. And Pride and Prejudice is a classic piece of literature that my eldest daughter was more than happy to read (for the umpteenth time!)




The Progeny Press Study Guide for The Cay very thorough. Some of the questions posed were challenging, while others were relatively easy. Most of them made my daughters really think before they answered. But probably the most impressive part of this Study Guide is the way it causes the reader to see the story from different points of view.

Here is an example of a question from The Cay Study Guide:
"Read 1 Samuel 16:7. What does the Bible say about people's outward appearance? Read Galatians #:26-28. How are these verses similar to the 1 Samuel verse?"

The Progeny Press Study Guide for Pride and Prejudice was filled with vocabulary work. Even though my daughter has read this book multiple times, she felt that taking the time to define words from the book made it come alive to her in new ways. The questions provided a new perspective, and the Bible verses mark this curriculum as distinctively Christian.

And here is a sample question from the Pride and Prejudice Study Guide:
"In this section of the book, although Mr. Collins appears to be a somewhat foolish man, he also seems to have good intentions. His father had been at odds with Mr. Bennet, and now that his father has died, he wished to heal this breach and so is offering the metaphorical olive branch to Mr. Bennet. Read the following verses and summarize what they teach us. Matthew 5:23-24, Romans 12:16-18, 1 Peter 3:8, and Colossians 3:15. In what way is Mr. Collins following the teaching in the above verses? In what ways can you follow this teaching in your own life? (Try to be specific.)"

Pretty impressive stuff, isn't it?





All of the Study Guides are based on well-chosen literature and the selection is broad. Many of the titles correspond with books we already have in our family library, and others are readily available at the public library or at Amazon.com. My only disclaimer would be for parents to choose books carefully, as some contain content or subject matter that might not be acceptable for your family. Parents are encouraged to choose reading material wisely and use discretion.

Vocabulary, comprehension questions, synopses, information about the novel, background information, use of vocabulary words in a sentence, regional dialect (for the Jane Austen novel), thinking about the story, facts vs. opinion, and more were covered in the two Study Guides I received (free of charge for review purposes; opinions expressed here are my own).

I would consider the Pride and Prejudice Study Guide an excellent high school British Literature course (or American Lit, as I have seen Austen's works used as coursework for both). The Cay Study Guide could be used as middle school literature as a supplement to a study of World War II history. I would count the Austen book and guide as one half credit hour for high school, as it could be completed comfortably over the course of one semester.

The FAQ tab at the Progeny Press website explains how best to use the Study Guides, and their full product line can be found under the Products tab. To visit the website, click www.ProgenyPress.com

And as the wife of a US Army Captain (retired after more than 22 years of service) I was very pleased to find that Progeny Press offers a 15% discount to members of the military. How awesome is that?! A direct link to that offer can be found HERE.

Prices on their product line range from $10.99 to $27.99. Products are available for Lower Elementary, Upper Elementary, Middle School, High School, Creative Classics Scripts, and Additional Resources. The books that correspond with the Study Guides are available for purchase at the website, too. Again, the site address is www.ProgenyPress.com

To see what the other TOS Crew members had to say about Progeny Press, click HERE.

Thanks for reading my review of these two Progeny Press Study Guides!

Day 165 done :)

Jan L. Burt

www.SavanasClayCreations.com

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