Progeny Press Literature Study Guides Review

Morgan reads … a lot.  Believe it or not, this causes some “issues” in our homeschool. 

1. She reads more than what I can read before her.   More often than not, I am giving her the go-ahead for books by reading suggestions from other parents, guidelines from other books and websites, and yes – sometimes even the cover.
2. When she reads the books, I will often times have her narrate what she reads back to me.  Since I don’t pre-read most of her selections, I rarely ask in-depth comprehension questions.
3. I need to trust that she is logging and aware of all of the vocabulary that she does not know. 

I have been looking at the Progeny Press Study Guides for Literature for some time to help me deal with these “issues,” and was really excited when I was asked to review one of their guides.   

I chose to review the Progeny Press Study Guide that went along with the book The Cay by Theodore Taylor.  On the website this book and guide were rated for students in 5-8 grade.

I received the 66-page black and white guide in downloadable pdf format, though it is also available as a pre-printed booklet, a CD, or a CD and booklet bundle.  The file came with a Read Me file, the guide, and the answer key.  The book itself is not included and must be purchased through Progeny Press or on your own.

It is suggested that the student read the book first.  Then take a week to complete each chapter in the guide.  To save on time, for the purpose of this review, we completed the chapter readings and the study guide work in the same week.

What I liked:

1. No teacher prep was required and Morgan completed the study on her own. 
2. Suggested pre-reading activities were included which included mapping, timeline, a report, author biography work, art, and vocabulary.
3. Vocabulary work was covered in each chapter with different exercises. 
4. Comprehension questions were included for each chapter.
5. Interactive format allowed my daughter to type right into the pdf and we could print out the completed (and neat) copy.
6. Thinking about the story questions included questions on literary analysis. 
7. Digging Deeper questions were Christian based questions often including Scripture, character, and personal thoughts. 
8. An end of the book overview included an in-depth discussion of literary analysis, including discovering parts of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement in the story, character analyses, theme, and identifying conflicts.

What I didn’t like:

Nothing!  I loved it all.  It was a quality literature study.

There are over 100 literature guides available from Progeny Press for all grades, kindergarten through high school.  You can experience a taste of the study guides through an interactive sample offered at the website.  These activities are very similar to the activities found in The Cay Study Guide.

Prices of the different study guides vary, so you should consult the online store for the prices of the different guides.

If you have any questions, you may find them on the frequently asked questions page.  Further questions can be directed to the contact page.

You can read what my crew mates thought of Progeny Press Study Guides for Literature at the TOS Homeschool Crew's website.

 

**As a member of the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I was provided product free of charge by Progeny Press for my HONEST opinion.  No other compensation was received.**

The Art of Argument Review

Last year, I wrote a review on Classical Academic Press’ Latin for Children.  I loved their program.  I thought they had high quality and “meaty” materials. When the opportunity came up to try The Art of Argument: An Introduction to the Informal Fallacies, a beginning logic program for junior high, I jumped at the opportunity.  It was a chance to see how Classical Academic Press’ other programs stacked up. 

I received The Art of Argument from Classical Academic Press, a company whose mission is “to produce and supply the finest classical curricula to the market today”.  I received the 230-page student text, the 286-page teacher’s manual, and Disc 1 of the 5-DVD set containing fallacy discussions.

The books are high-quality with a soft, glossy cover and heavy-weight black-and-white pages.  The bundled set retails for $88.95.  They are also each sold individually.

The student book is a consumable worktext.  It contains :

• Dialogues
• Worksheets
• Real-World Applications
• Phony Advertisements
• Dialectic Discussion Questions
• Fun extras such as a humorous skit for students to perform, and the famous short story, Love is a Fallacy by Max Shulman

The teacher text contains:

• The complete student text
• All answers to questions
• Reproducible chapter and unit tests and answers.

Samples are included on the website:

• Art of Argument Student Text Sample
• Art of Argument Teachers Edition Sample

You can also watch a sample Socratic Dialogue which discusses the Straw Man Fallacy.

What I thought:
This program did not disappoint!  I have to admit, however, that there was a little learning curve for how I could utilize the program best in our homeschool.  I started off giving my daughter the book with a reading assignment.  Then correcting the assignment.  Wrong!  This did not work for us and was actually a waste of time. 

I found that she gets much more out of the program and understands concepts better if we read the text together.  This way, if she has a question, she can immediately ask me and we can move forward. 

Our favorite parts of this program are the fake advertisements.  These have been wonderful talking points for us.  I’m also thrilled that since we are working on it together, our learning follows us out into the real world.  It has become quite fun to pick apart news stories, commercials, and print ads that we regularly come across, especially since teens are the targeted in so many of these.  She is definitely more aware of how truths are turned. 

We both are also using the DVD and I am hoping to purchase the remainder of the set.  One thing that I like about it, is I get to see Socratic dialogue “in action.”  I don’t know about you, but I’ve been reluctant to use this type of question and answer approach to our studies.  It’s great to see examples of it in the fallacy discussions. 

It is also great to view the responses from the teens in these discussions.  Morgan sees that in-depth thought is put in to these discussions.  Yes, no, because, and I don’t know are not the answers that the kids are giving.  My daughter hears what the other kids are thinking and she in turn steps up her discussions with me and puts in more thought.  It’s been really fun to experience this with her.

I highly recommend The Art of Argument and will continue with and finish the program.  Through a mix-up, I was also sent the next logic program from Classical Academic Press, The Argument Builder.  This program looks like a fantastic continuation of The Art of Argument, although it can also be used as a stand-alone class.  I will eventually be doing a review of this book, too.  By having both sets, I am confident my daughter will have a very thorough grasp of what makes a good argument and how to develop a good argument.  

You can read what my crew mates thought of The Art of Argument at the TOS Homeschool Crew's website.

If you are interested, you might also enjoy reading my review of Latin for Children, Primer A.

 

**As a member of the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I was provided product free of charge by Classical Academic Press for my HONEST opinion.  No other compensation was received.**

Catching Up…

Since, unfortunately, my blog has become the silent victim of my hectic life, I thought I would take some time to catch you all up on the happenings around here. 

1.)  First and foremost, my grandmother passed away last week.  I am sure she is much happier now.  The last time I was with her, she said, “I keep asking God to take me; I just don’t know why He doesn’t want me.”  She was 97 and outlived everyone, including my grandfather, her sisters and brothers, and her friends.  She was ready. 

The services were last Friday and Saturday.  Jim stayed home with the animals, while Morgan and I rented a car to make the long 7 hour trip to Wilkes-Barre, Pa.  Even though it was under these circumstances, it was nice to see my aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course, my mom, dad, and sister. 

2.)  I’ve been trying to clean up a back room to the house.  Now that Morgan is older, we don’t really need a “play room.”  So, I’ve been trying to make it more functional.  Getting rid of stuff is not my forte.  Thank goodness for the show Hoarders.  It’s my secret cleaning weapon. 

3.)  I’m loving the weather lately.  It was such a mild winter, but it was still gloomy and gray.  The signs of spring are here and we’re enjoying them. 

• The robins are now here checking out the lawn every morning when I take the dog out.
• The buds are on the trees.
• The hyacinth bulbs and tulips have begun to sprout up but we don’t have any buds, yet. 
• Spring peepers have been extremely loud for about the last week.  If I take the puppy out, she gets nervous from the new sounds.

public domain photo by United States Geological Survey

• Jim even took the tiller to some of garden this weekend and just turned it over.

The redbud trees are not in bloom yet, but I’m waiting patiently.  I love seeing the bright purple trees along the roads here in WV.  

4.)  The puppy was sick.  She started getting … ummm … “leaky” on Jim’s watch when I was away.  I took her to the vet yesterday and she’s already feeling better with the antibiotics.  She’s much less lethargic and she seems to have stopped uncontrollably “going,” the poor thing.

5.)  I’m loving my new job.  Before we moved to WV four years ago, I worked as a cashier at a grocery store.  It was a good job at the time because Jim worked during the day and I worked 8 pm – 12.  Morgan was never left with anyone other than family and that was extremely important to me.  With my new job, I’m reminded that I can do things other than just be a mom and a wife, or clerk.  Don’t get me wrong!  I like those jobs and they’re necessary.  I’m just saying it’s nice to stretch my wings and have new responsibilities.  Add that to the fact that I’m still at home and it just adds up to be perfect.

6.)  Finally, school is going GREAT!  My review lately have been a wonderful fit with what we needed.  Reviews that we’ve been working on and will be coming up soon include:

• The Art of Argument (This will post tonight or tomorrow.)
• Action Alert
• Progeny Press Guide for The Cay
• Truthquest History
• Christian Kids Explore Physics
• Write with WORLD
• God’s Great Covenant – New Testament (We started this book today.)

I’m also on the list for Balance Math Teaches Algebra from Critical Thinking Press.  We haven’t received this book as of yet, however.

So, those are some of the recent happenings in life a la Shannon.  I’m going to try to blog  more than I have been.  I’ve been writing more, but I have to direct some of that writing to “blog time”.  It can be done.  I just have to work it all a little better. 

I hope you all have a wonderful night!

Hands on Homeschool Blog Carnival for 3/12

If anyone is visiting and looking for this week’s edition of the Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival, I’m sorry to say that the carnival blog has been acting wonky lately and I haven’t been able to get on the site.  Hopefully, this will be resolved by the next carnival date.

Creek Edge Press’ Task Cards Review

If you’ve been a reader of my blog since the beginning, you would have read about my trials and tribulations trying to find “the perfect curriculum” and “the perfect schedule” for our homeschooling journey.  I liked elements of The Well-Trained Mind.  I felt comfortable with Charlotte Mason and related to her philosophy.  I experimented with unschooling, but nothing felt “right” by themselves. 

Eventually, I discovered project based learning and we discovered our niche.  We started doing a structured morning, with math, language arts, Latin, and our review items.  However, after lunch was left open for Morgan to explore her own desires.  If she couldn’t “find” anything to do, rest assured, there was always “structured” history and science.  But, if she found something that she wanted to learn about, it typically was in either of these topics, so all was good. This schedule STILL works for us and it works well. 

Imagine my surprise when I received Creek Edge Press Task Cards to review and as I was reading through the Task Card Approach and the About Us page, I felt as if the author’s experiences mimicked my own.  I couldn’t believe that someone had made a curriculum help which actually planned for open ended learning through specific tasks.  I immediately wished I had these cards years ago!

I received the Chemistry and Great Scientists Task Card Set.  The set contains 30 task cards for students in grades K-8 and an introductory booklet which is a small “teacher’s manual.”  The set retails for $18.  There is a week’s worth of tasks on each card. 

I was surprised at the amount of work.  Even though many were open ended tasks, they were substantial and did not have a “busy work” feel.     The tasks were set up so she could work them  independently.  This is would not be the case for younger kids.  The tasks set-up also ensured that the learning kept her interest. 

The Introductory Booklet is 13 pages.  It gives an introduction, tips for approaching the tasks, preparing the environment, book lists and tips, and card by card suggestions.  I used the card by card suggestions the most, since that is where the “type” of experiment is explained.  It also gives details as to whether the author thinks parental help is needed for activities.

One of the largest benefits of this program is that there is no firm book list.  There are suggested titles you can use, however, the suggestions are vast.  This program is highly adaptable to many books and supplementary resources.

In the gallery section of the website, you will find pictures of sample task cards from each set.

Since I thought these worked so well with our afternoon project times, I will definitely be purchasing more of these cards for next year. You will find a full selection of history and science task card sets which can be used to follow The Well Trained Mind’s rotation.

Further questions can be answered through Creek Edge Press’s Frequently Asked Questions page or their Contact Us page.

You can read what my crew mates thought of Creek Edge Press Task Cards at the TOS Homeschool Crew's website.

 
**As a member of the 2011-2012 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I was provided product free of charge by Creek Edge Press for my HONEST opinion.  No other compensation was received.**