Literature Studies with Progeny Press

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.

We have done many different literature study guides over the years, but Progeny Press literature guides have always been our favorite! I was thrilled to receive two Study Guides for Literature from Progeny Press - "A New Coat for Anna" for grades K-3 and "My Side of the Mountain"  for grades 5-8.

I used "A New Coat for Anna" with my 7 year old son, Titus. He read the book aloud to me in one sitting. We had never read this book before but it is such a great story! It takes place after World War II, and Anna needs a new coat before next winter. Her mother has no money but does have things she can trade or barter for. The story details each step in the process to acquire the needed supplies for the coat and ends with Anna receiving her new beautiful red coat! Titus really enjoyed reading this story and it was on a great reading level for him - he was comfortable reading most of the words and didn't need very much help. 

The E-Guide was also very age-appropriate for him. It begins with a synopsis of the story and background information on World War II and what happened after the war ended with food shortages and money hard to come by. There are also several activities to do before you read the story, such as finding the nations involved in WWII on the map, talking to grandparents who lived during the war, watching "The Sound of Music", and taking a field trip to a sheep farm. 

The "As-You-Read Activities" were also really great! The first thing he had to do was fill in a chart with the item Anna's mother needed for the coat, who did the work, what Anna and her mother did or traded for the work, and how long Anna had to wait. Titus enjoyed filling in this information and he remembered so much from reading the story!

There are nine vocabulary words Titus had to define. He then had to put them in sentences and use the code numbers to find the mystery words. He enjoys doing puzzles so this was fun for him!

The questions about the story were very well-written and pretty easy for a 7 year old to understand and answer. An example of a question is, "Anna and her mother walk from town out to the farm. Why do you think they had to walk?" Titus answered, "They didn't have a car." We talked about how they probably didn't have the money to own a car or buy gasoline for a car if they did have one. 

Some of the "Dig Deeper" questions referred to scriptures, which I also really liked. Here is an example - "Read Proverbs 14:29. "A patient man has great understand, but a quick tempered man displays folly." Paraphrase this verse (To paraphrase means to write the verse in your own words.)" Titus answered, "A patient man is wise but an impatient man is a fool." We talked a bit more about what that means and how hard it is to be patient sometimes.

There were some extra activities after the questions to do. Titus mad a bookmark with the word "patience" written on it, he did a word search with words from the story, and he made a "Silver Cake"! He loved using the mixer to mix the cake and icing.

Mercie read the book, "My Side of the Mountain" by Carol Clark. This is such a classic book! A young boy named Sam decides he doesn't want to live in the city anymore, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live alone. The story details how he survives and lives alone in the woods. It's a really interesting book with lots of factual information about nature.

This study also had some prereading activities like taking a camping trip in the woods, going on a fishing trip, researching local edible plants, and writing about the author. There are eight sections of the literature guide and each focuses on several chapters. 

Each section includes vocabulary work, questions about the story, digging deeper into the story and the Bible, and optional projects and activities. Let's look at the first section which covers the chapters, "I Hole Up in a Snowstorm", "I Get Started on This Venture", and "I Find Gribbley's Farm." The first thing is vocabulary matching with thirteen words from these chapters. 

Next are eight questions about the chapters. I really love the way they word these questions, too! Here is an example, "Describe Sam's first night alone (described in the second chapter). What mistakes did Same make?" This really forces your child to think critically about the chapters. Another one says, "How does Miss Turner help and encourage Sam?" Mercie wrote, "She found him all of the books and maps and files he needed on Gribbley's farm. She even drew him maps. She said they had books on plants and trees and animals in case he needed them."

The next part is "Thinking About the Story." There are some questions about point-of-view, verb tenses, and literary techniques such as anthropomorphism and irony. Here is an example, "After Sam remembers his father's story of why Great-Grandfather Gribbley went to sea, he writes, 'The land is no place for a Gribbley, and here I am three hundred feet from the beech with Gribbley carved on it.'" Why is this ironic?"

The "Digging Deeper" questions had Mercie reading scripture and thinking about having a deeper understanding of God by observing nature. 

Finally there is a list of option projects and activities your child can do. The projects for section one are creative writing prompts, discussion on safety and what to do if your are in an uncomfortable or unsafe postions, writing a friendly letters, measuring the square footage of your bedroom, talking about runaways, and more.

Each section of the study guide follows the same basic pattern. After the last section, there is an overview which covers the book as a whole and more projects and activities to do after you finish reading the book. Some of these projects include creating a power-point project on survival techniques, making a meme poster on the saying, "Say what you mean and mean what you say!", having a class party serving some of the foods described in the book, and more.

We really love literature studies from Progeny Press and here are the top five reasons!

1.) BOOK CHOICES: Their book choices are excellent! Every book has been a classic or living book that promotes morality and character. They are all wonderful books that are fun to read and right on reading level.

2.) RELEVANT ACTIVITIES: The activities suggested for before and after reading the book are very relevant to the story or lessons learned from the story. They are also very doable and engaging for my children.

3.) WELL-WRITTEN QUESTIONS: Some literature studies have questions that are difficult to understand and even more difficult to answer. Nearly every question in the Progeny Press study guides have been very understandable! I also like how the vocabulary activities vary so your child isn't doing the same thing over and over. 

4.) CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE: It's very important for my children to be taught a Christian world-view, especially in the days we are living in, and Progeny Press does a wonderful job of pulling out the spiritual and thought-provoking issues from the books and applying them to everyday life. 

5.) AFFORDABLE: The price is great! You can purchase these E-Guides starting at $11.99! As a homeschool mom of many, I appreciate the fact that it's affordable and I can re-use them with my children.

Read our review of "The Minstrel in the Tower" from 2016 by clicking HERE. Check out what the other reviewers thought about Progeny Press by clicking the banner below. The other E-Guides were:

In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson (grades 4-6)

Animal Farm (grades 9-12)

Little Women (grades 8-12)