We love to read and reading good quality literature makes up a large portion of our homeschool day. One thing that we haven't been as good at though is taking the time to really analyze what we are reading to ensure comprehension. Sure, we often have full oral narrations and many discussions about the story but I think it is easy to miss certain key elements when you are reading for pleasure and not necessarily for information. This is something that I have been wanting to improve but just haven't taken the plunge to do it.
What a blessing when this review opened for us! I was excited when we were given the opportunity to review The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide as a PDF download from Progeny Press!
What are Progeny Press E-Guides all about?
Progeny Press offers 100+ study guides for much well-known children's literature and young adult novels. The mission of Progeny Press is "to teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture of truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!" This mission is reflected in the high quality books they choose! While you can purchase the E-Guides as a PDF download they do offer the option to purchase both printed guides and the guide on CD-ROM as well. You will also need the novel that goes along with your unit as it is not included in the guide.
We received the E-Guide for The Bears on Hemlock Mountain and since it is a popular reader I already had it on my shelf. Even better is that I already had it lined up to read this year! The reader and guide are recommended for lower elementary so I it was a perfect fit for my 2nd grade, emerging reader.
Downloading the E-Guide was a snap. You just clicked on the big green download button and follow the prompts. Upon saving the guide to my desktop I opted to print it in its entirety and stapled along the edges for ease of use.
Using the guide was also simple! There are instructions in the front of the guide that tell you, the parent, how to make the most out of the guide. Also included in the front matter are a short bio of the author, a synopsis of the book, and a quick history on folk tales.
The remainder of the guide is divided into sections by 1 to 2 chapters. Utilizing mostly "fill-in-the-blank" the child is encouraged to think more deeply about the reading by analyzing unfamiliar vocabulary, answering both knowledge level questions and thought provoking questions, and making Biblical parallels through scripture references.
Here is where this product really shines! Progeny Press e-guides are more than just a literary analysis workbooks. They are stuffed full of other fun and interesting ideas to help you find more ways to interact with the story.
Check out a few of the awesome activities they recommend:
Research animal tracks (even including several book suggestions)
Field trip to learn look for animals and their tracks
Create a display or bulletin board
A sugar cookie recipe
Performing a play
and more!
What We Thought of The Bears On Hemlock Mountain e-guide:
Sometimes I have worried that trying to work though a literature guide would bog my young reader down and create frustration. I was afraid that we would no longer be reading for pleasure and the joy of reading would be gone. I have found that this isn't the case with these literature guides. The questions are interesting and the variety keeps the child moving along from task to task without getting frustrated.
Since my 2nd grader hasn't developed good writing stamina we gave up on having her write the fill-in-the-blanks after the first couple of lessons and switched over to either oral discussion or Mom filling in the answers for her. It did not detract from the guide at all, in fact, I felt that it led to even more discussion!
We enjoyed the guide very much and I plan to use The Courage of Sarah Noble next for my young reader and The Witch of Blackbird Pond for my older reader! They are a fantastic and simple way to get your child analyzing their reading...
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Keep up with all the happenings at Progeny Press by following them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!!!
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