Review of 2 Literature Study Guides from Progeny Press

10/8/2019

I was so excited to review Progeny Press's Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide and Little House on the Prairie Study Guide! You see we are reading Hound of the Baskervilles for our English Course this year. It was perfect timing!

Progeny Press is a great place for homeschoolers to go to get study guides for classic literature written from a Christian perspective.

Hounds of the Baskervilles Study Guide starts with a synopsis of the book, a brief summary. Next, we learn about the author Conan Doyle.

We also learn a little background information. Hound of the Baskervilles is actually a Gothic novel, so we explore that genre.

We followed the advice in the Prereading Activities section and looked up the words more, mire, tor, and gorse. I was glad we did because that helped so much with reading and understanding the book. Next, explored Dartmoor in Devon, England on the internet. It is a beautiful place, but easy to see how it can be spooky.

After reading the first chapter of the book, we started with vocabulary and then learned about Sherlock Holmes' deductive reasoning. This was followed by questions about the chapter.

I was impressed with the questions about the story that went far beyond rote answers. I loved the analytical questions that really led the students to dig into the story. The analysis questions and Dig Deeper questions were excellent. I felt that we analyzed literature in a deep way in this study guide.

Equally impressive were all the optional activities at the end of the all the English work. There were science projects, Bible study, history fun, research, art, architecture, type setting, writing, journaling, and discussion questions. This could definitely be a complete unit study!

As a homeschooling mom and homeschool co-op teacher, I feel that this study guide is a treasure!

Using the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide

The Little House books are favorites in our house. My older children read these books followed by hours of playacting.

We started by reading the short synopsis of the book and biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. We also read the historical background information together and discussed that time in history of Westward Expansion.

We did not go camping because I prefer to see nature through a window, but we did find and label all the suggested places the guide mentioned like the Mississippi River, the Verdigris River, Fort Gibson, Missouri, Wisconsin, etc. That was great for knowing where the little family was starting out and where they ended up.

The first English lesson was impressive to me. We found synonyms and explored similes and personification. Then, we answered plot questions. At the end were some questions to help the children go deeper and really think about the book. I really liked everything about how Progeny Press teaches English! Well, of course we had to make the cornbread and Molasses Milk--we love to cook! We tried two more of the eight suggested activities: we wrote a letter from Laura to Grandpa and we listened to some of the suggested music. What fun!

We continued on through the book and study guide which stayed fresh with a variety of creative assignments. I was totally delighted with Little House on the Prairie Study Guide. There is nothing lightweight about what they teach, yet they keep it fun and creative. Very impressive!

Learn More about Progeny Press

Progency Press study guides are easy to use.

Besides the book, you will need a good dictionary, a Bible, a thesaurus, and sometimes a Bible concordance.

The ideas for exploring the book take students in-depth in their understanding of how the author crafts his or her book. In addition, they learn so much about vocabulary, word usage, elements of literature, and analysis. They are truly impressive!

It is very important to me that my children look at literature from a biblical perspective and learn to use discernment. Our culture is heading further and further away from a Christian Worldview, but the Bible is our compass in life. I love that Progeny Press looks at literature from a biblical worldview.

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You can read more reviews of Progeny Press's amazing literature study guides from the TOS Review Crew here.

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