Progeny Press Study Guide Review - Animal Farm and My Side of the Mountain

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 recently had the opportunity to review two e-study Guides, My Side of the Mountain e-Guide and Animal Farm e-Guide from Progeny Press.  These guide introduced new books for our teenager to enjoy, but it also gave me help to keep up her reading comprehension lessons for summer reading with little work from me!


Progeny Press has written these study guides, E-Guides from a Christian perspective, so applicable scripture memory and questions are included with each chapter.  The mission statement for Progeny Press has caused me to love their materials even more.

"To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it!"

Progeny Press Study Guides combines literature, critical thinking skills, along with Biblical text.  The Study Guides provide a great way to encourage your student's love of literature, and also give them scriptural reminders about behaviors to discuss. 

When classically educating your child, one thing parents can do is draw out as many educational experiences as possible in literature books.  This can become a time consuming endeavor, but Progeny Press has done all of the work for you.  

My Side of the Mountain is the classic tale of a young man who sets out to find himself.  After being told by so many that he was not made for the outdoors and working in the outdoors.  He sets out with only $40.00 and a few tools and string. Will he be able to reach his family's homestead in the mountains?  Will he be able to make it there?  Sam captures and befriends a falcon, who makes a great friend and helps with supplying food.  Does Sam really find a place where he belongs?

The My Side of the Mountain - eGuide  can be used at your own pace.  The questions are very though provoking with each chapter.  They encouraged Caty to really think.  But at the same time, due to her learning disabilities, she struggled a bit with writing the answers and really getting her thoughts lined up.  The My Side of the Mountain - eGuide really adapt to their learning style by allowing them to move at whatever speed they are most comfortable.  One day I had her just type up her answers to the questions, instead of handwriting out the responses.  The eGuide gives students the ability to type in their answers and print the pages if that is what they need at that time.

Each eGuide breaks down the study/reading of the book into a certain amount of chapters being matched up with questions.  Included also are questions and activity suggestions that include areas of interest in geography, science, math, and also language arts.  So when using a Progeny Press Study Guide, you are really getting a total study unit.

The other tale that Caty has started is the Animal Farm eGuide and store.  Animal Farm is a classic tale of a farm that is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals.  This tale has shown to be sort of a fable for grown-ups exhibiting the evolution of a revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism state.  It is required reading for many high school students in literature.  

This tale is causing Caty to struggle a bit more, since it is for high school level literature classes.  So the critical thinking questions are a lot more challenging for her.  But she is enjoying the story.  I definitely rate this as an excellent study to use for your high schooler in their studies.  I am going to use this with Lydia when she finishes up her current eGuide.
Vocabulary is presented in terms of both definition and use of sentences.  I really liked how this was presented.  It wasn't just presented as, this is what this word means.  Caty had to create sentences using the vocabulary in her own sentences also, looking at the means and also the antonym of the word too. Since vocabulary is a weak area for her, this really pushed her brain to look for answers. 
Each guide includes ideas for field trip activities (which we really could not take too many of due to our restrictions), art, research/science questions.  For example the My Side of the Mountain - eGuide includes ideas on researching types of plants in your area.  This is something that Caty is really into right now.  She wants to learn about edible plants.  So this was a fun science activity to do alongside reading this book.
We have had nothing but success with any grade level of eGuides that we have gotten from Progeny Press.  They are definitely a bonus for homeschool families.  They are easy to use.  Packed full of information.  Completely budget friendly for families.  The bonus for our family is that they are written with a Christian viewpoint, so when a student is struggling to understand how material could fit into their lives, there are scriptural points that they can use to point them in a direction to turn to their Bibles to help them apply it to their lives.
Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to review various eGuide literature studies from Progeny Press.  Click on the link below to see what materials they reviewed and how they used these products in their home.