We had the opportunity to review the High School Great Expectations E-Guide from Progeny Press.
My children are getting older and along with that, their love of reading has increased. That is a good thing, but with larger “appetites” of classical and more advanced literature, I need a way to ensure their comprehension level keeps up with what they are reading. We have had the opportunity to review e-guides from Progeny Press in the past. Before we started using the guides, I figured a few questions regarding what they read was sufficient. After using an e-guide, I realized there was more to the stories they were reading than just the answers to a few questions.
We reviewed the Great Expectations E=Guide, which is for high school students (ninth through twelfth grades). The guides are available as a physical copy (study guide) or digital download (e-guide) which is what we received. Progeny Press also offers E-Guides for Lower Elementary (kindergarten through third grade), Upper Elementary (fourth through sixth grade) and Middle School Students (sixth through eighth grades). The number of e-guides in all levels is large, so you will probably find some for a number of the literature books you assign in a school year. The literature book does not come with the guide, but you may order the books from Progeny Press.
Progeny Press suggests the student read the literature book in its entirety before completing the e-guide. In the past we have used the literature guides both ways; read the book completely and read the chapters and completed the guide portion for those chapters. River used the Great Expectations guide reading the selected chapters and then completed the guide portion.
Great Expectations, a classic, is not a very “jump up and down” exciting type of read, but it is good literature. I explained to my children, sometimes, it is going to be like that. And so we read.
We followed a similar schedule to what we used before, which is shown below.
Before he began reading the book, River completed one of the pre-reading activities. He learned about the British penal colony in Australia, which was created to locate convicts. The isolated area was a perfect one to keep criminals far away from the general population.
He read the assigned chapters and then completed the guide over the course of one week (sometimes into two) in the following order:
Vocabulary – He chose a word from the list that most appropriately completed the sentences.
Questions – General questions about events in the book.
Analysis – Looking at different scenarios from the book, he was to explain what each passage meant.
Dig Deeper – More questions are asked, but the student pulls from his ideas and relates himself more to the events in the book. Some of his responses depended upon verses he was assigned to read in the Bible.
I can tell a difference in the content in the high school level guides. For one, Great Expectations is a longer read. Also, the guide covered questions that required River to take more time in thought, which is good for high school level curriculum. I will admit, he did not like all of the writing. Of course, I did, because it gave him good practice in processing his thoughts and typing them for me to read. Whether or not you decide to let your child read responses, write or type them is obviously up to you, but I think it is good practice for them.
I like the interactive feature that is included in all levels of e-guides that allows students to key their answers to the exercise using a computer. It saves on printing the pages and also gives your student (especially high school) a chance to use his typing/keyboarding skills. I think that feature made the work less tedious for River, because he liked not having to write his responses. The work was heavier as he progressed through the story. I also like the inclusion of biblical content, because he was able to gain perspective on the story using the Bible as a guide.
The Great Expectations E-Guide also includes Final Essays and Project Ideas, from which we will choose once he finishes the book. Additional resources of other titles by Charles Dickens as well as other titles by different authors with similar themes are suggested.
Overall, Progeny Press E-Guides provide a thorough comprehensive experience with literature that goes way beyond just reading the book from over to cover.
The High School Great Expectations E-Guide is $21.99.
You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members.
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