Language Arts with Interactive Study Guides
We recently reviewed one of the new interactive study guides from Progeny Press. We chose to review The Scavengers – eGuide from their junior high selection. They do have a wide selection of offerings that spans from lower elementary through high school. If you are interested in using them for your high school student, four guides is the equivalent of one high school credit. Each guide is meant to take approximately 8-10 weeks to complete.
Once you purchase the guide and download it, you have access to the PDF. Through the PDF your child can click on the answer boxes and answer the questions directly on the form. Just be sure they save their answers! If you do not want to use the interactive portion, or if you have more than one student using the guide, you still have the option to print it off and use it that way. My daughter liked and preferred the interactive guide.
I thought this was an excellent study guide. It was very thorough and contained so much content. Before my daughter even began reading the book it had suggested activities that would help her to better understand the story. One of the suggestions was researching what GMO foods were and the pros and cons associated with them. This introduction prior to reading the book was beneficial in helping her comprehend some of the issues in the book.
My daughter did not love the story. She had a hard time relating to and liking the main character (her older sister did like the book). However, despite not caring for the book, she did really like the study guide. She appreciated that it helped her to stay focused and better comprehend the story line, especially when she wasn’t loving the book. She also got really excited about certain parts of the study guide that pointed out literary elements used in the book. For example, this author used a lot of alliteration, consonance, and assonance. In the study guide it would explain what each element was, cite an example from the book, and them have them identify other examples of each one from the reading.
The study guide is broken up into a group of chapters. At the beginning of each chapter group is vocabulary listed for those chapters and some questions. Those are followed by the Thinking About the Story section. This is where different literary elements are pointed out. Next is the Dig Deeper section where they look to connect the story to real life. This is the section that usually includes scripture references as well. The last part is the Optional Activities. There are usually a few given of varying complexity and length. My daughter was really interested in the one that suggested building your own hoop house for your garden. While that wasn’t a possibility for as right now, she did do research on what they were and what would be required.
The Interactive Study Guides from Progeny Press really help your child to dive into and dissect the book. They would be a great addition to a language arts program or used to build a language arts class for your high school student.
Other members of the Crew reviewed books at different levels, so be sure to check them out.
