Progeny Press E-Guide to The Giver–a Review

Progeny Press is a company that we associate with quality study guides for literature, written from a Christian perspective, for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade.  Out of the over 100 study guides available through Progeny Press, we received the E-Guide for Lois Lowry’s The Giver to use in our homeschool and review. If you would prefer a print or cd version, those are available as well.  This guide is intended for middle school children (grades 5-8).  As with any literature study, please examine the book and literature guide and determine if they are appropriate for your child. 

     Each study guide provides “easy-to-use, reproducible lessons on literary terms, comprehension and analysis, critical thinking, related scriptural principles, vocabulary, and activities, plus a complete answer key.” The E-Guide version, which we received, is very user-friendly.  It is available immediately after payment.  The E-Guide is a downloadable .pdf that is created so students can type in their answers to the questions.  It can be printed if your child would prefer to write his/her answers.  Also, you can use the ‘save as’ feature and save the guide for each student with his/her answers typed in.  This is what I do.  Then, when my daughter is finished with the entire study guide, I print the completed guide and she places it in a literature notebook. The E-Guide version of the study guide for The Giver retails on the Progeny Press website for $18.99.  There is also a printed booklet version available for $21.99 and a cd version for $18.99.  The novel does not come with the study guide; however, it is also available for purchase through Progeny Press (or you can secure your own copy from a library or a bookstore).  This study guide was very popular with my daughter!  She loves to be on the computer, and hates to write things out by hand.  So, when she found out she would get to complete her literature assignments on the computer she was stoked!

The Giver study guide is intended for students in middle school, grades 5-8, but would be most appropriate for students in grades 7-9.  I have been using it for an eighth grader and it has been just right for her level. She has been able to be incredibly independent in her study.  She really has enjoyed the interactive format of the E-guide.  The questions in the guide range from rote information such as vocabulary to critical thinking and analysis.  She was able to handle the rote type exercises by herself.  The deeper, more thought-provoking questions have led to some great discussions between us.  This book was her first introduction to dystopian fiction.  It can be a little disturbing at first, so I am glad we have been able to use the study guide as a springboard to discussion.

     I love the way that these study guides are laid out.  For me, they are a lesson planning dream.  Each guide provides background information to help both students and parents understand more about the books and authors.  My daughter and I each read through the background information first and discussed it.  Then, it was a simple process of assigning a few chapters to be read and study guide pages to be completed.  These study guides are detailed, but not ‘nit-picky.’  I appreciate that. Students are exposed to new vocabulary words by definition and through context, they are given opportunity to demonstrate comprehension of what they have read, and they are taken through questions to help them interpret and analyze what they have read and make application to the Christian life.  Many of the questions are very thought provoking and have led to some interesting discussions in our house.  Most of the lesson sections revolve around chunks of reading approximately 3 chapters in length.  I have found, that for my daughter, this is a perfect amount of reading to work with at one time. She is a slower reader who takes a few days to complete 3 chapters, so completing both the reading ad activities for that much material is easily completed in about a week and a half.  These guides are designed to take approximately a half of a semester to complete, and we have found that is a very accurate time frame.  .  I have already planned four study guides and books to use with each child next year (both high school age, yikes!).  Voila! Literature curriculum is complete and ready for next year.  It is independent, which is what high school should be, yet, it fosters discussion.  I can’t say enough good things about these study guides!

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     My friends on the Schoolhouse Review Crew have been using and reviewing many other study guides from Progeny Press.  To read their reviews, click on the graphic below.