Progeny Press sent me two of their products for reviewing: Little House in the Big Woods Study Guide and Frog and Toad Together Study guide. I reviewed The Hobbit Study Guide from Progeny Press last year, so I was excited to introduce two more of my kids to these fun guides.
Quick note: These are only guides, so you will need to purchase the books that go with these guides separately. I had both on hand already.
The Little House in the Big Woods Study Guide arrived as an interactive eBook for either printing or filling out on the computer right in Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0+. The guide is approximately 54 pages, and is geared towards grades 4-6. In the beginning of the guide, you’ll find a note to the instructor, a story synopsis, an about the author section, background information, and activities to do before you dive into the book.
Once you get into the book, the guide takes it two chapters at a time (three chapters for one section). Each section starts with vocabulary related activities followed by a series of questions to answer about the specific chapters, and then some questions to dig deeper. These bring in a spiritual element as they look up scriptures and look for application in their own lives. The sections each end with a projects and activities portion with various things to do related to the story.
The guide ends with a crossword puzzle, activities for when the book is finished, additional resources (such as books, videos, magazines, museums, etc.), and an answer key. You can see a sample online.
The Frog and Toad Together Study Guide arrived as an eBook to be printed. the guide has about 34 pages, and is geared towards grades K-2. This guide includes a note to the instructor, a synopsis, an about the author section, and activities to do before you begin the book.
Once you get into the book, you will find questions and projects related to each chapter (five chapters all together). At the end of the guide, you will find a Venn Diagram to fill in, a word search, suggestions for more reading, and an answer key. You can see a sample online.
Making butter.
When I first received the guides, I read the note to the instructor, and then skimmed through both guides. Then I read the synopsis, background (in the one guide) and author section to the kids. We chose what activities we wanted from the pre-reading activities.
Once we got into the stories, I read them out loud to the kids, and since neither of my kids are strong when it comes to writing, I had them do a lot of the work orally. However, there were certain assignments I wanted them to write out, and that worked fine for them. I printed out parts of the guide as needed, too.
As for the pace, I would read a chapter or two (depending on the guide), and then we would do the assignments related to those chapters. The guide did mentioned reading the entire books through first, and then going back through with the guide, but I preferred doing it this way.
After working through the vocabulary in the one guide, and the questions in both guides, we again chose which activities we wanted to do. Sometimes they decided an activity the other was doing looked appealing, and so they joined in what the other was doing. They also, often, listened in on the other story as well. I’m sure they could have been more independent with the guides, but for my kids, we enjoyed working on them together for most of it. I also checked answers where needed using the answer key.
Freshly made butter.
Jake (used the Little House in the Big Woods guide) thought it was pretty good and awesome. His favorite project was making butter which turned out perfectly. We used some on banana bread, and in our mashed potatoes last night since we were out of our regular butter. He liked the digging deeper parts a lot.
Amber (used the Frog and Toad Together guide) thought it was awesome. When asked which was her favorite story, she couldn’t make up her mind. However, she didn’t like the one about the dream where Toad got awesome, and Frog got smaller. She loved all the activities she did, and discovered she likes making lists. She enjoyed the parts that talked about the bible.
As for me, I like how easy these guides are to use, and how they add to the story. I enjoyed the discussions we had when answering the questions, and especially loved the faith elements brought in. Plus, they learned how to apply these things to their own lives. I found the activities and projects simple yet interesting, and loved seeing the kids’ enthusiasm. Plus, these are great stories…stories I enjoyed while growing up.
Amber’s list inspired by Toad’s.
The Little House in the Big Woods Study Guide costs $16.99.
The Frog and Toad Together Study Guide costs $11.99.
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