Progeny Press has study guides for over 100 great pieces of literature. These are not run-of-the-mill study guides. These study guides cover not just comprehension, but critical thinking, literary analysis, and Christian application. Not only will a Progeny Press study guide lead you in a deep, thorough study of your chosen title, but you’ll have fun while doing it.
There are numerous titles available for ages ranging from kindergarten learners through high school students. We have been working on the study guide for The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe. The guide is recommended for middle school age (typically 6-9 grades). Sometimes, a particular guide will have a narrower age recommendation, usually higher than the division it is in. This particular study says for 7th-9th.
The guide begins with some pre-reading activities as well as a synopsis of the story. We have previously studied the early Roman time period, but it has been a couple of years. We reviewed some of what we knew and checked out some books from the library to refresh our memories. I say we, because my 12 year old daughter and I worked together on this study. The younger children listened as I read and participated minimally but this study is truly for the ages recommended. At times it was a bit beyond even my daughter.
The plan is to spend the first week reading the book. My daughter is still quite behind level in reading for herself, so I was reading aloud. This takes longer, so we spent the first week reading, but then tried to jump in where we could the second week while continuing to read. This worked fairly well. The studies are generally meant to take anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks. With our slower reading pace, this will take us a bit longer.
We were able to complete the recommended section per week roughly on schedule at first. Sometimes this was the suggested page a day, other days we did more than a page. Still other days we might not complete the whole page. The goal by week allowed us to slow down when needed and work ahead when when it was easier. The sections are divided by sets of chapters (three or so). This enabled us to work through each section in order as there was nothing involving a part we hadn’t read yet. We could have taken (and will continue with) a slower pace, but were wanting to complete as much as we could for this review.
One of my daughter’s favorite aspects of the study guide is the interactive feature. Instead of writing out her answers, she could type it right into the pdf on the computer. For someone who writes as little as possible, this is huge! The vocabulary work and some of the comprehension questions she was able to complete on her own. She has on hand a dictionary, thesaurus and Bible for working through these and the Digging Deeper sections. The Digging Deeper section refers to Scripture often and brings together a characteristic or some other aspect from the story with the Scruptures that teach on them.
We do oral narrations as much as possible. It was easy and natural for us to carry this over into our study. Whenever a deeper question was asked — critical thinking and application type questions especially, my daughter found it easier to think “outloud” in discussion with me rather than staring at the blank space of the page. I really like how this is stretching her and giving her reasons to think. We often do our studies as a family, all ages together. In keeping things geared toward the middle, I don’t always give her opportunities for this sort of work.
The study guides from Progeny Press will also take you beyond the story. One of these optional topics we will be working on this week is to learn more about Boudicca (Queen of the Iceni – one of the Celtic tribes). In our previous studies of this time, we did not learn much about her. In working through this study, we have talked about imagery and symbols. We had recently discussed these in regards to poetry. I really liked being able to show my daughter how these are used in other works of literature.
The last sections are an overview, looking at the book as a whole instead of the bit by bit fashion used throughout the earlier part of the study. The work involved is writing, so we will tackle most of this orally. There are also some projects (mostly writing) to further enhance your study and carry on your look at this era. There are book and movie recommendations. We have watched The Eagle (2011) which is based upon The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliffe. We have enjoyed discussions of the similarities and differences we have seen thus far.
The Eagle of the Ninth study guide is available in a few formats. A CD of the pdf files (answer key and interactive guide) or a download of the same is $16.99 For $18.99 you can order the printed version. We like having paper in our hands, but the interactive, type-it-in feature wins out for the digital version as our preference here.
As you look throughout the Progeny Press site, you will see many familiar titles. Though many are read and enjoyed at younger ages than the study guides are listed for, heed those recommendations. Due to the depth of the study and the types of discussions begun through the study, those older ages are very accurate.
Schoolhouse Review Crew families reviewed various titles of the Progeny Press study guides. Be sure to check out all the reviews. We had a tough time choosing our title and are looking forward to the reviews helping us choose our next Progeny Press title for our studies.
