Progeny Press (A Homeschool Crew Review)

When I was in school, one of my favorite courses was my English classes. Even in college, I enjoyed my college literature classes because it was in those classes that I was given the opportunity to read and enjoy classic literature.  However, last year, my oldest daughter graduated from high school.  In the course of her schooling, I was very disappointed to find that she didn't really read much as far as classic literature.  No Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronte sisters, Mark Twain, or even William Shakespeare, which were required reading when I was in school.

One of the things I enjoy most with homeschooling is that I can have control over what books my younger kids have to read through their school years.  I want them to learn to read, appreciate and even love classical literature.  Progeny Press allow me as a parent to go well beyond just reading the story with them. Using their study guides to dive deeper into the story using questions and activities, students are able to develop critical thinking skills, interpretation skills and go beyond just the surface of the story.  For the last few weeks, the kids have been using The Green Book - eGuide from Progeny Press to better understand The Green Book by Jill Patton Walsh.

About Progeny Press

Progeny Press is a publishing company who offers E-guides for literature with a Christian perspective. Offering guides for reading levels from early elementary through high school, each of the Progeny Press guides are designed to help students to better understand the story they are reading as well as to recognize the themes presented by the author. The units contain study questions as well as recommended map work, research ideas, vocabulary lessons, and even Biblical verses that tie into the story.

However, what makes Progeny Press different from other literature study guides is that Progeny Press uses Biblical teachings, backed with scripture, to tie the story into practical lessons. While many books contain content or beliefs that do not align with Christian beliefs, Progeny Press guides direct students to instead study what God says about such things so they will be better prepared and strong in their faith when they face such behavior, language, and philosophy in life. 


How We Used It

We reviewed the 57 page  downloadable E-guide version of The Green Book study guide by Rebecca Gilleland as well as a 6 page Answer Key that accompanies the study guide. The chapter book must be purchased separately from the study unit but it is offered for sale on the Progeny Press website. This particular study unit is recommended for Upper Elementary and is recommended to be used for grades 3rd-5th.  I used it with Ash and Garrett as we read through the book together.

The E-Guide is broken down with questions and activities to use with each chapter of the book.  The activities include vocabulary exercises, word searches, crossword puzzles, venn diagrams, and even a mystery message activities that the kids really liked. At the end of each chapter of the E-Guide is various suggestions on projects and activities to do after completion of the book that tie in arts and crafts, cooking and oral reports.  Utilizing these activities helps to tie other subjects such as Science and physical activities into the study.  (The kids especially enjoyed learning about Fire Opals).

I hate saying it, but the kids and I didn't care for the book itself.  Luckily, I'm not reviewing the book.  The study guide, on the other hand, is very nice and we enjoyed all the various activities.  I especially liked the vocabulary activities where the kids had to take a guess at a words meaning based on the context it was used in the story.  I enjoyed listening to the guesses that the kids made and seeing how correct they were.  For example:  the kids were introduced to the word "treacle" from the text "But what he showed us[...]looked a funny hue, as though someone had brushed it over with a layer of treacle."  This was a word the kids had never heard before.   Ashleigh guessed it meant a blanket  while Garrett thought it had something to do with a tree.  Now, they both know that treacle is the British term for molasses.  The study guide has plenty of vocabulary building exercises like that. 

I've used other Progeny Press Study Guides in the past and I have always found them to be well written and thoroughly cover the books main topics.  Each guide really does well to expand beyond just reading the book but also understanding the underlying elements.  But mostly, I am glad that when it comes time for my kids to read Huckleberry Finn, Beowulf, Julius Caesar or Jane Eyre, these guides will be waiting to help them develop a true understanding of Classic Literature.

For more information about Progeny Press and their large selection of literature study guides, visit their website. You can also find them on the following social media platforms:

Facebook: https://facebook.com/progenypress
Twitter: https://twitter.com/progenypress
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/progenypress
YouTube: https://youtube.com/progenypress

Creation Illustrated (A Homeschool Crew Review)

I tend to like unit studies.  The idea of having everything all in one, incorporating various subjects like science, language arts, social studies, and math all into one convenient package really appeals to me.

So when we were given the opportunity to review two unit studies from Creation Illustrated, my interest was indeed peaked.  Members of the crew were given the opportunity to review two unit studies :  Snow Unit Study and a study on Pine Trees.

We have a pine tree that sits outside our home.  Since the day we have moved into this home, that pine tree has been an important aspect to our everyday family life.  Its limbs have provided perches for hummingbirds as we observed them closer, it's sturdy roots and trunk have assisted in science experiments and it's long pine needles have been a part of nature and art studies.  Even the pine cones that fall from this tree have had it's lasting influence on the name of this blog, as Garrett use to collect so many of those pine cones that they became manipulatives in our early learning.

Because this tree has been so influential in our lives,  we decided to jump into learning about pine trees.

The Creation Unit study for Pine Trees is intended for grades 5-8.  However, there is a discrepancy in regards to this targeted grade range: while the website states grades 3-8, the unit study itself stated 5th-8th. After looking at the material, I'm more inclined to believe 5-8.  While the kids are slightly below this grade level, we were still able to work through the unit study together, they just required a bit of extra help.

Finding unit studies that tackle science from a Creation science aspect is rare. Both of these studies are written from the viewpoint of Creation science and use Biblical teachings as a platform.  Creation Illustrated's mission statement is to "share the wonders of God's creation by revealing fresh insights of His infinite wisdom, gentle touch, undeniable justice, redeeming love, and flawless design..."

I started by simply printing two copies of the first 13 pages of the unit study.  The full download consists of a 16 page PDF, however, three pages are the answer key to the various activities included. The first page of the study material has clickable links for outside links, such as articles and videos, where the actual material to be learned can be found.

 Once printed, I could simply staple them together and punch holes in them to include in the kid's daily packet of paperwork.

The 13 page study consists of 10 pages of activities that include a Bible study, vocabulary and word study,  a geography activity to locate where particular species of pine trees grow, a science study on how to identify pine trees by their needles, bark and pine cones, and even some math activities involving the Fibonacci sequence.

Ashleigh working on identifying various species of pine trees

This study also introduced us to Creation Illustrated Magazine, a quarterly periodical for all ages.  This was a periodical that I had not previously been familiar with. Part of the reading involved with the unit study had us reading an article entitled The Enduring Pine Tree, where we learned about the two oldest living trees on the planet - a pair of Great Basin bristlecone pine trees located in here in California.  Originally believed to be the oldest living thing on earth, the first tree, Methuselah is believed to be roughly 4,849 years old.  Later, scientists discovered that a nearby tree was actually older than Methuselah and is estimated to be 5,067 years old.

We read this article along with many others together out loud, enjoying the amazing photographs that accompanied each article. As this particular magazine was the Fall 2017 digital issue, we were able to read the article about the total solar eclipse that we had the opportunity to see last year.  We were in a paved parking lot of a convention center when we observed the eclipse, so we weren't able to observe the reaction of wildlife to the event.  So reading this article was really interesting to us.  It turned out to be a really enjoyable magazine for our family to read.  We were also given access to a free copy of the Winter 2018 digital issue of Creation Illustrated as well, as the article "Intricacy of Snow” is used with the Snow unit study.

Ashleigh recently had to memorize all the books of the Bible for Awana so the Bible study activity allowed her the opportunity to use her tablet to look up the required verses.  Ash did a great job looking them up and reading them out loud for Garrett to listen to and then we were all able to work together to complete the activity.

Researching Bible Verses on the tablet for the Pine Tree Bible Study

Working together on a word find activity.

But probably the best sign that a unit study works is when the kids take what they learn and apply it to what they observe outside the classroom.  For my kids, this meant heading outdoors for a nature walk and checking out the various pine and fir trees around the base.  The kids began taking the time to notice the amount and style of needles on the trees as well as if the cones produced seeds or airborne spores.  It's been lots of fun watching them discover a tree they hadn't noticed before and run up and start evaluating it.

While we have not yet begun working on the Snow unit study,  I have looked over it and it appears it will be equally as interesting for the kids. The Snow study follows the same format as the Pine Tree study, consisting of 13 pages of activities, links to videos and articles, Bible studies, math problems, and geography.  It's just really hard to for the kids to imagine snow when we live in an arid desert.

We really enjoyed the way this unit study was designed and learned a lot from it. I'll be purchasing the Joshua Tree National Park unit study in the very near future to learn more about this local park before we go this summer.    Also, we've already started planning a side trip when we go camping in Inyo National Forest this summer.  The kids said we ABSOLUTELY have to go see Methuselah and it's older cousin - if we can guess which trees they are lol.

For more information about Creation Illustrated Unit Studies and to purchase them at a 30% discount, visit their store at https://dv157.infusionsoft.com/app/storeFront/showCategoryPage?categoryId=6

Annual print subscriptions to the ad-free Creation Illustrated magazine can also be purchased at a 25% discount at http://www.creationillustrated.com/subscriptions.   Digital Subscriptions are currently in the works and will be added to the website soon.

You can also visit Creation Illustrated at the following social media sites:

Facebook:  https://ww.facebook.com/CreationIllustrated/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/creation_illustrated/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/creationnature/pins/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CreationMag

Homeschool Legacy (A Homeschool Crew Review)

These last few weeks, the kids (and myself) have been having a blast learning a bit about four of the founding fathers of our country as we worked through the digital download of Cooking Up History With the Founding Presidents Once-A-Week Micro-Study from Homeschool Legacy.

Homeschool Legacy is a company that I was already very familiar with. Last year, the kids and I had a

great time using their Christmas Comes to America Unit Study and we have used other non-holiday themed studies such as Native America, Lewis and Clark, Knights and Nobles and horses and I have a whole bunch of others that I plan to use later down the road.

Homeschool Legacy study units come in two different levels.  The shorter Once-A-Week Micro-Study units are designed for grades 1st-8th while Once-A-Week Unit Study units are more in depth and can be used with 2nd-12th.

One of my favorite draws to these particular unit studies is that they are completely planned out, from start to finish.  Each week has the complete lesson planned out as well as a list of books and movies that can be Incorporated into the study.  I also really like the fact that they are very short - taking about 20 to 30 minutes two to three times a week.

For those participating in American Heritage Girls or with Boys Scouts of America, the longer Once-A-Week Unit Studies (not the Micro-Studies) allows for fulfillment of merit badges for completing the study

For this particular Micro-Study unit. each week focuses on one of our countries founding Presidents  (and their First Ladies) .

Week one focuses on George and Martha Washington and the many accomplishments of our first President, "First in War, first in Peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen".  From leading the American Revolutionary Army to defeat Great Britain, to his 5,000 acre home at Mount Vernon, and ending with one of Washington's favorite indulgences - the classic cherry pie.

Week Two focuses on John Adams who lead the charge for American Independence and who severed as the Massachusetts delegate to both the First and Second Continental Congresses as well as the first ambassador to Great Britain.  This week also covers a bit about John Chapman (AKA Johnny Appleseed), Samuel Adams (John's cousin) and John's wife, Abigail Adams.  This lesson concludes with a recipe for Abigail's Apple Pan Dowdy.

Week Three teaches about Thomas Jefferson who was a man of many accomplishments.  Jefferson excelled at many different fields of study such as horticulture, architecture, law, and music, served in many various positions in our new government, as well as being the author of the Declaration of Independence.  In addition to learning about these various accomplishments, students also learn about the Monticello (his home in Virginia), and different words used in our vocabulary today that were a result of Jefferson's writings.  As a homage to Jefferson, a recipe for Macaroni and Cheese is included.

Finally, Week Four teaches about James Madison and his wife, Dolley. We learned that Madison was rather small in stature (5'4'' and only 100lbs) but accomplished big things.  From drafting the prototype for the US Constitution, developing a system of governmental checks and balances, writing the Federalist Papers that explained our republican form of government, students learn that Madison was very important in molding our country into where we are today.  While Dolley Madison's favorite ice cream flavor was Oyster flavored, luckily students are invited to make a vanilla ice cream at the end of this weeks lessons.

For each of these weeks, the kids and I checked out biographies about each of these founding fathers from our library to read in addition to the text included with the lesson.. Also included with the lessons were links for videos and outside websites (all family safe) to research more about either the President, his family, or topics that relate to them (such as the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment while learning about  John Adams).  While we weren't able to make the cherry pie at this time (we are planning on saving it for Thanksgiving), we did make the Macaroni and Cheese recipe, which calls for cooking in a cast iron skillet..  This quickly became our new favorite Mac and cheese recipe!!   Unfortunately, it was so good that it was devoured before I thought to take a picture. LOL

This turned out to be a great learning experience for the kids and definitely a unit study that we will revisit a bit later down the road.

To learn more about Homeschool Legacy and their many Once-A-Week studies, visit their website or find them on facebook at : https://www.facebook.com/homeschoollegacy/ .  Also, be sure to click the banner below to read the reviews of other crew members who got to use one of 6 different studies and see what they thought :)