Progeny Press-The Hobbit-Review

This is the second time Progeny Press has supplied me with a study guide to review.  This year we got The Hobbit.  Katie, my 10th grader, has been working on this.  She is a lover of all things Lord of the Rings so this was a perfect study for her.

While you can order the study guide in a printed format or on CD we received the instant download version which is what I will be referring to.

The Hobbit study guide is a 62 page interactive pdf.  It also comes with an 8 page answer key, also on pdf. Each study guide can be counted for a 1/4 credit for a high school student. Students are able to type in answers or click for multiple choice questions.

Katie does her study each day on her computer and at the end of the week she e-mails it to me for correcting.  I love that we can do that electronically AND that we have the option to print the study and do it that way as well if we want to.  I find it easier to correct and go over with her by printing it so that is what I've done.

The suggested pace of this study is 1 section per week, but Katie has been completing more than this (because she wanted to).  It should take a typical student about 8-10 weeks to complete any of the high school studies. This seems like a good pace to me.

The guide begins with a how to use section for the teacher/parent, a synopsis of the story, a page about the author and pre-reading ideas including some map work, nature study and a music project.

Next is the actual study guide which covers a lot of vocabulary along with parts of speech and literary topics such as characterization, metaphors, epithets, similes, setting, synonyms, antonyms, parallelism, irony and more. Next you will find Questions about the Story, a Thinking About It section where various topics are explored and finally the last section in each chapter is called Digging Deeper; This section covers biblical principles relating the story to real life.

Here is a screen shot clip of a vocab/parts of speech question:

Not all of the vocabulary in the study is multiple choice. This is just one example.

And a clip of one of the Dig Deeper questions:

One of the really neat things about a pdf study guide is that I can make comments on Katie's work and e-mail it back to her.  It really makes doing this completely on the computer not only possible but kind of fun too.  (Of course I am not doing it this way, but I like that I could.)

Here is a screen shot of a sample comment:

You will also find projects and writing projects to be completed at the end of the study (and some within the study as well) and a list of additional resources (books and videos) that could be used.  An 8-page answer key also comes with the study.  I like how they condense the answer key down to just a few pages so I don't have to use a lot of ink and paper printing it (I could just use it on the screen, but again, I prefer to have it on paper in front of me.)

I like how so many different things are combined into one study.  Literary analysis, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and Biblical instruction all rolled into one convenient, affordable download.  I also like the variety of multiple choice, fill in the blanks AND lots of questions that require thought and writing out (or typing as the case may be) the answers.

I also love that we will be able to use these for years to come with other children, making Progeny Press study guides perfect for large families like mine.  As mentioned in my previous review of 2 other Progeny Press Study Guides, we plan to use more of these in the future.

 The Hobbit Study Guide is available in 3 formats:

$21.99 Printed Booklet
$18.99 CD
$18.99 Instant Download

Progeny Press has study guides for many titles for all ages. Each guide concentrates on critical thinking, comprehension, literary analysis, and Christian application.  Visit the FAQ page if you have questions (or feel free to ask in the comments and I'll answer if I can!) You read more about Progeny Press, its founders and their mission and faith statements as well.

Read what others are saying about Progeny Press on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog. I am looking forward to reading the reviews of the other titles crew members are doing.

Progeny Press

We were recently given the opportunity to review two different Progeny Press study guides.  Both guides were in an interactive pdf format. I received the student interactive guide as well as the answer keys.

Progeny Press has over 100 study guides for literature, covering kindergarten through high school. Progeny Press study guides concentrate on critical thinking, comprehension, literary analysis, and Christian application. Our goal is to teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it. -from website





Each guide begins with a synopsis of the story and a short biography of the author followed by background information.  It is recommended that the student read the entire book and complete some pre-reading activities to go along with this such as mapping and short research projects.  Once the student has read through the entire book they begin to go through the guide chapter by chapter.  The sections begin with vocabulary...sometimes there is matching, sometimes students will write out definitions type them), other times there are fun activities like crossword puzzles.  Then there are a variety of questions to be answered.  Click here for an interactive sampling of a variety of studies where you can get a feel for it.

Sample of drop down boxes for entering answers.

As I mentioned, they recommend you read through the whole book first but I think that it can cause confusion when answering some of the questions. For instance, one question in the first section asks the student, "What questions do you have about Daniel that the author has not yet answered after two chapters of reading?" I think after reading the whole book it makes it more difficult to answer questions like this because you already do know much more about the character because you have read the entire book.  I'm not sure that I see the benefit in reading it all ahead.  Also, if you have a student that doesn't love reading they probably will not want to read the story twice.  (I like to read and I don't usually like to read the same book twice...especially fiction.)  I recognize the idea behind it I just don't necessarily think it's practical.

The Bronze Bow guide is 60 pages long while the answer key is only 8 pages making it ideal to print out for easy correcting without switching back and forth between two pdf documents.



The interactive feature on these make these a great tool especially for older students.  My daughter was able to complete her assignments and e-mail them to me for correcting.  I can't say that she was as thrilled with it as I am but it IS schoolwork. :)  I know that she didn't like the way the vocabulary word bank was on one page and the page where you put the answers in on another so she had to flip back and forth and found that frustrating but you could easily print out the word bank page to eliminate that problem.  One study should take about 8-12 weeks.  So for a high school student you would probably want to choose 4 studies for a year of English literature.  This seems to be an appropriate amount to me.

I especially like how these guides incorporate the Bible.  I think we will be using more of these studies in the future.

If you have questions please visit the FAQ page or ask here and I'll answer if I can.

The Bronze Bow study guide is available as a pdf interactive document for $16.99.   Pride and Prejudice is also available as a pdf interactive document for $18.99.  CD and booklet versions are also available at varying prices. There is a $3 processing fee for each pdf order so if you plan to order more than one you will want to take that into consideration and order at one time to save money. The company manually sends the studies so note that it may take a day or two to get your study.

 Go to Progeny Press to see their extensive line of study guides. You can search by genre or grade level.

Read what others are saying about Progeny Press guides on the TOS crew blog.


disclaimer: I received a free copy of The Bronze Bow Study Guide and The Pride and Prejudice Study Guide in exchange for an honest review.