Disclaimer~ I received a COMPLEMENTARY copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Homeschooling high school English literature does not have to be difficult! Recently, we were given the opportunity to review the Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press. We were sent the download link for the study guide. Once, we got the download, we headed to the library to check out Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Therese has been wanting to read this book for a while now.
Progeny Press is a Christian company that offers homeschooling families a large, wonderful selection of study guides that help students gain valuable insight into strong, classic literature books. We have used a few of the other study guides from Progeny Press throughout the years.
What are the E-Guide Study Guides from Progeny Press?
The literature study guides come in an E-guide form and can be easily downloaded. They cost around $22.00. The Frankenstein Study Guide is recommended for students in grades 10th-12th grade. The study guides can be used in two different ways. The interactive study guide can be opened with Adobe Reader which allows the student to fill in their answers directly into the study guide while working on the computer. The second way the study guide can be used is by printing out the pages for multiple students to use. I always chose to print out the entire study guide. I then place the pages in a small binder, so they can work through it as they read the book. This helps with writing skills and penmanship! I print the entire study guide out at one time, but of course, families can choose to print the lessons out one at a time too.
The purpose of the study guides is to help students better understand the literature they are reading. The guides help students understand how the authors craft their stories, understand the themes being presented, and the ideas introduced during the story. The guides allow students to dig deeper into the literature. For the high school guides, students should be able to complete them in 8-10 weeks. If students work through the study guides for 8 weeks, families can complete 4 different literature guides during the school year. These guides are a great way to complete a high school English literature course.
How was the Frankenstein Study Guide Set Up?
The Frankenstein Study Guide is broken up into 16 sections.
The first section is for the teacher/instructor. This section completely explains how to use the study guide.
Next up is the brief synopsis of the story. This provides the students with a brief summary of the story, introduces them to the plot, and important characters from the story. This section is followed by an introduction to the author. Here students will read a brief biography about the author. They can easily research for more information about the author. This would make a great topic for a small research paper.
The next section is an introduction to the time period when Frankenstein was written. This section gives students some knowledge of the scientific discoveries that were taking place at this time. Students are introduced to the literary movements of the time: Classicism, Rationalism, Romanticism, and Gothic are discussed. Students will also be informed about the 2 great revolutions happening at this time, the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Pre-Reading activities are up next. This section gives ideas for various projects the students can work on before they begin reading the book. Research the time period, read Faust or the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Write a paper about the book read. Mapwork and research bioelectricity are other topics students may want to research. All of these are some great ideas presented to the student to further their knowledge and learning.
The next few sections are where the chapters are broken up.
Letters I-IV
Chapters 1-3
Chapters 4-6
Chapters 7-10
Chapters 11-16
Chapters 17-22
Chapters 23 & 24
These sections are to be completed by the student once they complete the story. They can use their books to help answer the questions. They should also have a dictionary, thesaurus, and a Bible ready to use too. Each of the sections is broken up into different topics.
Vocabulary
Logical Thinking
Questions for Comprehension
Questions for Analysis
Dig Deeper Questions
Optional Activities for Students to complete (art projects, research papers, history projects, and science projects)
The next section is the overview. This section discusses plot, characters, and literary terms like conflict.
Optional Essays is the next section. This section gives students a few more ideas for a writing assignment to complete. They can choose from a compare and contrast paper, a research paper, a literature analysis, and so many others. A few even have references to the Bible to bring faith into the lessons.
The last section in the study guide for the students is the additional resource page. This provides students with other stories written by Mary Shelley, other stories similar in style, and videos and movies to watch.
Each study guide comes with a full answer key. This comes as a separate download so that only the instructor has access to it. I do not print this out. I just look at the answer key on the computer when I need to check Michael's and Therese's answers. I do grade the study guide as part of their English grade.
How Did We Use the Frankenstein Study Guide?
I opted to print out the study guide for Therese. She was already wanting to read Frankenstein, so it worked well for her. Michael was not part of this review. I printed the entire study guide out, 3-hole punched the pages, and then placed them in a sturdy binder.
I had Therese read the book first. Then she worked on the chapters according to how they are broken up in the guide. She worked on the study guide 3 times a week this time since she was already reading quite a few other books for her U.S. history class.
What Did We Think of the Frankenstein Study Guide?
I love how the study guides go along with great classic novels. I love the ability to be able to print the guides for both my kids. Since the study guides are reproducible, I can easily print two copies off and save money at the same time. One thing I like is how the company has a Pinterest board for each of its study guides. These boards provided more activities to utilize. I loved the recipe section to go along with the books! These added activities really make a Literature class come to life.
Discover more about Progeny Press. Find them on social media.
The Review Crew was given the opportunity to review four different study guides.
Wagon Wheels for Grades 1st-3rd
Cricket in Time Square for Grades 4th-6th (a great book for Christmas)
Redwall for Grades 5th-10th
Frankenstein for Grades 10th-12th
Want to learn more about any of these other study guides?
Click the picture below and find out more!
Till Next Time,
Monique
