Progeny Press - TOS Review

Reading a book alone is part of being educated but there are times that you want to dig a bit deeper into the book. Study Guides are one way to do this. I was recently given the opportunity to review Sam the Minuteman Study Guide from Progeny Press.


Progeny Press began in 1992 by Michael and Rebecca Gilliland. It was created to meet the need for guides to help explain and examine literature all from a Christian viewpoint. One of the goals is for the student to be able to understand and analyse literature. They have over 110 study guides available.

I received an E-Guide for Sam the Minuteman to review. I had a bit of problems downloading the book but Progeny Press was helpful in resolving the issues I had. I downloaded it and had it printed. I found it easy to just go ahead and print the whole guide at one time. I think I like to be able to see and flip the pages. I want a paper copy.

I selected Sam the Minuteman as I thought this would be a great supplement to where we are in our history studies. I ended up having more of a problem getting the book than I thought. Most of the books are available in your library or online.

Sam the Minuteman by Nathaniel Benchley is part of the An I Can Read Book is written at a Level 3 for Grades 2-4 level. The Progeny Press study guide states for Grade 1-3. I think this is the first Level 3 book that she has read. I could tell that this was stretching her. There were a number of words that she did not know.

This is the first time that I have used a study with Miss K. I have used a few with J in the past. We did this together which gave me time to see how she was understanding the story and how she was processing it. One of the first activities was using the dictionary to look up words. That was the first time that she has used a dictionary.

Some of the other activities in the book included talking about the mood that the author creates, cause and effect, word pictures and a few other things. I could tell that some of these areas were really pushing and stretching for Miss K. She did like the word pictures and thought that calling the British soldiers Lobster Backs was funny. She enjoyed the crossword puzzle.

Progeny Press writes the study guides with a Christian worldview. While you might be reading and studying a book that is not necessarily Christian in writing, there are Christian principles that are taught. One of the principles in this book was courage. There was also a discussion about anger as it related to the story and also examples from the Bible.

Using a study guide exposed Miss K to some new areas of learning. It also showed me some areas that she does not yet understand.

Study guides give a deeper understanding of the story. I was impressed with this study guide and would consider others from Progeny Press.



Beth