The Cricket in Times Square Study Guide and Frankenstein Study Guide from Progeny Press Review

Disclosure:  I received this complimentary product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

 

We were given the opportunity to review Cricket in Times Square Study Guide (Grade 4-6) and Frankenstein Study Guide (Grades 10-12) from Progeny Press.

 

David read The Cricket in Times Square to the kids at bedtime.

We received digital study guides which is great because they are reproducible and can be used with multiple students whether a large family or in a CoOp setting.  You can choose to print the whole guide at once, print single lessons or print pages as your student needs them.  I printed our whole guide and put it into a 3-ring binder.

 

Our study guide and book.

 

A look into our binder with our study guide.

Above you can see our guide Table of Contents.  This breaks our guide into several sections including

• notes to the instructor
• about the author
• background information
• ideas for pre-reading activities
• Chapters 1-4
• Chapters 5 & 6
• Chapters 7-9
• Chapters 10 & 11
• Chapters 12 & 13
• Chapters 14 & 15
• Summary
• Ideas for post-reading activities
• additional resources & the
• answer key.
  

One of the pre-reading activities was to research the life cycle of the common house cricket.  The younger kids also colored pictures of crickets for fun 😉.

Cricket Life Cycle

One of the kids coloring pages.

 

I love all the content within our study guide.  Children will learn new vocabulary, have writing assignments, answer reading comprehension questions, complete optional projects, answer deeper questions including ones that refer to Bible passages and more!  Progeny Press guides are a fabulous resource to have for diving deeper into a particular book and I'm so thankful to have all the guides that we do.

 

Above you can see some of E's answers for a few reading comprehension questions along with the answer key.  I really appreciate having the answer key available for all the questions for easy reference and grading.

 

A closer view of E's answers.

Here are the covers of both our digital study guides.

These guides teach critical thinking, analysis, literary techniques, and studying the issues and themes in the books from a Biblical perspective.  I like that you can choose to use these as a full literature curriculum or you can use these to supplement other programs.  We have not used our Frankenstein Guide yet but I plan to dive into it with the older kids over the holiday break.  It's going to be fun!  Stay tuned for more on that.

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Science Mind Benders®: Animals from The Critical Thinking Co.™ Review

Disclosure:  I received this complimentary product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW.

We love science in our home so I was super excited to receive Science Mind Benders®: Animals from The Critical Thinking Co.™.   This book is geared for ages 3-8 or PreK - 2nd.  I absolutely love that this book combines puzzles with science information, such a fun way to learn!

The younger boys with our book!

Our book has 88 pages with colorful illustrations that offer lessons in both science and deductive thinking.  These lessons are easy to follow and the boys really appreciate all the visuals.  Every lesson is followed by a Mind Bender®  activity that requires using the concepts that students just learned - right away application!

Table of Contents

What science concepts are contained in our book?  Students will learn about vertebrates and invertebrates, warm blooded and cold blooded, mammals and reptiles, fish and amphibians, carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, birds, and camouflage.

For those not familiar, it walks you through how to solve a Mind Bender® puzzle.

Each lesson is set-up the same.  The topic is introduced with information and colorful illustrations.  It is followed by multiple activities - listening, matching, drawing, puzzles, etc.  Students are then shown interesting animals within that particular lesson and then there is a review.

All answers can be found within the answer key at the back of the book.

Our book is reproducible within out own home and that is how we used the activity pages.  I scanned and printed them out for the boys to complete.

The boys learning about vertebrates and invertebrates.  I even brought out my homemade backbone that I made a few years ago with pool noodles and ponytail holders.

Working together on the puzzle with the clue information.

Still working...

Their finished puzzle, which had the correct answers.

I think this is such a great resource to have with the younger boys.  They are really enjoying it.  It keeps them engaged and is teaching them concepts they are unfamiliar with.  I absolutely love that they have to use the information that they learned to really think in the follow-up activities.  I plan on completing this book with them this year as an add-on to their science!

Want to know more?  Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of The Critical Thinking Co.™ Science Mind Benders®: Animals as well as some of their other products.

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Mind Benders 7 Review

I have something to share with you today from Timberdoodle, Mind Benders 7!  Mind Benders is published by The Critical Thinking Co. and this book, level 7, is geared for students in grades 7-12th and beyond.  Our book is 62 pages and has 23 activities to complete.  While this is a consumable book, you do have the ability to reproduce it within your own home or classroom so I can make copies for A-D without having to buy them each a book 😃.

Our book gives a sample puzzle and walks you through how to solve it.  This is particularly helpful if you have never solved a puzzle like this.

I absolutely love these types of deductive, logic puzzles.  They were my favorite when I was a kid.  Mind Benders help students develop vital logic, reading comprehension and mental organization skills that will help them with future test taking and problem solving life skills.

1st puzzle in our book - Pets at Home

With Mind Benders, students learn how to analyze each story and its clues.  The biggest key is to start with the most obvious associations, then deduce the less obvious associations until you can fit everything together and solve the puzzle.  I usually have to read through the clues multiple times, filling in the chart as I pick up on more and more as I go.

Our completed puzzle

I really appreciate that our book includes step-by-step instructions and detailed answers for each of the 23 puzzles.  You can see above how to solve this puzzle and what information can be deduced from each of the clues given.

I plan on having the older 4 kids work their way through this book throughout this upcoming school year.  I will most likely give them a puzzle a week with the challenge of seeing who can correctly solve it the fastest.  I plan on competing with them as well!

 

Mind Benders 7 is such a fun way to incorporate logic skills into your homeschool and I highly recommend it!

 

Disclosure:  Huge shout out to Timberdoodle for selecting me as a Timberdoodle Blogger.  I received Mind Benders 7 at a discount in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

Creative Problem Solving Level 1 from The Critical Thinking Co.™ Review

{Disclaimer:  I received a FREE 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.}


I love all the critical thinking resources for students that The Critical Thinking Co.™ provides.  We are currently enjoying Creative Problem Solving Level 1 as a family in our homeschool.  This book is geared for students PreK - 2nd.  While I'm mostly using our book with E and F, I'm enjoying asking the other kids for their ideas as well, regardless of their age.

I love that this book encourages creative, independent thought for coming up with solutions to various challenges.  This is especially important if you have children that see the world in black and white.  Having an opportunity for them to imagine and challenge themselves is both rewarding and beneficial.  I want my kids to be able to unlock the power of their imagination and this is the perfect outlet to explore that.

This can be viewed as a stand alone activity book and would work well as a supplement to most curriculums.

Table of Contents

Our book is divided into 11 sections:

• The Magic Pencil (students use their pencil to draw creative ways to fix a problem)
• The Creature Factory (students draw a creature with the best survival skills to survive in a unique habitat)
• Superheroes and Super Powers (students choose special powers to help in an emergency)
• Alien Designer (students draw a design to fit the specific needs of an alien)
• The Inventor (students find a solution to someone's problem)
• The Crisis Specialist (students must decide the order of steps to take to help in an emergency situation)
• The Best Tool (students must choose the best tool to help in a situation)
• The Enigma (students must use their imagination to discover the enigmas)
• The Mind Ride (students must shut their eyes and imagine they are a character in a story)
• 2-D and 3-D Figures and Shading (students have fun playing with 2-D and 3-D figures)
• Play With Mechanisms (students come up with solutions for issues with mechanisms)

Magic Pencil Challenge 3 and 4

Let's jump into a couple Magic Pencil challenges.  In Challenge 3, there is a boy that wants to eat a piece of cake.  Students must use their "magic" pencil to save the cake from the boy.

 E's solution was to create a cake dome to protect the slice of cake.  It will also keep it fresh 😉.

In Challenge 4, Ana wants to eat a coconut but she is unable to reach it.  Students have to use their "magic" pencil to help her get it without using a ladder.

 E gave Ana spring shoes to reach the coconut. 💟

 Magic Pencil Challenge 19 and 20

Let's look at two more.  In Challenge 19, lightning is going to strike an umbrella that a man is holding.  Students must use their "magic" pencil to keep the man safe.

Solution - put the man inside a house.  This one cracked me up.

In Challenge 20, Nicole is about to touch a very hot cup!  Students have to use their "magic" pencil to prevent her from getting burned.

Solution - oven mitts - an easy peasy option.

The Creature Factory Challenge 9: Planet Extreme Weather

Now, I'd like to show you a challenge from The Creature Factory.  In the above challenge students are told that on planet Extreme Weather, the mornings are very hot and dry while the nights are cold and snowy.  They planet has cacti all over.  Students are asked to draw a creature they think could survive in this habitat.  Give it a name and why do you think it would survive.

E's creature named Blue

Here is E's description of her creature.  This new creature's name is Blue because the only color it has is blue.  He sleeps in the day and is awake at night.  He has sharp claws to dig holes in the ground at daytime for him to sleep in and a strong coat of fur to protect him from cacti and keep him warm at nighttime. 

A look at a solution from the Superheroes and Super Powers challenges.

Alien Designer Challenge 2: Bushie's Sweater

Above, you can see the sweater design that B created for Bushie (a bear-tree alien).  I like how you sew him into it and then cut it right off after winter is over.

The Inventor Challenge 8: Ball Picker Upper

And you can also see C's solution for picking up balls.  He invented a container with a robotic arm with a hand on the end that is set to pick up round, spherical objects.  One of these could be really useful in our home 😉.

I am not going to show you every problem in our book but I hope that you can see how the problems throughout our book are fun and engaging.  And a feature that I love, there are no right or wrong solutions!  As long as you can rationally explain your idea, then it is a viable one.  Younger students who cannot read yet will need the challenges read to them.  Also, if your student is young and cannot write or doesn't like to draw, they can give you verbal explanations.  This book is designed to get students to think!  If you are looking for a critical thinking resource to add to your homeschool this is a great one to consider.  I highly recommend visiting The Critical Thinking Co.™ as they have a plethora of exceptional products and resources.

I appreciate that this book is reproducible within our homeschool so several of the kids can come up with their own unique ideas for the same problem {you can see the full copyright reproduction rights here if you are interested}.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read even more reviews of The Critical Thinking Co.™.

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Little House on the Prairie Study Guide and The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide from Progeny Press Review

We were given the opportunity to review Little House on the Prairie Study Guide (Grade 4-6) and The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide (Grades K-3) from Progeny Press.  We received digital guides which is great because they are reproducible and can be used with multiple students whether a large family or in a CoOp setting.  You can choose to print the whole guide at once, print single lessons or print pages as your student needs them.

Progeny Press History
Progeny Press is a family-owned and run business since 1992.  Michael and Rebecca Gilleland were looking for literature studies that helped teach classic cultural literature from a Christian perspective when they started homeschooling in 1991.  They ended up creating their own study guides to fill the gap and it was a hit with local Christian schools.  They have grown from 18 study guides available in 1993 to over 110 current study guides covering grades K-12.  I personally love their mission statement - "To teach our children to think clearly, to understand literature, and to rely on the scripture for truth and values, and enjoy themselves while they do it".

Here are the covers of our digital study guides.

These guides teach critical thinking, analysis, literary techniques, and studying the issues and themes in the books from a Biblical perspective.  I like that you can choose to use these as a full literature curriculum or you can use these to supplement other programs.  The Long Way to a New Land was already one of E's reading books this year so it has been great using this study guide with her as she reads through the book.  She actually read through the book very quickly as one of her reading assignments but this guide has helped me have her slow down and really dig into the literature as we press into more than just reading the words.

In the lessons within both of our study guides there is a synopsis of the book, background information, author information, pre-reading activities, analysis for each chapter, post-reading activities as well as additional analysis and resources.  There is vocabulary included along with the discussion question in the chapter analysis sections.  There are also Dig Deeper sections that include Bible verses and help show life application.

 We circled the pre-reading activities we chose to do.

E making some flags from the countries of some of her ancestors.

 Here are a few finished flags.

Here E is showing me the route taken by Carl Erik and his family from Sweden to America.

 Tracing the route on our globe.

 E enjoyed the chapter worksheets.

 Here is an example of how vocabulary is included into the chapter analysis sections.

The Dig Deeper sections are a chance to pull out your Bible and see how scripture can be a part of your daily life.

All the guides have full answer keys which I really appreciate.  There are also Pinterest boards for every guide with hand-on projects ideas for kinesthetic learners and those that want more.

We are about to jump into our next guide on Little House on the Prairie and I'm so excited because I absolutely love this book.  A cool feature for the guides grade 4 and beyond is that the e-book pdf has fillable fields so students can work directly from a computer.  I'm looking forward to D using this feature as she completes this guide.

Above you can see what I'm talking about for fillable fields.  Students just type the answers directly below the questions, love this feature!

I think these guides are a great resource and help provide a rich literature study at an extremely affordable price.  I also really love that they have a Christian perspective.  I highly recommend them.

Be sure to click on the banner below to visit the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews of Progeny Press and check out some of their other products including the Shadow Spinner Study Guide (Grades 5-8), The Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide (Grades 9-12) as well as other reviews of Little House on the Prairie Study Guide (Grade 4-6) and The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide (Grades K-3).

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Click below to find our more about The Long Way to a New Land Study Guide including the option to buy it now.

You can also find our more about the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide including the option to buy it now.