Progeny Press' Perelandra - eGuide (Interactive) Review

Progeny Press makes earning High School Literature credits easy with high school level study guides such as Perelandra - eGuide. Perelandra is C.S. Lewis' second book in his trilogy Space Trilogy.  C.S. Lewis' Narnia is a favorite of mine which is why I chose this eGuide for my student. The book and interactive eGuide will help the student learn many important skills from famous authors and information such as about the author, research skills, vocabulary words, literary techniques, moral lessons and character values to putting the knowledge to test in writing assignments and activities. Upon completion, the student will have the opportunity to pursue other books by the author or like minded authors and topics. 

If you have never heard of C.S. Lewis' Perelandra, here is a summary of the second book in his trilogy:

A world of seas and floating, multicolored islands, Perelandra is filled with mystical creatures and almost overpowering pleasures. Only two people inhabit this Garden of Eden - the beautiful and innocent Green Lady, and the King, from whom she has been separated. But shortly after Ransom arrives, so does another man from Earth, a man named Weston. Ransom and Weston had tangled before on Malacandra where Weston's mission had been the extermination of the native races in preparation for human colonization. Ransom expects no better in this Perelandrian confrontation. Can Dr. Ransom keep the two original people from following the human race into sin? Full of rich and imaginative description and practical insights into sin and temptation.

The guide is downloadable making it not only quicker to use as there is no wait for shipping but it doesn't require any additional software since it opens in Adobe which is free. It is an interactive eGuide so the student can complete it online and you can grade it online. 

It is broken down into easy to follow sections:

• Note to Instructor
• Synopsis
• Background Information
• Synopsis of Out of the Silent Planet
• About the Author
• Prereading Activities
• Chapters 1 & 2
• Chapters 3 & 4
• Chapters 5 & 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapters 8 & 9
• Chapters 10 & 11
• Chapters 12, 13 & 14
• Chapters 15, 16 & 17
• Essays and Activities
• Additional Resources
• Answer Key

As you can see from the Table of Contents, it's quite robust and it's really an in-depth learning opportunity for your student to dive into an author of this magnitude and one of his best works. To me, I have budding authors in this house to include myself, so having the opportunity to oversea my student's work with curriculum such as this is a thrill. This eGuide is meant to show the student how to better enjoy literature and to notice how each author crafted their stories and how to think through themes and ideas throughout the story. Each section, within the Table of Contents, breaks it down into easy to understand sections that aren't too long or laborious. My students have low attention spans so this allowed us to complete the activities and lessons in a manner more suited for her skill level.

Some of the other things I liked about Progeny Press' Perelandra - eGuide were:

• Suggested use of a dictionary, a thesaurus and a Bible as all three are important books to master.
• The entire eGuide is suggested to take eight to ten weeks for most middle and high school level students. The suggestion is to have the student read the novel entirely during the first week and then utilize the eGuide for the remainder of time.
• Most Christian high schools Progeny Press has spoken to have assigned a one-fourth credit to each study guide!
• All websites noted in the eGuide have been checked to ensure they are safe for our students.
• The Synopsis allows the student the chance to reinforce what they just read in the novel and to ensure they fully understood what they read and grabbed the key points that go along with the eGuide.
• The pages that require student responses allows the student to type in their answers if they opt to utilize the eGuide online which I did like. Interactive guides provide the student more than just a print out which is nice and some students prefer to type in this day and age. Since there are many opportunities to write elsewhere, I was definitely good with this option.
• Each chapter section is usually a combination of two or three chapters that begins with a vocabulary section, questions that challenge the student's knowledge and what they have read, an analysis section and a section to dig deeper. This requires the student to really think about what they read and to interpret what the author was trying to say. This was always a difficult area for me in school as my interpretation always seemed to not be the same as the teacher's. Although I'm not a huge fan of this, I am when it comes to teaching it because there is no escaping this way of thinking from not only high school to college but also within many careers.
• The section on Essays and Activities is well rounded from focusing on Point of View lessons to reading Genesis and creating a list of similarities. It's an array of extra activities that will surely inspire the student to learn more. 
• I found the eGuide was also flexible and I could guide my student around an activity if they weren't really keen on completing it. 

Here is a sample page from Dig Deeper:

Overall, my student did like the eGuide but I think it was too intensive for her as she's 15 but has some learning disabilities from having epilepsy. I am going to retry it with her in a year where I think it will be better suited. I know my robust 11 year old would thrive with this and I will try another eGuide for her to use next. I, myself, really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I would recommend Progeny Press and their interactive eGuides particulary Perelandra - eGuide as there was a lot of pre-work done to write these comprehensive, interactive guides.

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