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.
Using a study guide for a novel your child is reading is a great way to enhance learning. My daughter and I used Animal Farm Study Guide by Progeny Press and want to share a review on this fantastic resource for homeschoolers. The Animal Farm Study Guide will help you lead thoughtful discussions with your teen to develop deep understanding and critical thinking skills.
What’s Inside the Animal Farm Study Guide
The Animal Farm Study Guide is for grades 9-12 and takes about 8-10 weeks to complete. It’s equivalent to one-fourth high school credit. Here’s what inside the guide:
- About the Study Guide Author
- Note to Instructor
- Synopsis
- About the Novel’s Author
- Chapter Sections
- Vocabulary
- Analogous Characters and Events
- General
- Analysis
- Dig Deeper
- Optional Projects and Activties
- Overview
- Optional Essays and Projects
- List of Additional Resources
A Closer Look at Chapter Sections
Vocabulary
The vocabulary activities vary from chapter to chapter, so your child won’t get bored using the same approach to learn and understand new words.
Here’s a list of the types of activities:
- finding synonyms and antonyms in a thesaurus
- looking up words and giving definitions
- creating definitions based on the context of a sentence from the chapter
- learning about archaic words
- matching words from a word bank to their definitions with the help of a dictionary, if needed
- analyzing the meaning of words in the novel and showing understanding by writing unique sentences with those words
- choosing the best meaning from three options
- using only context cues to figure out meanings
Analogous Characters and Events
Animal Farm is an allegory, so it’s fun to think about who each character in the story represents in real life. When we listened to the novel, I would keep trying to guess what historical event the current situation with the animals was referring to.
The analogous characters and events section was key to understanding a significant piece of history and the context of the story. The study guide matches up the characters and events to the historical people and events. After researching, students write a few sentences that describe these connections and relevance to the chapter.
For example,
Napoleon’s dogs represent Stalin’s secret police.
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 27
General
General refers to general questions about the chapter that are quick and easy to answer. These recall questions are good for reviewing the significant events of the chapter. They also let you know whether or not your child read the chapter if you assign them independent reading.
For example,
What is Boxer’s personal motto and answer to every difficulty?
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 21
Analysis
The analysis section of each chapter has questions that take more time and thought. These questions tend to be more open-ended or have multiple answers. Questions starting with “why do you think…,” or “find an example in the chapter that…” require searching and reasoning skills.
For example,
Why do you think Old Major’s skull has now been taken down and buried? What is the significance of this change?
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 58
The analysis section is also where students will find literary terms and other terminology. The study guide explains what the terms mean and gives examples. Then the student is asked to find instances of those terms in the chapter.
For example,
The mood of a story is the feeling or atmosphere an author creates for his readers. An author will set the mood through the use of specific words, phrases, or descriptions that have feelings connected to them. What is the mood at the end of Chapter VII? Give several examples from the novel to demonstrate how the author communicates the mood.
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 36
Dig Deeper
The dig deeper section of the chapters brings up topics like anxiety, fear, decision making, consequences, loyalty, and leadership. The questions are designed to get student to think critically about the behavior of the characters in the story. What are the implications of their behavior and why did they act that way?
For example,
Why do you think so many of the animals in Chapter VII confess to things they did not do when they know they will be killed?
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 38
The dig deeper section is also where you’ll find scripture references and questions that will help students make connections between the text and their own lives.
For example,
Read Matthew 6:1-6 and Mark 12:38-40. What do these verses and the verses in the previous question tell us about the ways that we ourselves should think about seeking praise and recognition from other people?
Animal Farm Study Guide, p. 46
Optional Projects and Activities
The Animal Farm Study Guide gives ample opportunities to take learning further. You could spend days extending topics into research papers, art projects, bible studies, building projects, discussions, and debates.
What’s Inside the Answer Key
The Animal Farm Study Guide Answer Key contains detailed answers and discussions for all the chapter sections including vocabulary, analogous characters and events, general, analysis, and dig deeper.
How We Used Animal Farm Study Guide
Before Reading the Book
First, I spent time getting familiar with the Animal Farm Study Guide. I read the note to instructor, synopsis, and the page about the author. I’d never read Animal Farm before, so this was helpful information for me. I also looked through the chapter activities to get a feel for what to expect.
Next, I discussed the background information, which was terminology about types of governing systems and economic systems, to prepare my daughter for the main topic of the allegory. I also read her the short biography about George Orwell. (It was interesting to revisit his biography at the end, after we could appreciate how his personal life story influenced his writing of Animal Farm.) And we didn’t know that he wrote under a pen name!
Technically, we didn’t do the optional pre-reading activities. However, we did talk about how Animal Farm is an allegory, like Pilgrim’s Progress and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I explained how this allegory would pertain to Joseph Stalin and communism.
Reading the Book
After gaining some background knowledge we were ready to dive into the novel. My daughter and I (and little brother too) listened to the audio version of Animal Farm over the course of a few days. Our library was still closed at the time, and we knew it would take too long to order a copy of the book through the mail. We really enjoyed this relaxing time of listening while coloring, and the experience sparked a new interest in audio books in our family!
After Reading the Book
After hearing the entire story, we decided to work through many portions of the study guide orally.
When our library reopened, I was able to locate a copy of the book, so I assigned at least one whole chapter of the unit study for my daughter to do independently. I printed it out, and she worked on it over a few days.
What We Loved About Animal Farm Study Guide
Comprehensive
The Animal Farm Study Guide is comprehensive. There is so much information stuffed into the guide! The author has left nothing out. He’s approached the novel from different angles, giving you plenty of concepts and ideas to explore.
Teaches Literary Techniques
Literary techniques are taught and discussed within the context of the chapters, so students see actual examples. Students learn to identify the techniques and explain their impact.
Variety of Projects
Several additional project ideas are included to make the study even more interesting. And because they incorporate other subjects, like research writing, art, and science, you can easily find a project that fits your child’s curiosity and strengths. My daughter likes to write, so she chose some writing and creative activities. But if my son were old enough, I’m sure he’d choose to construct a windmill.
Earn Credit
With just four unit studies from Progeny Press you can earn one credit of high school literature.
Interactive
The guide is an interactive pdf meaning that your child type her answers directly into the highlighted areas on the pdf and save her answers. You can print the guide, but you have the option of going paperless.
Christian Perspective
The guide asks students to read passages of scripture and relates those passages to significant events and themes in the story. Approaching Animal Farm from a Christian perspective makes the lessons learned personal as kids make connections between the experiences of the characters to experiences in their own lives. How does knowing Jesus shed a different light on a situation or change your perspective?
Gives Parents Confidence
The answer guide is so thorough that I didn’t need to go searching elsewhere to supplement or expand on the topic. For open-ended questions or ones that may have more than one answer, the answer guide provided several examples of possible answers. These thorough answers gave me what I needed to go more in- depth when we discussed the answers. If my daughter’s answers were simple, I could elaborate and help her uncover more information or meaning.
I had never read Animal Farm before, nor did I feel qualified to guide my child in a literature study. The Animal Farm answer guide gave me the confidence I needed, because I could trust the quality and expertise of the resource.
Conclusion
When you finish the Animal Farm Study Guide, your child will feel like an expert on the topic of Stalin and socialism at its best and worst. He or she will have a new understanding of allegory and literary techniques that authors use in their texts. Animal Farm is worth a read, but when you pair it with the Animal Farm Study Guide from Progeny Press you take it to a whole new level.
We welcomed the challenge of critical thinking that the questions demanded of us. When your teenager looks forward to working on a study guide, that says a lot. The Animal Farm Study Guide didn’t feel like work to my daughter. She found it enjoyable and thought-provoking.
Using the Animal Farm Study Guide was a highlight of our day during the past weeks. We look forward to using other Progeny Press study guides in the future. Just a few of almost fifty titles for high school include A Tale of Two Cities, Fahrenheit 451, Jane Eyre, and The Old Man and the Sea. If you’d like to read more reviews about this study guide and other study guide titles for teens or younger children, please visit Homeschool Review Crew.
