ereks mom Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I'd prefer a free download, but will consider paying for a download or ordering a print version, as long as it's not expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Progeny Press has an excellent one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 yep .Progeny Press has one.... It's not free http://www.progenypress.com/Catalog/High%20School/thescarletletter.html I've seen the download version on currclick. rainbow resource. I don't think they are that expensive. but budgets vary -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 We were doing A Beka for American Literature, and bailed from A Beka during Scarlet Letter because of the commentary. I have a thread from last year about it all. Ds (living at home) told us what he learned in his college class for our discussion. I don't know what Progeny Press has, but please make sure to get into all of the layers of meaning, and get past "Hester sinned." There is so.much.more!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 We were doing A Beka for American Literature, and bailed from A Beka during Scarlet Letter because of the commentary. I have a thread from last year about it all. Ds (living at home) told us what he learned in his college class for our discussion. I don't know what Progeny Press has, but please make sure to get into all of the layers of meaning, and get past "Hester sinned." There is so.much.more!!! You know, I was just telling my daughter about my experience with Scarlet Letter in high school. My high school used A Beka Everything, unless it was BJU Something, but A Beka for lit, and even then, with my very narrow experience of the world, I was shocked at the judgment of Hester and the fact that what's-his-name, the father of her baby, got off scot-free. And my very strong impression was that A Beka tacitly approved of both Hester's punishment and the father's non-punishment. Granted, that was an embarrassing number of years ago, and certainly I have not revisited A Beka's literature program since then, but I am happy to hear my recollection is at least partially correct. That experience is one of about a half-dozen from my own high school experience that made me bound and determined never to use A Beka or BJU materials, though I did relent and use A Beka high school grammar this year. But that's it, no more! I'm through ranting now. Please, carry on... Terri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I've used man Progeny Press study guides over the years and have been uniformly pleased. The quality varies a bit, as it does in any "series", but I have bee very happy. I didn't give any details first time I posted because I somehow thought most people would have heard of it. (Silly me -- there is so much homeschooling stuff out there now that there is NOTHING that everybody has heard of!) There are quick vocab and comprehension sections that you can skip if that's not your cup of tea. Then there are the questions I love -- the so-called "discussions questions." They are usually quite thought-provoking and the last ones in the section usually require looking up some Bible verses and making an application or two -- thought-provoking, very well-handled, and not "preachy." Over the years the discussions the kids and I have had using Progeny Press are probably the closest to the discussions I had in English class in high school -- which is high praise because my English classes had fabulous discussions! I have never found any other Christian study guide that is remotely of the quality as Progeny Press. We studied The Scarlet Letter some years ago, so I don't remember the details of the study; I just remember that we were very happy with the study. The guides for The Scarlet Letter and The Lord of the Flies were my two favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I've used man Progeny Press study guides over the years and have been uniformly pleased. The quality varies a bit, as it does in any "series", but I have bee very happy. I didn't give any details first time I posted because I somehow thought most people would have heard of it. (Silly me -- there is so much homeschooling stuff out there now that there is NOTHING that everybody has heard of!) I agree. The quality of PP guides is outstanding. I have The Scarlet Letter PP guide right here next to my computer...... It is a lot more than what people are describing Abeka's experiences. It goes deeper. It is there to help see the layers and to see beyond the A on her clothes. It even gets into how people begin to change their perspective of the meaning of the A....... and begin to see her. I haven't done the full study yet... I got it for next year for my oldest. but I've been glancing through it with the questions and "answer key"..... I'm pleased and think it is nothing like others have described in their abeka study. Points out how views of Chillingsworth change.... etc. without typing everything in the study.... here is one example. after finishing chp. 5-7, the guide suggests to read Mt 7:1-5, Romans 2:1-3. In light of these verses what is the danger of judging the way Hester is being judged. then suggested answers in the answer key are along the lines of these verses say clearly say certain acts are wrong, but that God should judge, not us. that's one example.. but I need to clean the house fast before the furnace cleaner/checker guy is here.... that's what happens when mama is not feeling well for several days and lets everyone do nothing! check Progeny Press guides... I think it's what you are looking for. -crystal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I'd prefer a free download, but will consider paying for a download or ordering a print version, as long as it's not expensive. Not sure what you're looking for wrt Christian perspective. One of the companies that publishes The Scarlet Letter does have a teacher guide for it. I recently used the guide for The Scarlet Pimpernel and found that it was really helpful. I have had more success with taking standard commentary and addressing it within the scope of our faith than in using faith specific commentary. Not only is there a lot more non-religious commentary out there to work with, but then I'm also not having to wrestle with a faith perspective that I think is wanting, trite or less nuanced. What I might do with Scarlet Letter is take some of the main themes and talk about what the Bible says about them. Themes like sin and consequence, but also hypocricy, deceit, redemption and grace. Talk about how they would hope to act under similar circumstances (of being found in sin, being in unknown sin, or being friends and neighbors of someone who has sinned). Do the neighbors present a strong Christian witness to Hester and Pearl? Are they justified or should they be working on the logs in their own eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan C. Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Another thing that ds (English major) pointed out was that the book was written as a "slap" to the Puritans. The self righteous Puritans were treating Hester terribly, and even though Hester did something wrong, her conduct was much better than the Puritan's was. (Having trouble finding the perfect words, it was last year.... hopefully you get what I am trying to say). And yes, I do have an easier time adding our faith to secular materials than sometimes cleaning up the mess that some Christian material makes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 ...but please make sure to get into all of the layers of meaning, and get past "Hester sinned." There is so.much.more!!! :iagree: Another thing that ds (English major) pointed out was that the book was written as a "slap" to the Puritans. Yes, I figured this out when I read it a couple of years ago. I had read it in high school, but didn't enjoy it (no proper preparation for reading). Since then, I'd thought of it as the book about the shamed adulteress; but when I read it with the TWEM to help me along, I got some very different ideas out of it. And this point of view that you describe. In the end, I really admired Hester, and thought she embodied more Christian ideals than the Christians who had persecuted her. I do have to credit the generic questions in TWEM with helping me to dig in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Another thing that ds (English major) pointed out was that the book was written as a "slap" to the Puritans. Yes, I wish I could remember the book or lecture that I thought was so good, but from it I started to teach Scarlet as a lesson in learning the author's perspective and his tools for winning the reader to his side. A key question for teens is whether they assume that all authors writing about a certain era do so because they *like* the era. Also, what can you tell about the author by how he portrays each character? There was also some material on the different endings he wrote, and maybe something about his personal life showing up in the novel. Anyways, Scarlet wasn't a book I particularly wanted to teach until I was exposed to some of these tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted February 18, 2012 Author Share Posted February 18, 2012 Many, many thanks to all who responded. I think I want to try the Progeny Press study guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.