I usually shrink away from reviewing materials that require a download - I prefer hard copy schoolwork, and since we travel fulltime in our RV, we access the internet with an aircard, so I am limited on my data usage each month. Downloads simply eat it up too fast. But, when I was offered the opportunity to review this download from Zeezok, and checked them out, I was intrigued.
Z-Guides are study guides highlighting a specific time in history using MOVIES (and what student doesn't like movies?!? ;). Each guide is movie specific, and most of the movies are available from NetFlix or can be checked out my your local library, so you don't have to own the movie to do the study. One of the things that I love about the ease of Zeezok's website is that the list of guides are broken down into time periods, making it easy to find the movies that are applicable to the time period that your students are studying.
Movie guides are available for elementary and/or high school, are offered in either CD or download form, and retail for $12.99.
Reviewers were able to choose which movie they would like to receive the guide for, and which level. Since it can be hard to find movies on the road, I needed to choose a review for a movie that we already owned. I had a really hard time deciding which movie to receive the guide for, and ended up narrowing it down to: The Great Escape, Sergeant York, or Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It was hard to choose!!! I finally decided on the high school level of Sergeant York.
This Z-Guide is 34 pages long, including a short overview. Z-Guides are meant to be done over the course of a week, doing approx. 2 activities each day. There are questions that cover history, geography, and worldviews. This guide also included some fun activities like a crossword puzzle (not your typical find 'war', instead you're looking for words/phrases like 'conscientious objector' and 'sharpshooter'), or, my boys' favorite activity, deciding which weapon they felt was most responsible for the Allies winning the war then drawing it and explaining why they chose what they did. The guide also included on online address to a library of over 400 WWI posters; the student(s) are to look through them and then design their own poster.
Z-Guides are written for the homeschool student, not a classroom, but they can easily be used as a group project, part of a 'unit study', or just an activity for multiple ages (mine worked on it together). I love how the questions are written to inspire the student to think through everything from the worldview promoted in the film to filmaker's licence use, and even offered family discussion questions. The guides also prompt the student to delve deeper into the topic to find the inaccuracies in the film. (don't worry though, it is super teacher-friendly; the answers are all included in the final pages of the guides ;).
I can say, with great enthusiasm, that I LOVED this product!!!
Z-Guides are available in download or CD forms, and are inexpensive to print out since the only color is on the cover page. I loved how I could print off additional sheets of certain pages (I printed off the word search and weapon pages for ALL the boys). There are so many great titles available, I cannot wait to get a few more for our use - The Great Escape is next on our list :)
Zeezok also offers other great products, including the Joseph Altsheler Civil War Series in ebook form! (love!), the Great Musician series, and a Presidential Penmanship downloadable series where your students learn and practice penmanship copying great presidential quotes! I can't wait to get a few more Z-Guides - the kids are having fun and learning at the same time!
*Disclaimer: I was given a free Z-Guide download in exchange for my honest review of the product. No other compensation was received.
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