Christian Novel Studies is committed to providing literature-based materials with a Christian perspective at affordable prices. The mini-guide's simple format is inexpensive for CNS to produce and easy for you to use: Put it in a three-ring binder of your choice.
Mini-guides are available for more than 60 books. Each mini-guide (and reproducible sheets) is now available in PDF format so it can be transmitted as an e-mail attachment.
Mini-Guide...................................................................................$4.00 each
Quantity Discount: Purchase 5 or more.....................................$3.50 each
Reproducible Sheets.......................................................................$1.00 ea Reproducible sheets with the Quantity Discount...........................$.50 ea Note: If you purchase 1, 2, 3, or 4 guides, the price for the mini-guide with reproducible sheets is $5.00; if you purchase 5 or more, the price of each mini-guide with reproducible sheets is $4.00.
In our family's decade of homeschooling we tried a variety of literature studies. Although our children love to read, they did not enjoy reading and studying a book for six to eight weeks; this dislike of long studies has been reported by other parents and teachers. Therefore, another feature of a mini-guide is that each one is divided into ten sections -- one for each day of a two-week school schedule. Students read a section of a book and complete the activities for that section each day. If you want to use a mini-guide for a longer period of time, students could read one day and complete the work for that section of reading on another day.
Each mini-guide contains vocabulary words and exercises, discussion questions, a variety of activities, and an answer key. The purpose of a mini-guide is to learn more about a book than is possible from a quick read-through, but to refrain from overanalyzing it so that your child never wants to see the book again (I've had this happen several times in our home school!).
How Does the Content of a Mini-guide
Compare to the Content of a Study Guide?
The answer to this frequently asked question: There is a bit less content in a mini-guide. A mini-guide is in "letter" format: printed on both sides of 5, 6, or 7 letter-size (8 1/2" x 11") pages, so there are 10-14 pages of material. Study guides that are $5.99 in booklet format contain 48 booklet pages; these guides in letter format are $5.00 and are printed on 16-20 letter-size pages.
The content of a study guide that is less than $5.99 (i.e., The Light at Tern Rock -- a Christmas Classic guide that sells for $4.99) is comparable to the content in a mini-guide.
Mini-guides are divided into 10 sections. Study guides that are $5.99 in booklet format have more than 10 sections.
In a study guide, the following parts are always provided for a chapter/section: vocabulary, discussion questions, and at least one reading activity. When I create a mini-guide, however, if vocabulary words don't "jump out" at me as I'm reading the chapter(s), I don't include vocabulary in that section. Sometimes there are three reading activities for one section and none for another section.
Answer Keys are included in all mini-guides and all study guides!
The main reason for the price difference is the amount of time needed to create a guide in letter format compared to a guide in booklet format: An 8-step process is required for a booklet, but only 3 steps are needed to put together a guide in letter format.
Customers' comments about mini-guides -- like the following one from C. Smith -- have been favorable: “I am so impressed with the Novel Mini-Guides. They are just packed full of riches and all for a price affordable to homeschoolers. Thank you for making them!”
Mini-guides were designed for use in home schools, but many parents and teachers also use them in homeschool co-ops and in Christian schools. Reproducible sheets -- two, three, or four pages (depending on the content in the guide) that contain all of the fill-in-the blank activities -- are available for each mini-guide for a minimal cost.
If you are considering using a CNS guide in a classroom setting, please check out the sample guide to make sure the format will work for you.
As you can see from the sample, room is not provided in these inexpensive guides for a student to write answers to discussion questions and copyright restrictions do not allow copies to be made (see below). ALL MATERIALS PUBLISHED BY CNS ARE DESIGNED TO BE INTERACTIVE -- the style is not in a workbook format.
We suggest that you choose one or more of the following ideas for implementing these guides in a co-op or school setting*:
1) Initiate oral discussions and give oral instructions for activities/projects,
2) write questions/activities on a chalk board/white board and instruct students to write answers on notebook paper or in a notebook,
3) purchase reproducible sheets,
4) request written permission from CNS to create overheads,
5) if multiple students are working independently, have the guide available on a table so it is accessible during work times.
*If, after reviewing the five ideas presented above, you decide that it would work better for each of your students to have a guide of his/her own, contact CNS with the number of students and with a description of your circumstances. These situations will be handled on an individual basis.
COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS for CNS MATERIALS
All CNS materials are protected by copyright.
The purchaser has permission to use the guide
with his/her children/students.
Reproducing the guide (or any portion of it) without written permission from CNS is a violation of the copyright; to do so is unethical.
Reproducing the guide for resale or as a gift is both unethical and illegal.
If you have any questions about specific circumstances,
please contact CNS.
materials with a Christian perspective at affordable prices. The mini-guide's simple format is inexpensive for CNS to produce and easy for you to use: Put it in a three-ring binder of your choice.