Zeezok Publishing – Z-Guide to the Movies Reviews

This article is in collaboration with Zeezok Publishing.

Many of our Crewmates needed to watch a movie as part of today’s review.  It’s a hard life, but somebody’s got to do it! Zeezok Publishing sent each Crew member one title from their Z-Guide to the Movies line of products.

Just what is a Z-Guide?  For $12.99 a Z-Guide takes a specific movie and gives you a fun and already prepared unit study built around it.  Just rent or buy the movie(all are currently available on Netflix), print the Z-Guide, and snuggle up on the couch to start learning.  These guides are written for middle school to high school ages, though they can be adapted to involve the whole family.  Each Z-Guide includes the following:

• The Topic Overview – this page gives the student with no prior experience in the historical setting of the movie a basic background knowledge.
• The Movie Synopsis – One page long, this gives you a more detailed peek at the movie but does contain spoilers, so choose if you want the student to read this before or after watching the movie.
• 10 Learning Activities – These cover a range of possibilities, but every Z-Guide includes movie review questions as one activity, turning movie watching into an active, participatory event.  An answer key is included.
• A suggested 5 day plan to organize which activities you do in the unit, laying out your study for you.

There are more than 20 Z-Guides currently available (check here for titles).  Some of the titles and their topics include:

1.    Kit Kitteridge – The Great Depression, hobo life, and journalism
2.    Johnny Tremain – Events leading up to the American Revolution
3.    Adventures of Robin Hood – Medieval English History, Chivalry, Civil Disobedience
4.    Ben-Hur – Roamn Empire, friendships, consequences of hatred
5.    Driving Miss Daisy – Post-World War II U.S. history, discrimination
6.    Flyboys – World War I, aeronautics
7.    Jason and the Argonauts – Ancient Greek history, Greek mythology
8.    Les Miserables – Love, forgiveness, mercy, parenting
9.    One Night with the King – Ancient Persian history, Ancient Israel history, God’s providence
10.    Sergeant York – Civil War, consequences of lying, conquering your fears
11.    12 Angry Men – U.S. Government, judicial procedures, capital punishment

The first activity in every Z-Guide is the movie review questions, which a student or family uses as they watch the movie.  This helps the viewer become an active learner and brings many small details out.  The other nine activities cover a variety of curricular areas.  For example students may discuss the movie’s themes or create a performance about a related topic.  There are opportunities for further research and a worldview activity.  Literary devices may be studied, such as foreshadowing and irony.  Each Z-Guide has a good balance of activities from across the academic subjects and making unit studies fun and ready to go.

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To view the list of reviews please  click here.

Special thanks to First Mate Tristan from Our Busy Homeschool for writing this introductory article.