Ĺightning Lit or LLfLOTR

[Juliegmom]

Please help me chose one for our 8th grade literature next year. They both use whole books which I prefer. LL uses different genres which is appealing, but I just looked at LLfLotR and it looks so good. Which would you pick and why? Are they comparable in what they teach or am I not comparing apples to apples?

[Zoo Keeper]

JMO,  but I would choose LL over LLfLotR. 

 

I love LOTR too much to analyze it.   And I think that spending all year on it would have killed it for one of mine, who also loves it.  He has read it numerous times * because he loves it*, and been able to make comparisons to other works and genres *because he loves it* and has read it so often.

 

I do recognize that for other families, that love might come because they analyzed LOTR, and therefore understood it better, but for my family, all the analysis would have killed it.

 

And FWIW, I would be fine with LL 7 or 8 for eighth grade--depends on the student and the teacher, and what else is brewing in family.  Both courses are very well done.

[Juliegmom]

Hmmm. My daughter definitely prefers to read through a whole book before discussing it. She hates it whenever her literature studies are broken down chapter by chapter.

 

Thank you for helping me think through this.

[Rockhopper]

My son loved LLfLOTR. He'd already read the book but didn't mind the re-read. He loved the author's insights and connections. He read a lot of the supporting literature she discusses. I didn't make him do all of the workbook exercises. It was a great year for him.

 

ETA: my daughter is doing LL7 this year. I like it too but it's apples to oranges vs LLfLOTR. She would balk at even reading LOTR, much less spending a year on it. For my son, though, getting to "soak" in LOTR for a year was great.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Rockhopper

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited February 11 by SilverMoon

[Lori D.]

What about enjoying a double helping of Lit? Continue with LL7 this year, and start enjoying LLftLotR now, then continue with LL8 next year in 8th grade, and finish LLftLotR then. LLftLotR can be your supplement, so you can do as much or as little of it as your student wants.

 

Used that way, with LLftLotR, you can skip the things that would bog down the enjoyment of the story (the fill-in-the-blank chapter questions and vocabulary quizzes), and enjoy reading the books and the chapter notes (about a page of info) to go with each chapter, which help add depth to the reading. Then later, after finishing the books, enjoy doing whichever of the 12 units of tangential material your student would be interested in. That way you get to enjoy the "meat" of the program (the chapter notes and the 12 units), without drawing out the process if the student prefers a faster reading experience, and you pick-and-choose your way through the units.

 

We've done LL7, LL8, and LLftLotR, and very much enjoyed all of them. LL is a bit more formal than LLftLotR, and has the "mini-writing" lessons at the end of each unit. LLftLotR has no writing instruction or grading rubrics, just ideas for optional writing assignments. The student work-pages in the second half of LL8 esp. moves into beginning formal analysis, with excerpts of other works of literature to analyze. LLftLotR has no formal analysis, but does have a few (3-5) discussion questions at the end of each set of chapter notes. These are called "comprehension" questions, and some are more comprehension-based, and some are more discussion-starter types of questions.

 

Both programs provide information on literature topics -- the "literature lesson" of each unit in LL (which may focus on a literary element such as conflict or plot, or on a broader literature topic such as sound elements in poetry) -- and the 12 tangential units in LLftLotR (which include: background of the author; the fantasy genre; conventions of epics; exploring Beowulf; poetry unit; etc.).

 

 

 

JMO,  but I would choose LL over LLfLotR. 

 

I love LOTR too much to analyze it.   And I think that spending all year on it would have killed it for one of mine, who also loves it.  He has read it numerous times * because he loves it*, and been able to make comparisons to other works and genres *because he loves it* and has read it so often.

 

I do recognize that for other families, that love might come because they analyzed LOTR, and therefore understood it better, but for my family, all the analysis would have killed it.

 

Totally respect your family's different perspective, and reason for not doing LLftLotR. Like SWB says, I would never suggest that people analyze favorite works if it will kill the love of a favorite book. :)

 

 

Just wanted to encourage the OP that we had a very different response in doing LLftLotR:

 

LotR is the all-time favorite book here, and we had read it and adored it multiple times before ever doing LLftLotR -- and we all LOVED LLftLotR, and it ended up being a high-water mark program here! Rather than killing our love of our favorite book with analysis, the program adds depth to the reading experience -- much like watching the "behind the scenes" extras on a DVD about the making of a movie.

 

LLftLotR is so gentle and (to us) so NOT about "analyzing to death" -- I've actually seen more than one family on these boards complain about not liking LLftLotR precisely BECAUSE they felt it did NOT have much depth of analysis. :laugh:

 

The author of the program clearly LOVES LotR, and that love comes through in the program. LLftLotR is not about finding comparisons to other works, or trying to find and label all the literary elements in every chapter or formal analysis questions -- but is much more about providing depth and background through the chapter notes, to see what influenced Tolkien and how those influences (the "behind the scenes" tidbits) show up in the trilogy.

 

What I suggest is skipping the joy-killing fill-in-the-blank parts, and enjoy the chapter notes that add depth and interest. So in this sample lesson from LLftLotR, we skipped pages 1 and 3, and enjoyed page 2.

 

I call the 12 additional units "tangential", because they really are running alongside without being directly about LotR. The units are on topics that add to the reader's understanding of the Tolkien's influences, but also for understanding broader topics in Literature, a bit like the literature lessons in LL.

 

For example, one unit is on the conventions of an epic, and in addition to listing and explaining the conventions of an epic, the unit discusses the ancient epics of The Iliad and The Odyssey. If you want, you can then apply what you've learned about epic conventions to The Lord of the Rings... or not. :) The unit mentions LotR in passing in the unit, but the unit is really about the literature topic of "epic literature". Here are excerpts from 2 of the 12 units.

 

Just my 2-1/2 cents worth. ;) BEST of luck in deciding what works best for YOUR family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Lori D.

[Momto6inIN]

Honestly, DS only skimmed the actual book when he did LLftLotR. He'd read it before so didn't really need to read it closely again and I didn't even have him do the summaries or vocabulary at all. But he got a TON out of the unit studies. And that gave us a good jumping off point for writing assignments, which was where our focus was for that year anyway. And the unit studies also got him excited to read things like Beowulf and some medieval poetry. It was a good year for him, and did not even come close to killing his love for the books, but we definitely didn't use it as written.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[Peaceseeker]

We are doing LL 8 this year and enjoying it. I feel like there is a good variety of poems, short stories and whole books. We have enjoyed most of the selections and the workload feels just right for us for an introductory literature program.

[Juliegmom]

Thank you for all the helpful responses!

 

If I use LLFLOTR mostly orally do I still need the student guide or would the teacher's guide be enough?

[Momto6inIN]

Thank you for all the helpful responses!

 

If I use LLFLOTR mostly orally do I still need the student guide or would the teacher's guide be enough?

The teacher's guide has a schedule and quizzes/tests and answers but that's it. The student guide has the bulk of the information.

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[Lori D.]

I thought of a thread you might find interesting: "Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings".

 

In that thread:

- several posters explain what they did NOT like about the program

- several others explain how they adapted it (see post #19, with Swimmermom3's info on how they spread it out over several years)

- one poster (Chrysalis Academy, in post #10) adds some great links for how to deepen the study

- and I list what is covered in the 12 units (post #16) and I link more past threads with info and pros/cons (in post #2)

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Another Lynn]

We are using LLftLotR this year. I agree it’s done with a gentle and loving hand that helps you appreciate it more. We do almost none of it written, just orally. I made a sort of silly scoreboard for the Fill in the Blank questions. Lego Frodo starts down on the bottom Gollum square “We didn’t even read your filthy bookses!†And the more answers she knows the higher she climbs, hopefully reaching the Galadriel level “you are too good for this world.â€

 

:smilielol5:   I love this!  

[SilverMoon]

Thank you for all the helpful responses!

 

If I use LLFLOTR mostly orally do I still need the student guide or would the teacher's guide be enough?

 

Depends on the edition. If you buy the newest one they rearranged it so you really want both. If you go with the older edition from a used shop (Amazon, Ebay, etc) the teacher edition would be enough if you don't mind not having the vocab worksheets and such. (They're in the TM too, but the answers are all filled in.)