What did you dislike about LL, if anything?

[lovemykids]

I am looking at this and trying to decide if I like it. I'm just not sure. Any thoughts?

:confused:

 

Thanks! :)

[Karen in CO]

If you are asking about Lively Latin and not Lightning Lit., I loved LL until I used it. The thing that bothered me about it was that it had the kids memorized things before explaining what they are. It discussed grammar topics, vocabulary, all the things you would expect, but it had them memorize verb endings with not explanation. It really frustrated my dd.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Lively Latin and not Lightning Lit

Which LL are you asking about?

[Karen in CO]

Which LL are you asking about?

 

Have you used both too?

[lovemykids]

:blush:Oh brother! I am sorry; I forgot that there were two programs with the same acronym. I was referring to Lightning Literature but I am also mildly interested in Lively Latin- so either one would be fine. :lol:

 

Thank you!

[Sunshine State Sue]

Have you used both too?

I've only used Lightning Lit. You may read my review here. There is nothing I dislike about it. In fact, it's been one of my best homeschool purchases. I remember Lori D. saying that sometimes people who have done a more rigorous literature program don't like LL because it's "lite", but that's been fine for us as an introduction.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Sue in St Pete

[lovemykids]

If you are asking about Lively Latin and not Lightning Lit., I loved LL until I used it. The thing that bothered me about it was that it had the kids memorized things before explaining what they are. It discussed grammar topics, vocabulary, all the things you would expect, but it had them memorize verb endings with not explanation. It really frustrated my dd.

 

I was still kicking it around for next year, in the back of my mind. I like that it is secular and it looks enjoyable. But it does sound frustrating, so what are you using now?

[lovemykids]

I've only used Lightning Lit. You may read my review here. There is nothing I dislike about it. In fact, it's been one of my best homeschool purchases. I remember Lori D. saying that sometimes people who have done a more rigorous literature program don't like LL because it's "lite", but that's been fine for us as an introduction.

 

Thanks! I have looked at the samples extensively and read your review. (it’s great-thank you) I was sure that we were going to use LL and maybe even all the way through high school. But I was recently examining LL 9 (in my hands) and I had a few doubts. Maybe I should delve a little deeper.

 

I am glad that you don’t have any reservations about the program.

[Karen in CO]

My only problem with it was that it was lite, but that was okay with me. If it had been the only thing we did for a high school English credit, I wouldn't have been happy. I did one of the high school British lit. units with my ds. After that, I decided that I would use more of them and start them earlier with the girls.

[Karen in CO]

We dropped Latin for now, and she is doing Rosetta Stone French. She loves it. I am using First Start French to add in more written practice which she doesn't oppose, but doesn't like as much as the RS.

[lovemykids]

Thanks for your reply. It’s good to hear that it is light;I think the dilemma I am having is that I also like another program just as much. And I want to have my kids read literature for history in addition to a textbook, so it just seems like too much literature. But as a supplement, it should be fine.

 

 

 

My only problem with it was that it was lite, but that was okay with me. If it had been the only thing we did for a high school English credit, I wouldn't have been happy. I did one of the high school British lit. units with my ds. After that, I decided that I would use more of them and start them earlier with the girls.

[Karen in CO]

exactly. My kids are strong readers, and I incorporate a lot of reading into our school day so having our literature reading list be shorter and strictly related to analysis topics worked well for me.

[Sunshine State Sue]

My only problem with it was that it was lite, but that was okay with me. If it had been the only thing we did for a high school English credit, I wouldn't have been happy. I did one of the high school British lit. units with my ds. After that, I decided that I would use more of them and start them earlier with the girls.

It is my understanding that they recommend the HS LL guide for a semester. Did you consider it lite for a semester of English?

[HollyDay]

We did LL7. It was pretty light. I thought, for the money, it was a bit pricey for what we actually learned. Dd could not stand Alice in Wonderland. All Creatures Great and Small overwhelmed her a bit by the length and the "local language" of the book. She also did not like the Helen Keller biography. So, it was a struggle.

 

I did not chose to do the high school American Lit because we read most of the books in history. I wish I had researched this more when we were doing history, I might have chosen to do them together.

 

I am not ready to tackle british lit yet. We want to do Shakespeare in a co-op, so that is out too.

[lovemykids]

It is my understanding that they recommend the HS LL guide for a semester. Did you consider it lite for a semester of English?

 

I have also thought of using only one of the recommend packs in a year for high school, but I wonder if I would be short changing dd in the analysis department. I’m guessing probably not, as long as we cover all of the literary terms, either separately or within the program.

 

 

We did LL7. It was pretty light. I thought, for the money, it was a bit pricey for what we actually learned. Dd could not stand Alice in Wonderland. All Creatures Great and Small overwhelmed her a bit by the length and the "local language" of the book. She also did not like the Helen Keller biography. So, it was a struggle.

 

I did not chose to do the high school American Lit because we read most of the books in history. I wish I had researched this more when we were doing history, I might have chosen to do them together.

 

I am not ready to tackle british lit yet. We want to do Shakespeare in a co-op, so that is out too.

 

Thanks for your honest opinion. Yes, anytime these books come up it would seem to be a good time to do LL. I was going to hold off on doing LL 9 though, because of the writing involved.

[Lori D.]

We loved both LL7 and LL8, published by Hewitt Homeschooling. No complaints here! (And FWIW, we also loved Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, another great, year-long, gentle intro to literary analysis program published by Home Scholar.)

 

You mentioned using one of the high school LL levels -- I have no personal experience with any of the high school LL programs, but I know one lady on this board who tried a LL high school program that was geared for 9th-12th grade with a 7th grader, and another person who tried a 10th-12th grade level LL with a 9th grader, and both said "don't do it -- the programs really are for those higher grade levels, and it's too frustrating to the student". In both cases they dropped the LL that year as it was too difficult for the student. I have heard from several people that the Shakespeare LL are the best of the high school LL programs, and that the Christian authors one is a bit different from the others.

 

For more on the high school levels of LL, look for posts by Katia on the high school board. Here is one:

 

Question about lightning literature

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92020&highlight=lightning+lit

 

Here are some past threads with more reviews and information on using LL7 / LL8. Enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

 

Lightning Lit 7?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102501&highlight=Lightning+lit

 

Lightning Lit 7: what did your child gain from this?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1613&highlight=LL

 

LL: is it THAT good?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99010&highlight=LL

 

Questions for those of you who have used LL7 / LL8

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7'>http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7'>http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7'>http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7

 

Lightning Lit: How long does it take

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79899&highlight=Lightning+lit

 

I just received LL7 and have some questions

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7

Edited March 13, 2010 by Lori D.
added info

[Karen in CO]

It is my understanding that they recommend the HS LL guide for a semester. Did you consider it lite for a semester of English?

 

For my ds in 11th grade two of them would not have been enough for a full year. Here is our reading list for that year.

 

Lightning Lit. British Medieval Lit.

Beowulf

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

 

Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings by Tolkien

 

Hamlet by Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Hamlet by Bloom

Shakespeare and CO. by Stanley Wells

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

 

 

Paradise Lost by John Milton

 

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I had used the LL first thinking to do it in one semester, but it just wasn't meaty enough. I added to it substantially. However, I am still planning to do LL7 and 8 with my girls then start them on the high school units as part of our literature. I am trying to not read all of the books from LL7 and LL8 before we get to there, but they are sneaking into our reading already - she's already read Alice twice and is asking to read Treasure Island.

[lovemykids]

We loved both LL7 and LL8, published by Hewitt Homeschooling. No complaints here! (And FWIW, we also loved Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings, another great, year-long, gentle intro to literary analysis program published by Home Scholar.)

 

You mentioned using one of the high school LL levels -- I have no personal experience with any of the high school LL programs, but I know one lady on this board who tried a LL high school program that was geared for 9th-12th grade with a 7th grader, and another person who tried a 10th-12th grade level LL with a 9th grader, and both said "don't do it -- the programs really are for those higher grade levels, and it's too frustrating to the student". In both cases they dropped the LL that year as it was too difficult for the student. I have heard from several people that the Shakespeare LL are the best of the high school LL programs, and that the Christian authors one is a bit different from the others.

 

For more on the high school levels of LL, look for posts by Katia on the high school board. Here is one:

 

Question about lightning literature

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92020&highlight=lightning+lit

 

Here are some past threads with more reviews and information on using LL7 / LL8. Enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

 

Lightning Lit 7?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102501&highlight=Lightning+lit

 

Lightning Lit 7: what did your child gain from this?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1613&highlight=LL

 

LL: is it THAT good?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99010&highlight=LL

 

Questions for those of you who have used LL7 / LL8

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7'>http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7

 

Lightning Lit: How long does it take

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79899&highlight=Lightning+lit

 

I just received LL7 and have some questions

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31144&highlight=LL7

 

Thanks Lori! You are a wealth of information, as usual. Most likely, I will use LL in addition to whatever we decide to do for middle school and high school.

I appreciate you taking the time to post the links.

:)

[lovemykids]

For my ds in 11th grade two of them would not have been enough for a full year. Here is our reading list for that year.

 

Lightning Lit. British Medieval Lit.

Beowulf

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

 

Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings by Tolkien

 

Hamlet by Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Hamlet by Bloom

Shakespeare and CO. by Stanley Wells

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

 

 

Paradise Lost by John Milton

 

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

 

I had used the LL first thinking to do it in one semester, but it just wasn't meaty enough. I added to it substantially. However, I am still planning to do LL7 and 8 with my girls then start them on the high school units as part of our literature. I am trying to not read all of the books from LL7 and LL8 before we get to there, but they are sneaking into our reading already - she's already read Alice twice and is asking to read Treasure Island.

 

Karen,

That’s a wonderful list, thanks for sharing it. I am looking forward to doing British Literature for a year, either in eleventh or twelfth, I’m not sure which year yet.

Yes, it's very hard to keep certain books away from the kids. :lol:

[kangato3]

I've been overall pleased with LL7 and LL8, but I do wish they had different types of discussion questions. The optional discussion questions they do include tend to be of the sort that ask the student to relate the book to something in their own life. (e.g. from the Hobbit: "Bilbo obviously loves his home very much, and it is a great comfort to him. How do you feel about your home? What things make it unique and homey?...)

While there is some value in those type of questions, I would really love discussion questions that delved more into the literary qualities of the story, such as the overall theme.

 

Louise

[skaterbabs]

We're using LL 7 this year with Yacko & Wacko, and as much as I'd like to, I just don't love it. It was free, so that's not really an issue, but I don't feel like it's adequately preparing the boys for high school analysis. We'll use something else next year, assuming I can find something I like that isn't too expensive or teacher intensive.

[abbeyej]

... And I want to have my kids read literature for history in addition to a textbook...[/font]

 

That's part of what I like so much about Lightning Lit (so far -- we've only done 7, and plan to do 8 over the summer and the Early-Mid 19th Cent British unit in the fall) -- because it's relatively "light", we can layer it in with other lit we're doing that corresponds with our history and not feel like it's completely overwhelming.

[abbeyej]

...I was going to hold off on doing LL 9 though, because of the writing involved.

 

I'm not sure what you're calling LL9? As far as I know, there's LL7, LL8, then you pick and choose the individual units.

[lovemykids]

That's part of what I like so much about Lightning Lit (so far -- we've only done 7, and plan to do 8 over the summer and the Early-Mid 19th Cent British unit in the fall) -- because it's relatively "light", we can layer it in with other lit we're doing that corresponds with our history and not feel like it's completely overwhelming.

 

I'm not sure what you're calling LL9? As far as I know, there's LL7, LL8, then you pick and choose the individual units.

 

Hi Abbey,

Ah yes, you are absolutely right, one can pick and choose. But the American Lit packs are recommended for ninth, so that’s why I referred to the one I have, Mid-late, as LL 9.

Thanks for the recommendation! :)

 

Yes, I have been overwhelmed at times, trying to juggle too many programs...:tongue_smilie:

[lovemykids]

We're using LL 7 this year with Yacko & Wacko, and as much as I'd like to, I just don't love it. It was free, so that's not really an issue, but I don't feel like it's adequately preparing the boys for high school analysis. We'll use something else next year, assuming I can find something I like that isn't too expensive or teacher intensive.

 

I almost missed this! Thanks for your thoughts. Let me know what you come up with...

[skaterbabs]

I almost missed this! Thanks for your thoughts. Let me know what you come up with...

 

Our convention is mid-June, so I'll try to remember to post then. I want a program that combines a really great literature program with a really great writing program. We're using CLE for grammar, and I'm quite happy with that.

[Jen S in Va]

Since someone brought up LL for high school, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02. My daughter, who is a sr this year, is wrapping up her lit study in a couple of weeks (we started school in August). We did LL Brit Lit Early-mid 19th Century and Shakespeare's Comedies and Sonnets. She has really enjoyed it, particularly the plays, and she has learned a ton. Last year we did both of the American Literature guides. I think it has been great for her, and much better than the textbook based lit curriculum I used with my eldest (didn't know about LL then) in which the kids only read part of a work. She has done this literature work in addition to composition--right now she's doing an online short story workshop.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Since someone brought up LL for high school, I thought I'd throw in my $0.02. My daughter, who is a sr this year, is wrapping up her lit study in a couple of weeks (we started school in August). We did LL Brit Lit Early-mid 19th Century and Shakespeare's Comedies and Sonnets. She has really enjoyed it, particularly the plays, and she has learned a ton. Last year we did both of the American Literature guides. I think it has been great for her, and much better than the textbook based lit curriculum I used with my eldest (didn't know about LL then) in which the kids only read part of a work. She has done this literature work in addition to composition--right now she's doing an online short story workshop.

Thanks for sharing your experience with LL at the high school level, Jen. I appreciate it. :)

[freerange]

DD wrote a note one the bottom of today's Lively Latin - 'Latin is fun!'

 

I've liked it, despite the issue mentioned earlier of having them memorize without saying which declension it was up front, because it tells me what to make vocab cards for, what to chant, lots of reinforcement, audio for learning pronunciation. When we finish LL we'll move on to Latin Prep from Galore Park, but for your older 2 you might consider starting with that if LL doesn't appeal.

[lovemykids]

DD wrote a note one the bottom of today's Lively Latin - 'Latin is fun!'

 

I've liked it, despite the issue mentioned earlier of having them memorize without saying which declension it was up front, because it tells me what to make vocab cards for, what to chant, lots of reinforcement, audio for learning pronunciation. When we finish LL we'll move on to Latin Prep from Galore Park, but for your older 2 you might consider starting with that if LL doesn't appeal.

 

Thanks for the review. Sorry to revive this old thread, but I missed this one. Latin Prep does not appeal to me, but isn’t LL coming out with a sequel?

[lovemykids]

Thanks for sharing your experience with LL at the high school level, Jen. I appreciate it. :)

 

So do I. :)

 

Oh, thought I’d mention, we decided to use LL 7 next year for sixth grade. I think doing it early will solve the problem of it being just a light intro to literary analysis. I also have some of my own ideas for literary analysis. We can always spread it out over two years if I find that we are trying to do too much. (OM 7, IEW, and now LL)

Thanks a ton for all of your opinions.