Lightning Lit 7

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

For those of you who use or have used Lightning Lit 7, will you tell me what you like about it? I started that this year with my dd and the worksheets just seem like a bunch of busy work to me. Am I missing something? Am I not doing this right? Can you show me an example of how you schedule this? She has already read most of the books that are in LL7. We dont really do the writing part because we are going to do Jump in later this year. We also do Applications of Grammer book 1 (we will continue with this series unless I see something I like better, so PLEASE no middle/high school english threads :D) That really gets into writing in the latter books also.

 

 

I have figuratively speaking and I am trying to decide whether I use that and ditch LL7 and just have her do her supplemental reading instead of LL7. We can do literary analysis with figuratively speaking. So I guess I am asking What would you do? For those of you who really love (or have loved) LL7, what do you love about it? :confused:

[Carrie12345]

The comp questions are good for my aspie ds. He'll be doing LL8 this year.

 

I don't intend to use it with my younger kids. I haven't thought about a replacement yet (they're only 8 and under), but I definitely want something... meatier. I absolutely agree that most of the worksheets are busy work, and the comp questions are quite basic. I do like their selections, but it isn't as though it's a secret list.

Edited September 1, 2010 by Carrie1234
they're/their/there

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

The comp questions are good for my aspie ds. He'll be doing LL8 this year.

 

I don't intend to use it with my younger kids. I haven't thought about a replacement yet (they're only 8 and under), but I definitely want something... meatier. I absolutely agree that most of the worksheets are busy work, and the comp questions are quite basic. I do like their selections, but it isn't as though it's a secret list.

 

 

Ya I was wondering about just doing the books on the list she hasnt read and making my own comp questions. Hmmmm... any other thoughts on this?

[Mom22ns]

I would say that the comprehension questions are the least important thing in LL. What they are trying to teach is lit analysis. LL7 had things like plot, and frankly I don't remember what they all were off the top of my head:confused:. Each story, book or poetry unit focuses on a different topic. It is less about that book or story and more about learning those literary elements and seeing them applied in the reading, then applying them in your own writing. We skip the word search and the crossword puzzle, but do the most of the other worksheets. They relate to the literary element being studied. They also work on things such as note taking, summarizing and writing from notes. If your child is already good at those things, you may hove no need of LL. I think the writing assignments are vital and if you aren't planning to do those, you have lost a lot of the program's value. In 7th grade ds did Jump In and still did all the writing assignments for LL. The 7th grade assignments are very short.

 

I don't really know that you are missing anything other than the introduction of the literary elements. If your child already knows all these, there is no need for LL7. LL7 is very light and easy. For us it is a great introduction to lit analysis, but we don't do any analysis prior to that, just discussion and a little narration.

[SBP]

We've just started LL7, so I can't claim that it's made my dc literary geniuses yet. Yes, some of the workbook pages are busy-workish, but they do cover ground that I just haven't over the years - or at least haven't covered explicitly. And my children love the occasional word search or crossword puzzle, so they'd be mad if we left those out :). I was very tempted by Teaching the Classics, but honestly, after watching most of the DVD at a workshop, I still wasn't sure what to DO to use it to teach. I really like things that are completely laid out for me these days, even if a little busy work is thrown into the mix.

 

We've read some of the books as well, but I'm actually thinking that's a good thing. We did Alice in Wonderland and Tom Sawyer, to name two, as read-alouds, and now it's time for them to read the books themselves and at the same time begin to see literary elements in them that they probably didn't notice when we read these books several years ago. And of course, since we've already read them before, they don't seem at all intimidating. (My children started Tom Sawyer today, and their favorite thing was picking out all the words we'd covered in Caesar's English I last year - it was like a game to them.)

 

Anyway, LL7 isn't something I'm jumping up and down about yet, but I don't regret buying it either and plan to move ahead with it using the schedule that was recommended in the teacher's guide.

 

SBP

[Sunshine State Sue]

We used and enjoyed LL7 and LL8. You may read my review here.

 

I would agree with Debbie. I found the lesson and mini-lesson useful. We used Analytical Grammar and Write Shop in 6th-7th-8th grade. Neither was overly demanding and the grammar and composition pages in LL were a nice supplement. The critical thinking supplemented our logic studies nicely. We skipped the puzzles. We read a variety of literature that we never would have done on our own (ds & I wouldn't touch poetry with a 10 foot pole otherwise). LL8 was even better, especially the writing exercises near the end. We used and liked Figuratively Speaking in 8th grade (wish I had used it in 7th grade). I wouldn't call it a substitute for LL since it only took 15min/wk.

[Caitilin]

We've just started LL7, so I can't claim that it's made my dc literary geniuses yet. Yes, some of the workbook pages are busy-workish, but they do cover ground that I just haven't over the years - or at least haven't covered explicitly. And my children love the occasional word search or crossword puzzle, so they'd be mad if we left those out :). I was very tempted by Teaching the Classics, but honestly, after watching most of the DVD at a workshop, I still wasn't sure what to DO to use it to teach. I really like things that are completely laid out for me these days, even if a little busy work is thrown into the mix.

 

We've read some of the books as well, but I'm actually thinking that's a good thing. We did Alice in Wonderland and Tom Sawyer, to name two, as read-alouds, and now it's time for them to read the books themselves and at the same time begin to see literary elements in them that they probably didn't notice when we read these books several years ago. And of course, since we've already read them before, they don't seem at all intimidating. (My children started Tom Sawyer today, and their favorite thing was picking out all the words we'd covered in Caesar's English I last year - it was like a game to them.)

 

Anyway, LL7 isn't something I'm jumping up and down about yet, but I don't regret buying it either and plan to move ahead with it using the schedule that was recommended in the teacher's guide.

 

SBP

 

 

:iagree:You have pretty much described us too. We have just begun, but I think that it introduces some info that we haven't explicitly covered, as you say, and that the familiarity of some of the stories will be a positive thing for them too. My dds are enjoying it so far.

[Quad Shot Academy]

If your daughter has read all the books and you don't want to do the writing, I wouldn't see much point in doing it! I don't find the worksheets to be busy work, but it is all new material for us. I find the writing assignments to be very creative and interesting, but all we have been using is Rod and Staff. :tongue_smilie: