Trying again - compare SL 200 Lit to LL?

[gardenschooler]

I'm looking at SL 200 for literature, but I have also considered Lightning Literature - Shakespeare: Comedies and Sonnets, and British Literature: Early to Mid 19th Century. I would probably add/change whatever I felt was needed in either one, but I'm just looking for a basic literature program to get me started.

 

I've seen LL (American), so I have a better feel for that program. I'm not as familiar with SL, or what their literature studies actually entail. I wouldn't be using the SL history, most likely, and there are 3 books I'd have to switch out that we've already read. I wouldn't have to do any switching out with the LL.

 

Can anyone help me understand the differences between these two?

 

Thanks! :D

[gardenschooler]

I just did a little comparison chart on my own, and it seems that for each author and time period, Sonlight has more selections - except Shakespeare. Even though Lightning Literature is coming out with more courses (but since they're designed to be used over a whole semester, you couldn't necessarily do them all).

 

I think the SL is the better fit for me. I want us to have exposure to a long reading list, but I'm okay if we don't dig deep into each and every single book - just a few chosen ones. I can always beef it up on certain novels if I feel a need, and I will probably add a few more of Shakespeare's works (maybe for summer fun :)).

 

Both are lacking in ancient literature, so I guess I'm on my own for that. I think I have plenty of board recommendations for ancient literature, so I'll be okay piecing that together with various study guides.

 

Just talking out loud. :D

[siloam]

Well the only thing that pops into my head is 1. that you have to buy to whole SL guide to get the literature notes, last I looked and that 2. SL is sometimes criticized for being light on literature analysis in their notes, which I haven't heard of LL.

 

If you are serious about SL I would encourage you to post over on the choosing forum about it.

 

Heather

[gardenschooler]

Thanks, Siloam. I didn't realize it was possible to read their entire forum without purchasing, so maybe I can get a better idea from that (I didn't see much on the choosing forum about this program). I don't know if my question would be accurate for the 'choosing' forum, because I'm not really trying to choose - I'm only interested in comparing the Lit studies in Core 200 to other programs, and exactly what it entails. My question is sort of along the lines of, "Is this good enough?", so I don't know how well that would go over. :) I think I'll be able to get a better idea of how it works from reading what some of the users have to say. Thanks again.

[gardenschooler]

Thanks for the comparison, Laurel! Actually, LL is what I thought I'd settled on long ago, so I don't know why I even started looking at other things.

 

I'm going to figure out which direction I'm going with history, and then build the literature from there. I really didn't want to do a straight Year 1 Ancients with this one right now, as we've sort of done the ancients to death (and I think she'll get more out of the readings later). I'm thinking of doing a light study on ancients for just the very beginning of the year (maybe something you could term 'advanced dialectic stage', but not quite full-fledged rhetoric), then moving on to do a Year 2 study with her for the rest of the year, spilling over into 10th. She's also very interested right now in doing some studies on other cultures, world geography, and religions, so we'll throw some of that in, too. I think I'll work on planning out those three areas for 9th and 10th in more detail, and then decide her literature list. Worrying about literature first is really putting the cart before the horse, isn't it? :D

 

Probably to suit my goals for literature, I'd be better off doing either LL or Progeny Press, Smarr, or any other freestanding or shorter literature guides (with WEM as our main resource) While the reading list for Core 200 really does appeal to me, we don't necessarily need to do all of those books in a year. We'll get to most of them, eventually!

 

Thanks again - you've been very helpful.

[siloam]

Thanks, Siloam. I didn't realize it was possible to read their entire forum without purchasing, so maybe I can get a better idea from that (I didn't see much on the choosing forum about this program). I don't know if my question would be accurate for the 'choosing' forum, because I'm not really trying to choose - I'm only interested in comparing the Lit studies in Core 200 to other programs, and exactly what it entails. My question is sort of along the lines of, "Is this good enough?", so I don't know how well that would go over. :) I think I'll be able to get a better idea of how it works from reading what some of the users have to say. Thanks again.

 

Yep you get I think 30 days free, which is nice, but the for sale and choosing forums are the only place you can post, and I think because you are choosing between SL and LL it would be allowed. If you look at the choosing forums there are all sorts of VS. posts. Seriously take a look at a few already going on. SL isn't afraid of the competition, and SL people are generally die hard fans, so it works out. :D I sill post over there, when people ask about other curriculium that I have used (TOG, WP) and no one has kicked me off or said anything to me, but I don't attack SL either, just give weak points and strengths of both programs. The worst that can happen is they will close the post, which isn't a big deal.

 

Ruth Beechick philosophy, which SL is based on, tends to be one of giving the child a good book and just letting them read, which is why SL doesn't have the lit analysis that some people would like to see. Though in searching myself it looks like 530 is stong in lit analysis and that LL might have weaknesses in a few areas:

 

https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?t=137900&highlight=Lightning+Literature

 

https://www.sonlight-forums.com/showthread.php?p=991113#poststop

 

Hope that helps!

 

Heather

 

[gardenschooler]

Thanks, Siloam. Now that you have pointed out the philosophy, I can sort of see where they're coming from a bit better. It's really two completely different approaches, and I'm trying to have a foot in both worlds, I guess. Maybe there is a way to meld the two - do enough deep literature studies on some books, while having a longer reading list just to *read*. If there is a way to have my cake and eat it, too, I'm going to find it. :D Thanks for all of your help.