Mosdos/Lightning Lit Comparison Needed

[elbac]

There's currently an excellent thread going on discussing LL, but what I'm really looking for are details on how Mosdos and LL are similar and/or different. I'm not really having any luck finding much in depth discussion on Mosdos, or more specifically, how it compares with LL. Anyone? :confused:

[4wildberrys]

We used Mosdos for a little bit this year---and the HUGE difference between the two is that Mosdos is one textbook anthology of literature excerpts and LL uses real books. Mosdos was VERY teacher intensive too---the TM actually had way too much information and I pooped out within 2 months of using it with dd. We are doing LL next year because it is much more independent--and really much more interesting. I have found the questions and information in the LL guide (Am Lit) much more thought provoking and intellectually deeper too.

[elbac]

Thank you. Whichever way I decide to go, I plan to have both the kids going through it together, and to probably just discuss some things, rather than do all the writing, as the majority of their writing will probably be covered in other areas.

 

That said, although I've seen neither Mosdos, or LL, I've gotten the impression that I could cut more out of Mosdos than I could with LL, without losing the effectiveness. Would that be a fair assumption, or completely off-base?

 

Also, I've considered spreading out Mosdos beyond just one year, if we went with that. Whereas I don't think I'd want to do that with LL.

[4wildberrys]

Yes---I know you can cut what you need to out of Mosdos, because that is exactly how I used it with my dd. Obviously with an analogy---you have more leeway in skipping because the selections are shorter, sweeter and to the point, as opposed to entire novels. :tongue_smilie:We used it mainly as a catch up to where I needed her to be in lit analysis---so we did some of the short stories, some poems and one longer selection and it worked well without being too hurried.

[plansrme]

I thought it would be more fun for my daughter to read new selections, since she had read something like 4 of the 5 LL selections already. She is a strong reader so (perhaps somewhat perversely), I liked the anthology concept for her. For a more reluctant reader who needs practice with focusing on longer passages, I might prefer novels. Mosdos (gold, at least), though, does include one novella and one novel in the textbook.

The Mosdos discussion questions and the workbook were excellent, and it is not necessary to do every single selection. It would work fine to read one or two from "drama," 2 or 3 under "poetry," another under "non-fiction," etc. The table of contents lists the stories this way, so you don't have to figure out which is which. I did not find it to be teacher-intensive, though it could be if you used every single teacher's note. We just didn't do that.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I do have Mosdos gold for sale on the swap board. I bought it sight unseen based on recommendations on this board and was very pleased.

 

Terri