Just curious ~ Why you do or do not like LL past 8th grade

[Ann.without.an.e]

I see that many Lightning Literature users switch after 8th. I am considering switching dd to LL this year (for 8th), so I really hate to switch to something for just 1 year. Can anyone tell me why you don't like LL for high school? Thank you :001_smile:

 

 

 

Edited to add in Lightning Literature, rather than LL ~ sorry for confusion

Edited August 2, 2012 by Charleigh

[Saille]

By LL, do you mean Lively Latin? As an adult, I could get through one of the Big Books in a matter of days...

[Ann.without.an.e]

By LL, do you mean Lively Latin? As an adult, I could get through one of the Big Books in a matter of days...

 

 

Sorry, I edited it. I meant to ask about Lightning Lit.

 

thanks

[Lori D.]

We used and enjoyed LL7 and LL8 with both DSs -- perfect gentle intro into classic Literature and literary analysis for us (it will be "lite" to others who have had previous exposure to literary analysis and/or have advanced/voracious readers).

 

 

While I can't speak for others on why they passed on the LL high school works, after I looked over the samples of the various high school levels of LL, I decided AGAINST them for 2 reasons:

 

1. By high school, we needed more "meat" than LL high school appeared to provide:

- the questions were mostly comprehension rather than analysis/discussion

- not as much guidance in analysis as I would have liked (esp. if you were to have your student do the program solo)

- very underwhelmed by the writing assignment ideas (many seemed like "fluff" assignments or creative writing ideas), and not much guidance towards writing an actual reader response or a literary analysis essay

 

2. The selection of works didn't match up very well with specific authors/works we wanted to cover

For example, the of the works covered in the early to mid-19th Century British Lit:

- we had already done Frankenstein

- for a Bronte work, we had planned to do Wuthering Heights instead of Jane Eyre

- had not planned on doing several of the authors, and would have skipped Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, and William Thackeray

 

The only thing that matched up with what we wanted to do were the poets; $50 is pretty steep for a few pages of program to guide you through 5 poets. For the Mid to Late-19th Century British Lit, there was even LESS we would have used. While we certainly could have purchased LL programs and used just portions, that seemed VERY expensive to spend $100 for a year's worth of a Literature program, only to use "snippets".

 

Instead, we moved on to a WTM Great Books type of Literature. I created our own Literature list with the works WE wanted to do, and used a variety of resources for each work we did (usually 2-5 different guides, articles, etc.). I found many *good* free online resources, plus I purchased individual guides for some of the works. The $100 I spent on Literature all directly applied to the works we wanted to do.

 

 

All that said, I think LL high school programs work *great* for many families who want a program that:

 

- is complete (background info, comprehension and discussion questions, writing assignment ideas)

- can be done mostly solo by the student, with minimal parent time

- has the option, for an additional fee, of a grading and writing assistance service

- covers a variety of types of works (poetry, essay, short story, biography, novel...)

- covers Literature by time period (for British and American Lit)

- covers Literature by culture (the 2 World Literature programs)

- specializes on a specific topic of Literature (Shakespeare comedies; Shakespeare tragedies; Christian British authors)

 

 

BEST of luck in matching up with the Literature program(s) that best fit your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Lori D.

[Ann.without.an.e]

This is exactly what I wanted to know, Lori. Thank you so much for your thorough review. DD is beginning 8th and we have been using BJU Literature (begrudgingly). We find it less than ideal and dd is a big reader so she prefers whole books. DD will be participating in a co-op class for medieval literature so I didn't want to add in too much at home this year anyway. The BJU Lit feels like busy work to me? I actually just ordered LL "Speeches", technically a high school course, to add in with the medieval class she will be taking. After reading your details, I will probably steer away from LL as a stand alone program for High School though.

 

 

We used and enjoyed LL7 and LL8 with both DSs -- perfect gentle intro into classic Literature and literary analysis for us (it will be "lite" to others who have had previous exposure to literary analysis and/or have advanced/voracious readers).

 

 

While I can't speak for others on why they passed on the LL high school works, after I looked over the samples of the various high school levels of LL, I decided AGAINST them for 2 reasons:

 

1. By high school, we needed more "meat" than LL high school appeared to provide:

- the questions were mostly comprehension rather than analysis/discussion

- not as much guidance in analysis as I would have liked (esp. if you were to have your student do the program solo)

- very underwhelmed by the writing assignment ideas (many seemed like "fluff" assignments or creative writing ideas), and not much guidance towards writing an actual reader response or a literary analysis essay

 

2. The selection of works didn't match up very well with specific authors/works we wanted to cover

For example, the of the works covered in the early to mid-19th Century British Lit:

- we had already done Frankenstein

- for a Bronte work, we had planned to do Wuthering Heights instead of Jane Eyre

- had not planned on doing several of the authors, and would have skipped Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, and William Thackeray

 

The only thing that matched up with what we wanted to do were the poets; $50 is pretty steep for a few pages of program to guide you through 5 poets. For the Mid to Late-19th Century British Lit, there was even LESS we would have used. While we certainly could have purchased LL programs and used just portions, that seemed VERY expensive to spend $100 for a year's worth of a Literature program, only to use "snippets".

 

Instead, we moved on to a WTM Great Books type of Literature. I created our own Literature list with the works WE wanted to do, and used a variety of resources for each work we did (usually 2-5 different guides, articles, etc.). I found many *good* free online resources, plus I purchased individual guides for some of the works. The $100 I spent on Literature all directly applied to the works we wanted to do.

 

 

All that said, I think LL high school programs work *great* for many families who want a program that:

 

- is complete (background info, comprehension and discussion questions, writing assignment ideas)

- can be done mostly solo by the student, with minimal parent time

- has the option, for an additional fee, of a grading and writing assistance service

- covers a variety of types of works (poetry, essay, short story, biography, novel...)

- covers Literature by time period (for British and American Lit)

- covers Literature by culture (the 2 World Literature programs)

- specializes on a specific topic of Literature (Shakespeare comedies; Shakespeare tragedies; Christian British authors)

 

 

BEST of luck in matching up with the Literature program(s) that best fit your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Ann.without.an.e]

I also wondered about it being meaty enough. Especially since we have already completed Beowulf and Canterbury Tales and it is in their High School package.

 

 

 

We used and enjoyed LL7 and LL8 with both DSs -- perfect gentle intro into classic Literature and literary analysis for us (it will be "lite" to others who have had previous exposure to literary analysis and/or have advanced/voracious readers).

 

 

While I can't speak for others on why they passed on the LL high school works, after I looked over the samples of the various high school levels of LL, I decided AGAINST them for 2 reasons:

 

1. By high school, we needed more "meat" than LL high school appeared to provide:

- the questions were mostly comprehension rather than analysis/discussion

- not as much guidance in analysis as I would have liked (esp. if you were to have your student do the program solo)

- very underwhelmed by the writing assignment ideas (many seemed like "fluff" assignments or creative writing ideas), and not much guidance towards writing an actual reader response or a literary analysis essay

 

2. The selection of works didn't match up very well with specific authors/works we wanted to cover

For example, the of the works covered in the early to mid-19th Century British Lit:

- we had already done Frankenstein

- for a Bronte work, we had planned to do Wuthering Heights instead of Jane Eyre

- had not planned on doing several of the authors, and would have skipped Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, and William Thackeray

 

The only thing that matched up with what we wanted to do were the poets; $50 is pretty steep for a few pages of program to guide you through 5 poets. For the Mid to Late-19th Century British Lit, there was even LESS we would have used. While we certainly could have purchased LL programs and used just portions, that seemed VERY expensive to spend $100 for a year's worth of a Literature program, only to use "snippets".

 

Instead, we moved on to a WTM Great Books type of Literature. I created our own Literature list with the works WE wanted to do, and used a variety of resources for each work we did (usually 2-5 different guides, articles, etc.). I found many *good* free online resources, plus I purchased individual guides for some of the works. The $100 I spent on Literature all directly applied to the works we wanted to do.

 

 

All that said, I think LL high school programs work *great* for many families who want a program that:

 

- is complete (background info, comprehension and discussion questions, writing assignment ideas)

- can be done mostly solo by the student, with minimal parent time

- has the option, for an additional fee, of a grading and writing assistance service

- covers a variety of types of works (poetry, essay, short story, biography, novel...)

- covers Literature by time period (for British and American Lit)

- covers Literature by culture (the 2 World Literature programs)

- specializes on a specific topic of Literature (Shakespeare comedies; Shakespeare tragedies; Christian British authors)

 

 

BEST of luck in matching up with the Literature program(s) that best fit your family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Bee]

Dd used 7th and 8th, and 2 high school level courses last year for 10th grade and just tested into college level composition. She will be taking it this year at the local community college. She is going into 11th grade. (She used a different course for 9th grade and it didn't work for her.) She loves LL. They are the only composition/writing courses she ever used that she liked. She had always tested well on her yearly testing for english but I wasn't sure her composition skills were strong enough to be acceptable to a college professor. Considering that the majority of the high school graduates who go to the college have to take remedial English I am very pleased.

[AK_Mom4]

DD18 used the two American Lit packs last year for her senior English credits. These worked really well for covering primary themes and analysis. But they don't teach "writing" - not a problem for her as she is an excellent writer and what she produced for these classes showed it. If you have a kid who needs writing instruction or grammar review, this isn't the right package.

 

As far as the selections being too light - DD18 definitely got more out of the books using them as a senior than she would have as a 9th/10th grader. She definitely picked up on the very adult themes that we would have brushed over with a 14yo.

 

No complaints here - I would use them for high school literature again.

[8filltheheart]

I see that many Lightning Literature users switch after 8th. I am considering switching dd to LL this year (for 8th), so I really hate to switch to something for just 1 year. Can anyone tell me why you don't like LL for high school? Thank you :001_smile:

 

 

 

Edited to add in Lightning Literature, rather than LL ~ sorry for confusion

 

I'm one that doesn't like Hewitt's LL high school courses. I thought the coverage was superficial and my kids and I like digging deep into works. (I have one of the American lit ones that I would sell very cheaply if anyone wants one! :lol:)

 

If you want something that lays things out at a deeper level, you might look at Smarr. Smarr still isn't my ideal, but I think the critical thinking questions are better than what you find in LL. http://www.smarrpublishers.com/ (FWIW, I apparently have outdated products. I have no idea about their revised programs.)

 

HTH

[ThisIsTheDay]

I'm one that doesn't like Hewitt's LL high school courses. I thought the coverage was superficial and my kids and I like digging deep into works.

 

:iagree: I sang (and still sing) the praises of LL's 7th and 8th grade levels. We've found high school to not be nearly as challenging for the grade level, and I've had to use sparknotes for more valid discussion questions. Dd doesn't mind easy work, but she considers LL a time waster because other than reading, she's not learning anything.

 

Shakespeare was not bad. World Lit II has been a big disappointment.

 

I'm sorry to say that younger ds will definitely not be using LL.