Lightning Lit - anyone especially like it or not like it? (x-post)

[KellyMama]

I posted this question over on the Logic Board: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/464550-too-much-to-do-lightning-lit-iew/

 

Some great information! :) I was wondering if anyone else would share their experiences with LL and maybe some pros and cons? It looks great but I want to know the good/bad/ugly before I jump into it since this year our reading program has been a bit of an uphill climb. ;)

[KellyMama]

Haha - ok I'll take other lit program recommendations too? ;)

[Lori D.]

I posted this question over on the Logic Board: http://forums.welltr...htning-lit-iew/

 

Some great information! :) I was wondering if anyone else would share their experiences with LL and maybe some pros and cons? It looks great but I want to know the good/bad/ugly before I jump into it since this year our reading program has been a bit of an uphill climb. ;)

 

 

Well, LL7 and LL8 were just what WE needed at that stage in middle school as gentle intro into classic works and beginning literary analysis, so we were extremely pleased with LL7 and LL8. Pros for us:

- gentle pace

- helpful work pages -- esp. in the last half of LL8 they start guiding you into literary analysis of excerpts from other works (yes, there are 2 pages we skipped in every unit that are specifically labeled as bonus/extra -- a word search and a crossword puzzle; all the other work pages in each unit were helpful, IMO)

- great selection of works (only ones DSs did not care for were Autobiography of Helen Keller in LL7, and 2 of the 3 short stories in LL8)

- we also were very pleasantly surprised by works we had not heard of before (Day of Pleasure; My Family and Other Animals)

- and while we chose to do the program aloud/together, it is VERY much set up to be easily and successfully done solo/independently by the student

 

 

The downside others have expressed about LL7 and LL8 tend to come from families whose students who are already familiar with literary analysis and/or are strong readers. The "cons" expressed by these families include:

- student has already read some of the works

- the schedule for the reading is too slow (too many weeks slated for the novels)

- the literary analysis was too "lite"

- not much in the way of actual discussion questions

- and the work pages were just busy work

 

 

LL7 and LL8 are not complete Language Arts programs. You do need some sort of separate: writing and grammar, and optionally: vocabulary and/or spelling, if your student needs that. (The vocabulary in LL7 and LL8 is a list with the definitions for quick reference; some people want worksheets to work with/practice vocabulary words.)

 

 

I'm still struggling to get the search function figured out on the new board, so this was the only past thread I could come up with on downside of LL7/8, although I know there are other threads that expressed more thoroughly what people did not like about LL...

 

BEST of luck as you decide! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Laura Corin]

I agree with all of Lori's points. We used LL7 a bit early and over two years as a supplement to Galore Park English. It was a perfect introduction to the study of longer works for us. I didn't allow as many weeks for reading as scheduled, because Calvin didn't need them.

 

Laura

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

It was a perfect fit for my ds. We used both LL7 and 8 and did them in a yr and a half between 8th and 9th. It helped my son's writing become more organized and focused. He picked up the literary terms and will use them now when he is talking about a book. In other words doing LL7 and 8 matured him LA wise.

 

I agree with everything Lori D said.