Sue G in PA Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I was just checking out the Lightning Lit Guides for high school (thinking ahead to next hear) and noticed there are now elementary guides! They look interesting. Has anyone used them yet? Thoughts? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 hi Sue!!! I helped pilot the last half of first grade last year. and am also piloting the 2nd grade one currently.. just finished through unit 18 and taking a week off from the guides... my youngest, who has autism and lots of delays, is an older student using them b/c it's her level. What kind of thoughts are you interested in knowing? you know me... I'll type forever on something but want to make sure I answer what you're looking for.... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Hi Crystal! Nice to "see" you. ;) Hope your year is going well. I'm not sure what I want to know, lol. I just happened upon it while looking for the high school guides and looked at the samples. I guess I'd like to know…does your child enjoy it? Do you find it age/grade appropriate (the 1st grade sample looked a bit "above" what my rising 1st grader could do as far as the writing is concerned). How does it compare to programs like say Kathy Jo's LLTL program which is more copy work, dictation, narration based on real books? Anything else you can tell me…I always enjoy your reviews! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I have no way to compare it to the other program you mentioned. I don't know that program. most of the worksheets are quick 1 page that focus on grammar/usage and takes lines from the stories to practice the new skill. I know there were times where we were doing the grammar worksheet first and it didn't matter if we had read the story yet. Then, there's the journal page on Wed. where you write/copy a summary of the plot and tell what you like. we do that outloud. The comprehension questions and teaching notes are in the teacher book..... I do not think I could use the program properly without the teacher book. so that's required. It seemed like it was all grade level to me. but I never saw the first semester of first grade either. if i recall, the first grade sample shows Frog and Toad.. and that is second semester beginning. I've really liked how Hewitt teacher notes for the program have encouragement for how to adjust for various writing skill levels including letting the child dictate and you write and they can copy. or permission to do them orally. Overall, we like most of the books. They've been at library. this year in LL2, we did not like 2 of the biographies... it was soooooo disconnected for us (Teddy Roosevelt and mark twain). My kid had no interest in those, no other connections to them. so those didn't work. the program in LL2 read the unit book on M, T, W. and do the comprehension/analysis questions from the teacher guide. do the one page worksheet (I guess maybe there are 2 on some times???) TH - you set that book down, and you read one chapter from a longer chapter book (LL2, winnie the pooh...) and just enjoy it. we haven't been doing that aspect b/c I just don't really think my special needs child is ready for "waiting next week same bat time same bat channel" Friday - free day. you can use recommended library books to explain the topic from the book. or read other books from same author. sometimes some simple activities are given (like in Snowflake Bentley... make some paper snowflakes) in LL2.. there is a weekly ongoing composition. broken down over 3-4 days. I haven't seen a lot of copywork or dictation exercises in LL2. don't recall it in LL1 either.. my youngest doesn't fight me on the lessons.. but she does not like to do school. She's not an ideal way to judge if other kids are liking it. with her autism... she at least will pause her dvd, grab a few stuffed animals and come for story time. I write the questions from teacher guide on the white board.. we pause and read together. story ends and she's out of there. if it's not the wiggles or veggie tales or daniel tiger. she doesn't care. It is definitely easy to adjust for various writing skills and that is one thing I've appreciated in the hewitt notes. I wish I had had those kinds of teaching helps when i was a younger and newer home teacher. oh oh.. yeah.. so far ,I haven't had problems with library books. except in 2 weeks, I'll need a book that not in our library system. So, I'm already planning to tweak that lesson and it is doable to use the grammar worksheets without the exact book. those are self contained. we'll read something. so if you can't do all 36 books.it's ok :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 duh! smack my forehread... yes.. .there is a copywork section on Wednesday to copy your favorite sentence from the story. I was overthinking it on the previous answer where I hadn't seen much. oh well. LOL LOL. we'll call it old age today. :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I have both Kathy Jo's Level 1 program and Lightning Lit's Grade 1 program. While I loved the idea of LL Grade 1, it was just too much for my first grader. Too much writing. Too many steps. Just too much. She chose to use only LLtL Level 1 for her writing and language arts this year. In fact, when I was rearranging her school basket she saw me set LLtL to the side and begged me not to get rid of it. When it came to Lightning Lit, she brought it to me and asked not to do it anymore. I think her choice was a wise one. LLtL just fits her and our homeschool better. Lightning Lit seemed almost too public schoolish (lots of writing expected when they aren't quite ready for it) for my tastes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thank you Crystal and Chelli! I was thinking the same thing, Chelli, after viewing the samples but wanted to review from somebody who has used it. I'll put it on my "maybe" list, along with LLTL and RTLT! He's speeding through MFW K right now, but I know his original writing will not be at the level I saw in LL grade 1. But, he could surprise me. Thanks to you both for the reviews! I just love this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I wonder if the sample for first grade is making it seem more advanced than I experienced?. It says in the teacher guide for that Monday and Tuesday work sheet that this is ok to do orally. They don't have to write all of that. The Frog and Toad lesson was the first one we did last year and my child didn't write any of that. It was me modeling the sentences to show her how to write. and I had to feed her the information and helped her find the info in the stories. I guess I have a very different experience with LL1 than others. The teacher guide was clear that it wasn't expected that all children would write all of it. They didn't even have to copy a full sentence on copywork if they couldn't. The composition is about 3 original sentences.. and remember this is half way through first grade on that.. and it still says if they aren't ready to write them, they should dictate and you write or type them. maybe it wasn't a big deal to me since I only printed the sheets we needed and didn't actually buy a workbook. When field testing last year, we'd go to the website and download the files. I never did those alphabet pages or "dictionary words" in LL1. wink. but then again... for the price it turned out.. if I were scaling back that much and paid that much.. I'm not sure I'd like it as much... wow.. that workbook is wow... that's a lot. wow.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 When I looked at the samples, I was already planning in my head how I would "tweak" it to fit my 5yo's ability level. Oral narrations, copying sentences after I had written them, etc. I'm not ditching the idea of LL1. I put it in an Evernote file (I'm loving Evernote, lol) to save it as a possibility. :) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 We dropped it. We were using first grade but it was way too far above my 1st grader's abilities. Too much writing, too much editing from a kid who doesn't really have a grasp of what proper English looks like yet. The booklist is fabulous and we have read and enjoyed many of the titles but I did not like the all-in-one aspect at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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