Your thoughts of Hewitt's Lightening Literature?

[Leftyplayer]

I'm considering Lightening Literature for my middle schoolers. Can you share your thoughts on it, please? Thanks :)

[....]

:lurk5:   Also thinking about using LL with my younger kids...so, I'm looking at LL4 and LL7.  

[Harriet Vane]

I like it a great deal, but like all curriculum, it has its weak points as well.

 

The literature selections are fabulous. The reading list was what caught my eye in the first place.

 

The work is a mix of workbook pages, comprehension questions, and writing assignments. The comp questions and most of the workbook pages are excellent. There is some busy-work in the workbook (like word search pages), but I was able to use most of the workbook pages effectively.

 

The biggest hole in the program is that it does not give the parent educator any tools for evaluating writing. This was not an issue for me--I have a degree in English and Rhetoric, so I just taught my kids writing as per usual in my world. It can be an issue for others.

 

How I used the program (both for my own kids and for several years of co-op group classes)--

 

I set my own schedule, since I think their schedule is waaaaaay too slow at times. The longest I will ever go on a book is 4 weeks, but usually I shoot for 1-3 weeks tops. Longer than that kills all love for the book.

 

Divide the reading equally over those weeks, shooting for 50-75 pages per week.

 

Divide the workbook pages equally over those weeks.

 

Do one writing assignment either the last week on a book or the next week after the book is complete. This works particularly well when there is a poetry or short story unit after a book.

 

If the mother is not a strong writer, then use LL as a creative writing responding-to-literature course. Supplement with a more structured option for writing.

 

I typically recommend hitting grammar three times--one big blitz in the younger years, in the middle years, and a last one in high school. If you want to do more grammar, then do so separately from LL. The LL workbooks do give a little punctuation/capitalizing/other practice, but it's not a comprehensive program.

 

If the mother IS a strong writer, then use LL as a writing program, plan to add in more specific instruction on structure, analysis, and argumentation or creative writing as appropriate.

 

If you like doing dictation, then use the LL reading selections for your dictation needs. Personally, I think there is tons of value in reinforcing grammar/punctuation/spelling/etc, in situ (in other words, in context in a paragraph).

[coloradomomof5]

I like it a great deal, but like all curriculum, it has its weak points as well.

 

The literature selections are fabulous. The reading list was what caught my eye in the first place.

 

The work is a mix of workbook pages, comprehension questions, and writing assignments. The comp questions and most of the workbook pages are excellent. There is some busy-work in the workbook (like word search pages), but I was able to use most of the workbook pages effectively.

 

The biggest hole in the program is that it does not give the parent educator any tools for evaluating writing. This was not an issue for me--I have a degree in English and Rhetoric, so I just taught my kids writing as per usual in my world. It can be an issue for others.

 

How I used the program (both for my own kids and for several years of co-op group classes)--

 

I set my own schedule, since I think their schedule is waaaaaay too slow at times. The longest I will ever go on a book is 4 weeks, but usually I shoot for 1-3 weeks tops. Longer than that kills all love for the book.

 

Divide the reading equally over those weeks, shooting for 50-75 pages per week.

 

Divide the workbook pages equally over those weeks.

 

Do one writing assignment either the last week on a book or the next week after the book is complete. This works particularly well when there is a poetry or short story unit after a book.

 

If the mother is not a strong writer, then use LL as a creative writing responding-to-literature course. Supplement with a more structured option for writing.

 

I typically recommend hitting grammar three times--one big blitz in the younger years, in the middle years, and a last one in high school. If you want to do more grammar, then do so separately from LL. The LL workbooks do give a little punctuation/capitalizing/other practice, but it's not a comprehensive program.

 

If the mother IS a strong writer, then use LL as a writing program, plan to add in more specific instruction on structure, analysis, and argumentation or creative writing as appropriate.

 

If you like doing dictation, then use the LL reading selections for your dictation needs. Personally, I think there is tons of value in reinforcing grammar/punctuation/spelling/etc, in situ (in other words, in context in a paragraph).

what do u like to teach writing? I am a Nonwriting mom who wishes she was...

 

 

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[Serenade]

I really like Lightning Lit, but haven't used anything below 7.  I think Lightning Lit 7 is the perfect, gentle approach to studying literature.  

[Tohru]

I also like Lightning Lit, but we only did it for 7th & 8th, then moved to Smarr's.

If I remember correctly, it was self-teaching and we used it at a self-pace too.