Lightning Lit. 7th & 8th Grades: Lit. Analysis or Writing Program??

[Rabbit]

Is Lightning Literature for 7th & 8th grades more of a literary analysis program or a composition program? I already have a writing program and was looking for a lit. analysis program. Would it be possible to use Lightning Lit. if we skipped most of the writing assignments? Or would that really take away from the value of the program?

Thanks,
Julie

[Lori D.]

We've used both LL7 and LL8 -- AND used a separate writing program simultaneously, with no problem. We also did additional reading, plus a separate grammar program. LL7 and LL8 are really quite gentle. : )


The writing in LL7 and LL8 consists of:

- short answers to exercises in the student worksheet pages
(most worksheet pages only take 10-20 minutes, and there are only about 8-10 worksheets per unit -- we just did 1 a day over 2-3 weeks)

- longer writing assignment at the end of the unit
(There are 8 units to LL7, 12 units to LL8; at the end of each unit are 4-6 longer writing assignments to choose from. We would pick one of the longer writing assignments, and spend 1 week on it, about 20-30 minutes per day of that 1 week.)

We also did one of two things when it came time for the longer writing assignment:
1. either skipped the LL longer writing assignment
2. or, for the week we worked on the LL longer writing assignment, we set aside our regular writing program; sometimes it was nice to have a break from the regular writing program and do a different type of writing


Hope that helps! And hope you'll enjoy LL7 and LL8 -- they did everything I had hoped for, and were surprisingly more fun for our boys than I expected. Warmest regards, Lori D.

[amary]

My experience was the same as Lori's. With LL we do the discussion questions, dc reads the lit analysis sections for discussions, does about 70% of the workbook pages that develop the understanding of Lit analysis and they do some of the shorter writing assignments. We use a separte grammar program and include other writing options and IEW.

[Bells]

We skip most of the compostion and focus on the lit analysis, comprehension and vocabulary. Imho, omitting the composition assignments doesn't dilute the program one bit. We bought LL to use for literature, not writing, and have been 100% satisfied.
Bells

[LillianinAL]

He's currently reading Henty books just fine. Do they read whole books or excerpts in this program?
Thanks! Lillian

[Christine]

Do they read whole books or excerpts in this program?


Whole books.
*****************

One thing, I really liked LL for 7 & 8, and we used it for Am Lit, but found it "lacking" in the lit. analysis -- I'm speaking of Am. Lit here.

This may not make sense, but while LL (Am Lit) discusses the different lit. analysis concepts they did not apply it to the books read. So, I thought 7 & 8 were good for a beginning grounding in the area of lit analysis; yet for the upper levels you will need to do a whole lot of discussion on each book to actually analyize them. (my opinion)

Part of it may be that I just expect more from a high school level course. (To clarify, I thought 7 & 8 were perfect for the ages / grades it was geared to; yet once we hit the high school level I felt we were doing the exact same stuff that we'd been doing in 7 & 8 without "maturing".)

[Lori D.]

Yes, I think you can use LL7 with a strong reader/6th grader. A few other parents on this board have done it successfully -- at least one of them mentioned that she spread the 2-semester LL7 out over 3 semesters.

In case it helps you decide, here's the list of the topics, and the books used in LL7:

1 = "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" (short story)
literary lesson: plot line
mini writing lesson: openings

2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (novel)
literary lesson: plot line in a novel
mini writing lesson: outlines

3. poetry unit -- 7 poems
literary lesson: rhyme
mini writing lesson: limerick and haiku

4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (fantasy work)
literary lesson: creativitiy
mini writing lesson: nonce words

5. "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" (short story)
literary lesson: saying it with style

6. The Story of My Life (autobiography)
literary lesson: autobiography
mini writing lesson: brainstorming

7. poetry unit -- 6 poems
literary lesson: sound
mini writing lesson: cinquain and the list poem

8. All Creatures Great and Small (novel)
literary lesson: character sketch
mini writing lesson: choosing a topic


To see a sample lesson from LL7:
http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp


Warmest regards, Lori D.