Lightning Literature and Composition (A REVIEW)

I am not very well read in classic literature, but I really want to be. This is an area that I'm really trying to develop so I can teach my children from great literature, so I can use all the help I can get. I was excited to try out a literature curriculum from Hewitt Homeschooling. I chose the British Early-Mid 19th Century because I have a high school daughter that is excited about all things british, so I thought these would be great titles for her. Along with some poems, the books studied in this unit include: Pride and Prejudice, Ivanhoe, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre.

For this review we received the Student's guide, and the Teacher's guide. We did not receive the books titled above, but they were easily accessible at the library (and in fact I actually had a few on my shelf).

The Student guide is a soft back bound book with a nice cover with a picture of what looks like Big Ben on it. It has a nice introduction to language, and the different parts of writing, including things like alliteration, poetry, short stories. It's a great review of everything along with some why's and what's for the course. After the long introduction the book is broken up into units with 2 lessons each. Each lesson introduces a new author with a classic book or poem to read.

The Teacher's guide that I received was a loose leaf book stapled together. I am not sure if that was supposed to actually be spiral bound, as it seems that some others had theirs spiral bound. It was ok, and didn't really bother me because I could put it in a binder if I wanted, which is kind of nice. The main focus of the Teacher's guide is grading, schedules, and comprehension questions. It has a schedule for both a half year (semester) and a full year. There are some great checklists for grading the writing, and comprehension questions which can be very useful. Writing isn't always an easy thing to grade.

What is the purpose of this course?

On the cover of the student guide it says "Acquiring College-Level Composition Skills by Responding to Great Literature." That pretty much sums it all up in one sentence! It is a study of the classics by responding through writing essays or answering comprehension questions.

Who is this course intended for?

This is a high school level course. It is intended for grades 10-12. I of course enjoyed reading it too. I think it's a great way for a homeschool Mom to dive into some classic literature. It is a very full course. There is a lot to read and digest, and many many writing projects.

I love using literature to teach my children, and I think this Lightning Lit. course has done a very thorough job of walking a student through the literature as well as through the writing and comprehension. I can't always think up the questions to ask, or lessons to apply when we read something together. This program could be done independently by a high schooler, but it can also be done together which is how we choose to do it.

If you would like to see the other Lightning Lit course reviews for high schoolers on down to elementary you can click on the banner below. There are lot of great titles in some of the younger grades too.