Lightning Literature (A REVIEW)

Reading great books, stories, and poems should be a part of any good literature curriculum. That's why when I saw the reading choices that Grade 7 Lightning Lit Set had, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a try. With titles like: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and many poems and stories as well, I thought it would be a great curriculum to explore. Hewitt Homeschooling Resources offers many levels of Lightning Literature & Composition, but I chose grade 7 for my middle schooler who needed something new in the literature/language arts area.

For this review we received three physical books. One for the teacher, a student guide, and a student workbook. The covers on these books are laid out pretty simple with all the important information, and an intriging picture of lightning in the background. All three books pretty much say the same thing on the front except for the line where it says "Teacher's Guide," "Student's Guide," or "Student Workbook." I wish there was some other distinguising factor between the books so I could tell them apart more quickly, but otherwise they look like an interesting curriculum from the outside.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Teacher's Guide

The Teacher's Guide begins with a few pages of introduction on how to use the course and a schedule to follow. The rest of the Teacher's Guide has all the teacher help and instructions for each part of the student lesson including the writing assignments, and contains all the  answers for the student workbook pages. It does not contain the lesson information that the student guide has, so if you are following along with your student for their lessons you will need to look at the student's book for the lesson.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Student's Guide

The Student's guide has all of the important lesson material. This book is the main guide that the student follows as they make their way through the book or story that is being read (more on that in a bit). As the student makes their way through the lesson they can complete them in sections which consist of the following:

An introduction to the author/book
Vocabulary list
Comprehension questions
Literary lesson
Mini-lesson
Writing exercise

Each section is clearly laid out so that the student knows what part they are working through. Also, this book is not written in because there is a separate workbook.

An inside the book shot of the Student Guide.

Along with the reading and instruction in the student guide the student has to read the actual stories or poems from separate books that we had to obtain. There are 5 different books used in this level, with one of the books (pictured below) containing many stories and poems so it is used more than once throughout the curriculum.

One of the books used along with the level 7 Lightning Lit curriculum. Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages by Harold Bloom.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. This is one of the poems that is read from Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of All Ages

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat continued

The Student Workbook is a consumable book meant to be a place where the student can write down answers to all the questions and assignments given in the guide. There are also multiple choice questions, word searches, paragraph editing exercises, matching exercises, and so much more. Some parts are required for the student to work on while other parts (such as the word searches) are optional.

Grade 7 Lightning Lit--Student Workbook

An example of one of the workbook pages.

My 7th grader struggles with literature and reading, so getting through this curriculum is a very slow process for him. It takes him a long time to get through the lessons because there is so much information covered, and a lot of reading and writing. Overall this is a great literature curriculum that covers a lot of great stories and literary works. We will definitely continue using it through the summer, and possibly into next school year.

If you'd like to see some of the other levels that were used by the other crew members you can click the banner below to read their reviews.