HEWITT HOMESCHOOLING LIGHTNING LITERATURE Grade 1 Language Arts

[@dluevanobaker]

We are using Lightning Lit next year also, for both my 3rd grader and 1st grader. I’ve never used the 1st Grade curriculum so I really appreciate this flip through! Thank you! I fell in love with Lightning Lit Grade 2 last school year and can’t wait to continue to use it as the spine for both my students this year.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Isn’t it great? I live how they blend traditional classics with newer great reads.

[@AshleyDawn5871]

I am VERY interested in taking a closer look at level 2! Thank you, Tanya! This looks really great!

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I will film Level 2 tomorrow!! It should post next week.

[@neelieo2907]

I really appreciated how balanced you are in giving your thoughts on a curriculum. I feel like there are some reviewers out there who will not honor or acknowledge the intent of the author and disparage the curriculum. So thank you for your thoughtful and thoroughness. Is there a list of all the grammar/mechanics topics covered? Have you looked at the Darts by Brave Writer? Thanks 😊

[@mytreasuredlife4993]

Would love to see the grade 2. Thanks for sharing this. I am really liking this way of doing Language Arts.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Soon! Hopefully I’ll post grade 2 next week.

[@atharvknowledgevideos4632]

Composition work book by g l how to buy

[@Arleneandcompany]

Thank you again for your amazingly thorough flip through and reviews! I have grade 3 coming and can’t wait to take a closer look. Thank you for sharing and introducing me to Lighting Literature ☺️

[@tammychristiansen4033]

I would love a closer look at level 2. We are switching from the public school system to homeschooling and I’m still struggling to find the right mix for my daughter. I’m trying to focus on the skills acquired rather than grade level and it looks like if I tear the pages out of her workbook, it won’t be overly obvious what grade it is.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I hope to post Grade 2 in early August! Stay tuned!

[@redeemedmama6768]

Thank you so much for this review!! I recently found it looking through the Rainbow Resource Catalog and was so excited to see your flip through. It looks like it will be a great fit for my child.

[@littlelearnerandmom]

We are loving LL this year we are doing Grade 2 this year and it’s such a breath of fresh air!

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Awesome!

[@redeemedmama6768]

I’d love a review on grade 2!

[@motherearthvoice1393]

Thank you! Can you also do grade 3 in addition to grade 2? Trying to decide between grade 2 or 3 for our daughter.

[@jenfoster128]

This was very helpful! Thank you!

[@ProjectHappyHome]

You're so welcome! We're about to use this level again with the youngest. :)

[@sarahhuber07]

Tonia what are your thoughts on skipping the second half of this grade level. My son is just totally bored with the books and can complete the entire week of activities in 1 day (aside from the composition). Should i just go faster and complete 2 weeks in one or scrap it and move on to grade 2. He is just really bored with the book selection. He has been reading since he turned 4. I just don't want to turn him off to enjoying language arts because he is bored but i don't want to push too hard into the next grade and have him miss some of the grammar stuff. Interested in what you think

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I would say to go faster and skip what he doesn’t need. 🤓 The books are deliberately a bit young to support the average reader, but if your child is already a strong reader, I’d let him fly with that and start speeding through this level.

[@MargotBrown]

Do you know if the PDF is in color exactly like the student book?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

It is!

[@carmenmonteto6202]

Hi Tania, can you tell me which books you passed on in level 1 and level 2 along with what you replaced those titles with? For example, I have issue with Curious George and allegory of slavery. We are a very multicultural/ethnic family. Thanks!

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Tikki Tikki Tembo and Babar the King were two that I omitted. I didn't replace them with anything specific, I just used seasonal library books to fill in the reading practice.

[@nurgeo3890]

Thx for the thorough review!

[@aprilhutchens2105]

A few years in...did you love this? Another KZbinr I follow says she has used this for years and will continue through high school. I love the idea of this! I think I saw where you mentioned using this as a spine with some phonics supplementation. Would this plus Explode the Code (we LOVE ETC) be sufficient iyo?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Yes! I’m about to use it again with my youngest. 💚

[@ProjectHappyHome]

And we supplement a lot, so I couldn’t say. I think supplements depend on what you want to cover. ETC is great for phonics review and spelling. My youngest needs a bit more explicit phonics instruction, so we supplement with Logic of English Foundations

[@jannell03]

hmmm... im wondering if I should get this for my kindergartener. he loves reading and so smart and loves to learn .. im buying 4th for my 4th grader.. i just pulled them out to homeschool this year.. trying to find curriculum now.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

It’s a very good curriculum, and the books are definitely good reads for kindergarten. The grammar and writing projects may be a bit advanced for that grade level, but it depends on your kiddo. The teacher guides are helpful because all the comprehension questions and writing instruction are in them. The workbooks only address grammar at the early levels.

[@liweizou4286]

My son is entering grade 2 after this summer. His reading level is pretty like around RAZ level J. But writing level is little behind comparing with other 1st grader. What grade do you recommend if using lightening literature? I feel using grade 1 will be less stressful at writing part, but level 2 will have books that are more at or close to his reading level.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Honestly, I'd recommend going with Grade 2.

[@redeemedmama6768]

Hi! Did you do a review did level 2? Are you planning to continue with LL?

[@redeemedmama6768]

@projecthappyhome

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Yes and yes :)

[@NC-gm2lb]

Will you please do qn update video on this cirriculum for grade 1 and if you supplemented?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I do supplement for grammar and writing practice. If you check out my Grade 1 playlist or my language arts playlist, you can see the other resources I have used. 🤓

[@NC-gm2lb]

@@ProjectHappyHome I will check it out. Thanks. Do you still use TGTB for language arts?

[@jessicaTX964]

I know this video is old, but I'd kinda like your take on something. I love the discussion points, but at any time does it actually TEACH like what is a character or what are character traits, or things like author's purpose, or how to find the main idea, or does it just assume your child will figure all that out based on repeated discussions of these kids of concepts?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

It does a great job of teaching literary elements, like what these things are. It walks the teacher through discussion points of theme/character/story arc/conflict/etc for each book.

[@fathiyam3624]

We are a homeschooling family and we plan to exit the country (USA) for a few years. Can you suggest any apps/website that has most of the books from this curriculum? We already use Vooks but I was looking for higher elemantary level

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I'm not sure - we use Epic, but I don't see more than a few of these books on there. It may be good to search out KZbin videos of readalouds or Google book versions. Or maybe invest in a Kindle and that way you can have them in a portable ereader format? Best of luck on your travels!

[@louisescheonberg3437]

is this secular, with the christmas book?

[@valleyhavenfamilyschool8951]

This looks awesome! Does it include phonics/learning to read or would I use a separate curriculum for that part? From what I see in the video, I think my daughter would love this!

[@ProjectHappyHome]

No, it assumes your child can read already. But it leaves the door open to having you read all the books, so you could theoretically “talk” through it without having them read/write. But I think it’s better suited to a child who is already reading. Hope that helps!

[@letitiam7985]

Did you end up source the rest of the books from the library? Did you find this easy to do?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I actually bought the other books because I knew I was going to use it again with my 3rd child. :)

[@gigglez636]

I love your reviews. Thanks. I am curious about how much does your 1st grader do at any given point of time (weekly). You have a bunch of books that you reviewed. Especially math. Does it get too repetitive ? My daughter tends to go into "its too easy, its too boring" if we do too much repetition but I also know that she is not ready for the next level. Any experience with that ?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

My eldest needs a lot of repetition to nail down his math facts, but my middle daughter not so much. So I think it varies per child. I’m a fan of different curricula and modalities for math so that they grow flexible and easy on their mastery of numbers and theoretical math. There is definitely some complaining, but I was a math geek in school and I think fluidity and fearlessness comes with practice when it comes with numbers.

[@lunamoonlunamoon8340]

My daughter will be in first grade. Well, for everything except language arts. We’re taking more time with that. Would this be ok for her in your opinion? She’s having a hard time remembering sounds and letters but thriving in everything else especially math

[@ProjectHappyHome]

My youngest sounds much the same, so I understand the dynamics of being slower to master reading while speedier at everything else. She is 6 and I call her a hybrid K/1st grader because she’s almost done with first grade math, but she’s definitely squarely in kinder for reading. I have not started her on this curriculum yet - although the readers are perfect for her age, I want her to be able to read and accomplish the grammar exercises on her own without undue stress.

[@lunamoonlunamoon8340]

@@ProjectHappyHome thank you so much! What curriculum would you recommend? I was recommended Saxon phonics and spelling and mcruffy.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

We’ve been progressing really well with Logic of English Foundations.

[@naturehomeschool6271]

Great review!! Are you only using this for language arts or also adding in TGTB 1/other?

[@ProjectHappyHome]

We may finish out TGTB Level 1, and I’m including Explode the Code and various other resources to keep it lively. Evan Moor, Crafty Classroom, Bravewriter. I’m fancy that way, lol.

[@ChopsandFlips]

I'm starting level 1 for my 7 years old. He can read nicely and is at grade 2 level but he is struggling with comprehension so that's why I started at level 1. I want him to read the books as he doesn't comprehend properly because he has ADHD and slow processing speed. But he find the books too lengthy. We both are reading right now- one page me & one page him. Also I'm asking the comprehension questions after every 2-3 pages and not at the end. Is it something we can do....just checking🙂

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I did the same with my struggling reader. She had no problem with the comprehension and grammar lessons even though she needed scaffolding for the reading. And by Level 2, although she had become confident enough to do much of the reading on her own, we continued to do them as readalouds where we switched off who was reading.

[@cottingtonmae]

hey! omigosh, i have so many comments today! i'm confused, as when i look at this level on their site, they list ONLY aesop's fables for children.... not ANY of these books you have shown here.... i wonder if they have changed it???

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I don’t think so. The bundle is different than the book package - and they may be pausing the book packages while COVID is interrupting supply chains.

[@letitiam7985]

You can find the book packages at rainbow resource website

[@MommaSchmoozeReviews]

Great review, Tanya! This curriculum looks very good 💜 we have a lot of those books and like them a lot. I like how the student workbook looks.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

I think this curriculum would fit perfectly into your homeschool, Lindsay - colorful and bright, with lots of talking and books. 💚

[@atharvknowledgevideos4632]

In English work book

[@denisejohnson4037]

You saying Madelyn caught me off guard.

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Lol, I had a friend growing up who spelled her name with “-ine” but pronounced it “-lyn,” and I just can’t shake it. It’s hard for me to maintain the rhyme structure when I read the Madeline books. 😊

[@denisejohnson4037]

@@ProjectHappyHome I wish you would have done the 2nd grade version of this book. I took my daughter back a grade in grammar, so she'll understand it better. So far so good though, she said she likes this curriculum.

[@americaneden3090]

i can read spanish better than i speak it and they talk so fast when fluent i cannot understand the spoken word....& my maiden name is of Mexican origin 😂

[@ProjectHappyHome]

Me, too! I can read it much better than I speak it.

[@tiny.terrorist.negotiator]

Just ordered this. We were using journeys but the publisher discontinued it so I cant find all the other books. I plan on using this with phonics by the book 8 week curriculum.