British Medieval Lightning Literature ~ REVIEW

You know this next Review is right up my alley, but Mahala surprised me with being almost as enthused as I was to tap into a bit of Literature we both have never explored before.  We have been enjoying the challenge of using Hewitt Homeschooling's British Medieval Lightning Literature set.  I told Mahala and she looked at me confused.  I assured her that all was well, this would be an adventure.  And that it has been as we started collecting books needed before our package arrived.

We received both the Student and Teacher's guide.  The books you will need to get to go along with the guides are Beowulf, Piers the Ploughman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Canterbury Tales. We had a few of these titles already surprisingly, so we were ready to go.  We started with reading the Student Introduction together.  I'm just as new to this kind of Literature, so I didn't want to miss a thing.  One of the main things they talked about and honestly the reason why I adore the thought of using another Lightning Literature course with Mahala is they stress the importance of reading classic Literature.  They encourage writing and provide motivation to sharpen those skills that she is bound to be using in almost all of her classes once she goes on to a University.  Composition will be a skill she will always probably wished she had spent a little more time on in Homeschool.  But, the growth I have see from her because of using programs and curriculum like what Hewitt Homeschooling has to offer is what has developed this transformation in her.  In this particular course they discuss all the aspects of Poetry.  I love Poetry, Mahala the past several months has loved Poetry and that warms my heart.  Memorization of Poetry is something we have worked on, with her ADD it's not always so easy.  Mahala has a whole process to learning that takes a little longer, but I think it causes her to appreciate it even more when she can recite her piece she's been working on.

We looked over the schedule given, but decided to tweak it just a little.  We had her start reading Beowulf alone and then we would read the next day together out-loud.  Then we would go over the Comprehension questions.  This did seem to stretch out our English time each week doing it that way.  But, we ended up doing a lot of rereading lines so we needed that extra time. :)  

So, what did I think?  We will finish the program and Mahala is learning to stretch her thinking and writing capabilities.  She has taken Literature that she normally wouldn't read and not just read to be reading it.  She put a lot of thought and this brought on great discussions around the dinner table.   We did skip to read Canterbury Tales after Beowulf.  It was a title we have had for years, just waiting to be picked up.  There were a lot of questions Mahala said, but the challenging part for her was the writing exercises, right off the bat she was pacing the floor over a short story assignment. 

I would recommend this to any Highschooler that's already taken some writing courses and who has studied Literature, or enjoys Literature.  The language and writing style is different, so it may be difficult, but well worth the hard work.  And as the Parent/Teacher you don't have to worry about grading all this on your own, they offer great Grading Tips.  Make sure you Connect with Hewitt Homeschooling today with Social Media!

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