We’ve reached that time of year again where it seems like I’m adding 100 gray hairs a day. It’s the time to start picking our curriculum. With so many choices available to homeschoolers, it can quickly turn into a stressful situation. One of the subjects that I had been going back and forth on was our Language Arts and literature. We haven’t yet found a “favorite” when it comes to my youngest. That’s why when we were given the opportunity to check out the Hewitt Homeschooling Lightning Lit Set for Grade 2, I couldn’t refuse. While I had never heard of this program before, I was very intrigued, especially with the selection of recommended reads to go along with it.
» Memoria Press Book of Trees
» Readers in Residence
Hewitt Homeschooling Lightning Lit
Lightning Literature & Composition Grade 2 is a program that combines both grammar and writing curriculum. Each week, your student completes four lessons which involve daily reading, reading comprehension questions, book discussion, journal entries and more. Not only that, but they will also cover:
• Capitalization: titles, proper nouns
• Regular/irregular plurals
• Parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs
• Synonyms/antonyms
• Punctuating dialogue
• Subject/predicate
• Diagramming sentences
• Poetry terms: line, stanza, rhyme, repetition, vivid words, etc
• Fiction/ nonfiction; fantasy/realism
• Writing: personal essay, explanatory, friendly letter, biography, etc.
What we received
We received the 2nd-grade student and teacher book Hewitt Homeschooling Lightning Lit set.
Student Book
This 329-page full-color, consumable student book covers 36 weeks and also includes Dictionary pages in the back. With this curriculum, you will need an additional 26 books, and you can find that list HERE.
The book is set up to be used four days a week, with day five being a free day. You can choose to use this as a day off (which is what we do), or use it to complete any more that may have been missed throughout the week. 
Teacher Book
The teacher book has a total of 350 pages and explains how to use the program and has a brief guide for discussions along with questions that include scripted answers for each book. You’ll also find instructions for daily composition as well as answers to the workbook grammar pages. You can also find ideas for the day five extended learning day I mentioned in this book. It also includes the reading assignments for the Winnie-the-Pooh book and Just So Stories.
Be sure to check out the below video for a more in-depth look at this curriculum.
Our overall thoughts:
After using this curriculum for six-weeks, I have to say that we LOVE this program. My six-year-old is huge when it comes to literature, and we have enjoyed every book that we’ve read. It’s just such a wonderful way to introduce him to a variety of literature.
Each lesson is approx. one page in length and it’s laid out to be very welcoming. I also appreciate the larger font that we have in the 2nd-grade student book. Luke has very poor vision and when things are written in smaller print, he tends to get frustrated. With this curriculum, we haven’t had a problem at all. Not only is the writing in the book a larger font, but they also give the littles plenty of room when it comes to writing their journal entries.
Cons:
While I have nothing but amazing things to say about this curriculum, I do want to mention one hurdle we’ve dealt with. We live in an extremely small town, and for the most part, I’ve only been able to check out two out of the six books we’ve covered in our library. I’ve had to purchase the rest of the books. While this isn’t a big deal for us since we have a love of books, but I do understand that not everyone wants to go out and purchase 26 additional books on top of their curriculum.
Has it been worth it to purchase the additional books?
It has been absolutely worth it. We have enjoyed every part of this curriculum. I love that I can customize it to fit our needs. I love that I can choose for it to be four days or five days. I love all the required reading books, and I completely appreciate the larger font on the worksheets. With that being said, I already have plans on purchasing the 3rd-grade curriculum for next year, and if they had 5th grade available, without a doubt, I’d be purchasing it for my 5th grader as well.
This curriculum is available for elementary grades 1st through 3rd (a 4th-grade level will be released soon), middle school levels 7th and 8th grade and senior high school options that cover American Literature, World Literature, Shakespearean works, and British Literature.
