Lightning Literature & Composition American Christian Literature Student Guide

Covering literature by American Christian authors that is a mixture of literature on specifically Christian ideas and literature on more general themes. Literature selections include: Poetry from Anne Bradstreet ("To my Dear and Loving Husband," "Another," "As weary pilgrim, now at rest," "By night when others soundly slept," and "Upon the Burning of Our House"), Can You Drink the Cup - nonfiction (Henri Nouwen), "Another Message in a Bottle" - nonfiction (Walker Percy), A Circle of Quiet (Madeleine L-Engle), Wendell Berry - poetry ("Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front," "The Way of Pain," "A Meeting," "We Who Prayed and Wept," "In the Motel Parking Lot," "Thinking of Doctor Williams," "Enemies," and "Come Forth"), Godric - novel (Frederick Buechner), "The Artificial Nigger" - short story (Flannery O'Connor), and No Graven Image (Elisabeth Elliot).

Lessons cover skills for college-level writing, giving poetry a close reading, writing a basic essay, reading to respond, and writing a literary essay as well as tools for approaching college-level thinking from a biblical perspective including a Christian approach to the tension between art and message, a biblical response to sin in literature, analyzing the worldview in literature, and finding a basis for identifying and evaluating ideas. For example, "Another Message in the Bottle" by Walker Percy is used to teach reading to respond and "The Artificial Nigger" by Flannery OConnor is used to teach analyzing the worldview in literature (from the publisher's info).

The Student Guide includes information about the authors, comprehension questions, writing exercises, discussion questions and project suggestions, reading lists appropriate to the period or subject, semester and full-year schedules, and a bibliography. The Teacher's Guide is needed if you want the answers to the comprehension questions. It also provides a teaching schedule, teaching and grading aids, and a copy of the writing exercises and discussion questions for the teacher's convenience. The Course Package includes the Student Book, the Teacher Book, and any necessary literature selections not included in the text of the Student Book.

This book is especially useful for upper level students, students interested in cultural issues, and those studying modern history. Greatly enhanced by parent-student discussion (due to some challenging subject matter), this course is more difficult than most of the Lightning Literature courses (except the Shakespeare and the British Medieval courses).

Written directly to the student, well-organized, user-friendly (no teacher prep), and both traditional and diverse in the reading selections, these courses offer quality literary analysis coupled with step-by-step writing instruction. Assignments are thought-provoking and challenging.

Lessons follow a pattern: Introduction, (information about the reading) Selection, While You Read, Comprehension Questions, Literary Lessons, and Writing Exercises. Suggested activities enhance the studies: Vocabulary Notebook, Reading Journal, Biographies, Family Reading or Writing Nights, Oral Summaries, Writing Group, and (perhaps) Movies.

The Student Book includes instructional text, shorter works (i.e. poetry, excerpts), author background, discussion questions (comprehension, thought, literary), and writing exercises. The Teacher Guide provides answers, schedules, teaching/grading tips, rubrics, project suggestions/checklists, and grade-tracking records.

The twelve semester-long courses are listed in order of difficulty. Most students should start with one of the American Lit courses. There are required literature resources to use with each guide. While you may be able to locate some or all of the books at a library, we also offer Literature Packages for each course that include the Student Book, the Teacher Guide, and the necessary literature books.

"Reading should be fun, and writing should be satisfying." The author of this series believes this, and she has produced courses that try to keep that goal ever present. She WANTS students to enjoy themselves! Accordingly, reading assignments are comfortable - two novels, two non-fiction books, two short stories and several poems for the 7th grade course, for instance. Lessons are well-constructed and the excellent and thorough coverage includes vocabulary, comprehension, literary elements, composition, grammar, and mechanics.

The three components of this program are designed to be complementary and to be used together. The Student Workbook is the student's textual companion as they study the literature selections. This consumable book is the place for the student to "do" their work. It provides worktext space for all the essential exercises as well as some optional fun/reinforcement exercises.

The Teacher Guide is the "glue" that holds the whole program together providing a philosophical and methodical overview of the program and a weekly planning schedule (lesson plans) as well as chapter-by-chapter answers and teaching helps.

The last component is the excellent Literature Selections that are the heart of the program. Classics, familiar, non-familiar, poetry, and, occasionally, surprising choices all find their way onto the book lists for each grade level. While you may be able to locate some or all of the books at a library, we also offer Literature Packages for each guide that include the necessary books. You and your student are encouraged to read, enjoy, and profit from the year's literature studies. ~ Janice