Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: lightning literature, MOH, TruthQuest

This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 2 months ago by jeaninpa.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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March 16, 2017 at 12:45 pm
Paula Spicer
Participant
My daughter will be starting 8th grade next year and I’m looking at literature/history programs. I am looking for a history spine and read living books along side it. I need a program that includes writing in their schedule, otherwise it never seems to get done.
I love the comments made by the author of truthquest and will probably buy that just for her commentary. I just need a little more structure, not a lot, just suggestions of work to go along with it, like writing assignments, etc. I would plan on using her booklist and matching it to SCM’s book list, or use SCM’s suggestions. If I use this, I would plan on using the 5 year program suggestion.
MOH is a little expensive for me, so I don’t want to purchase it if I’m not certain about its contents. Does it suggest living books to real along with the text? Is it busy work? We don’t really care for that, pretty much get it done kind of kids. I like the way it looks, but I have heard it feels like busy work, and it doesn’t encourage much deep thinking (sorry didn’t know how to write that one 🙂
With Lightning Literature, I’m just not sure of how much work is expected. I like the looks of it but the sample looked confusing how the program works. But I’m most excited about this one. I would really like to here someones schedule of how they used it.
I guess I’m needing suggestions on a literature program and history program. If they were combined, that would work even better. If not that is OK. I don’t necessarily need a language arts program because we use growing with grammar and it’s quick and gets the job done. We use spelling wisdom book 3 and also come up with our own spelling/vocab words through books we read. I am currently using fortuigence for the first time for writing, it’s going well, just sort of slower than I had hoped for.
Also, it doesn’t have to be a program. If you came up with something on your own, feel free to tell me about it. I’d rather not buy anything 😉
Thanks
Paula
March 17, 2017 at 6:17 am
Melanie32
Participant
Hi Paula!
I have some experience with Truthquest and MOH. I’ve also looked at Lightning Lit quite a bit.
Truthquest actually does include writing assignments. However, it doesn’t include writing instruction. I think SCM includes directions to have older students complete written narrations, but again, no writing instruction. Are you looking for included writing assignments or instruction?
Mystery of History is just short daily readings. It includes suggested additional activities, which may include writing assignments (no instruction). There are multiple choice review exercises as well. MOH does have lists of additional books in the back of the book but they are not scheduled, nor are they great book lists IMO. MOH always fell flat in my home. The writing just can’t compare with living books. It is a nice textbook, but it is still a textbook. Narrations took a nose dive when we tried it out. We quickly went back to living books.
Lightning Literature looks really good to me. I prefer to choose my own literature assignments and use a separate writing program but LL does look really good for someone who wants it all planned out. I can never stick with someone else’s prewritten plan. I am an incurable tweaker. 🙂 LL does not offer much writing instruction either, but it does give a bit.
We used Truthquest history for 8th grade, along with written narrations for writing. For lit, I had my daughter choose a classic and read from it every day for 30 minutes. We did one Shakespeare play that year and one lit guide as well. We used the Famous Men series for written narrations more than any other book. My daughter prefers to write complete narrations that tell a whole story so the short biographies in these books worked well for her. She wrote 2, 1-2 page papers a week. At the end of her 8th grade year, I ran her through a quick essay writing program called Hands On Essays. We also had a writing intensive month where we took off from a few other subjects and she wrote an essay every day. I was very pleased with the results so I plan on having an essay intensive month each year from now on.

March 17, 2017 at 12:05 pm
petitemom
Participant
We love MOH. I used all 4 volume with my older kids and am now back at the 1st one with my 3rd child. Not familiar with the other ones you mentioned.
I found MOH to be good as a spine if you want to go in dept in history. I had kids write a card about each lesson, we did the timeline and the quizzes. You don’t have to do any of that if you don’t want to. I never had time to do the activities but I am sure those are great for other people.
I didn’t use the list from the book but did implement with living books. I used books suggested in Winter Promise catalog and used the guesthollow website, the history shelf.
I know some library have the books if you want to look through to see if it is something that you could use as a spine. The lessons are very short in the 1st volume and become longer as you go through the next volumes.
March 18, 2017 at 6:47 am
jeaninpa
Participant
We’re using BiblioPlan for history and literature and it’s been a good fit for us.
What I like: It includes history, geography, literature and Bible. There are suggested writing assignments, but no writing instruction. It covers K-12th grade with different options for a history spine to read. You can choose between SOTW, MOH or read the Companion, which is the spine written for BiblioPlan. You have the option of adding mapwork and crafts. There are numerous literature suggestions. You also have the option of adding ‘Cool Histories’, which include fill-in-the-blanks, short answer questions, longer answer questions and a research essay for each week. You can pick and choose which of those you want your kids to do.
There are four years and it may seem pricey up front, but you can use the same resources (at different levels) for all years of school.
For writing instruction, we’re using Wordsmith for middle school and The Power in Your Hands for high school. I’ve used a gazillion (!) different writing programs, and for us, these are the ones that get done.
March 18, 2017 at 10:25 am
Paula Spicer
Participant
I went ahead and ordered truthquest ancient greece but I would like something to help us with writing assignments.
I’ve heard about Biblioplan, and I looked into it a little bit.
What about MFW? Any recommendations on that one. It is really expensive so it would have to be fantastic for me to order it.
So many to pick from!! Wish I could use them for a week and try them all and then decide!!
thanks for all your reviews. I appreciate it.
Paula
March 18, 2017 at 12:36 pm
jeaninpa
Participant
I should probably have mentioned that I used TQ for years since you did ask for a review of that! There were many things that I liked about it, but it did require quite a bit of planning on my part. Also, you either need to buy the extra books or hope to find them at the library. Our libraries had several, but to have them available at the right time was a headache.
Mostly I liked the author’s commentary, but sometimes it felt disjointed and confusing. Sometimes she would refer to an event, and if we hadn’t found a book to read about the event, we had no idea what she was talking about. Also, I found her buddy/buddy overly chatty tone somewhat grating at times. Just my opinion….
I’ve looked at MFW. It didn’t seem as if it would work well with the age span of my kiddos.