Help with seventh grade literature

[Tricia O]

I really want my oldest daughter to do literature this year. I am debating between Lightning Literature & Progeny Press Guides for her. She'll be in 7th grade. We are also going to be doing the Institute for Excellence in Writing SWI-B, so I don't really want something with a lot of composition, because I definitely don't want to burn her out. I am open to other suggestions for literature as well.
She will also be continuing on with Spelling Power & Winston Grammar.
Along these same lines, has anyone done any of the Progeny Press Guides with their younger kids? I'm considering getting a couple for my 5th grader as her lowest area on the IOWA test was related to literature comprehension/analysis, etc.
ETA We start school at the first of June, which is why I am asking all these questions already.

[Hollie in SC]

We used LL7 this year and IEW SICCA and it worked well. When I saw an essay coming for LL7, I would usually back off a day or two with IEW to help balance them.

[Tricia O]

We used LL7 this year and IEW SICCA and it worked well. When I saw an essay coming for LL7, I would usually back off a day or two with IEW to help balance them.

Did you enjoy lightning literature? I really like the looks of it. But then I saw Progeny Press & really like the looks of it too. However, I like that lightning literature includes poetry & other things as well, which we haven't really covered much. Maybe I will just use the Progeny Press as a book list for books I want her to read.

ETA She has always been a reluctant writer, but this past year she took a writing class one of my homeschooling friends offered & it helped her a great deal. I had actually bought IEW SWI-B to do this past year, but due to the writing class, decided to hold off until next year. I am thinking about having Elizabeth & Katie do it together. There are actually some pages I can download from the website to make it a little easier for a 5th grader, and I think it would be easier to teach them together.

[Hollie in SC]

We did like it and he's looking forward to LL8. Eli is a fast reader and we finished early. Poetry was an attraction for me as well with LL7.

[CINDY LB OH]

We like Lightning Lit here too. We used both the 7th and 8th grade ones, plus the Speech one for high school. The Speech one is fantastic.

I also liked the fact that it included short stories and poetry. I used them with my girls, and will be using it again with my ds.

[Marla in Nevada]

I had actually bought IEW SWI-B to do this past year, but due to the writing class, decided to hold off until next year.

Tricia, Do you know that IEW offers "live" interactive online classes that utilize SWI-B? I heard about the classes this past January, and I got permission from the teacher to enroll Moriah mid-semester. She completed the 2nd half of SWI-B with the class. The first half we completed on our own at home earlier this year.

I have LOVED the structure and accountability of having a weekly class because the work gets done consistently. I've also greatly appreciated having an "outside voice" evaluating Moriah's writing. Pamela White, the teacher, is the author of IEW's Fix-It Grammar so as part of the class, they also complete assignments from that text.

Moriah has made friends with several of the kids in class, so they email back and forth. She also emails the teacher regularly with questions about her assignments. It has been just the thing we needed to consistently get writing done in our homeschool.

It was an added expense to our homeschool budget, but in our case, it was worth it.