Hewitt Homeschooling {Schoolhouse Review Crew}

"Hewitt" is a name I've known for as long as I've been homeschooling, and, in fact, has been associated with homeschooling from the beginning of the homeschooling movement.

What is Hewitt Homeschooling? A bit of history from the website:

In 1963-64, the original founders of Hewitt identified a group of business and professional men and women who were concerned about trends in health, education, welfare, and the family decided to put their concerns into action. They organized first as Cedar Springs Foundation and in 1964 were approved as a 501(c)(3) public charity. The Foundation was renamed Hewitt Research Foundation in 1969 to honor its co-founder Carl Hewitt. Dr. Raymond Moore, the other co-founder, served as director until 1987. His work was published in Time, Newsday, and Columbia University’s Teachers College Record. He was also the author of several books such as Home Grown Kids, School Can Wait, and Home-Style Teaching all of which placed Hewitt at the forefront of the home-schooling movement.

Since 1983, the primary function of the Foundation has shifted from consultation with educational institutions to an examination of institutions in society as they relate to society’s basic unit-the family. Hewitt’s research has led it to be a proponent of homeschooling. According to research done by Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, homeschoolers test in the 87th percentile on the complete battery of basic skills-37% higher than the national norm. Hewitt has continued to follow a balanced, flexible approach to homeschooling. Our emphasis includes combining excellent academics with character development, instilling the work ethic, and developing a spirit of community service in the next generation. With a current client base of over 30,000, Hewitt’s operation is currently divided into three sectors: services, testing, and products. Operating out of our facility in Washougal, Washington, we serve parents with students from kindergarten age through high-school.

When I saw there was the possibility to use and review something from Hewitt, I was pretty excited!

We were blessed with the 7th grade Lightning Literature package, which includes: Student Guide, Student Workbook, and Teacher's Guide. There is a complete package, which includes these resources, as well as the 5 literature books the student will need for the course: Stories and Poems for Intelligent Children; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; Alice's Adventure in Wonderland; Helen Keller; and All Creatures Great and Small.

The Student Guide consists of lessons on:

• plot line
• increasing your creativity
• autobiography
• the character sketch
• dialogue
• basic terms 
• rhyme in poetry
• sound in poetry
• nonce words
• brainstorming
• outlining
• choosing a topic
• writing a good opening
• instruction on four poetic forms (limerick, haiku, cinquain, and list poem).

Each lesson contains a brief biographical introduction, vocabulary, comprehension questions, the literary lesson and mini-lesson, and writing exercises. The workbook pages give students the chance to practice the skills and concepts learned in the lessons. Optional activities include crossword puzzles, and word searches. You can view the table of contents here.

The Teacher's Guide includes the answers to comprehension questions and the workbook pages, a teaching schedule, extra teaching help for the lessons, help in choosing appropriate writing exercises, and discussion questions.

The Botanist Boy and I both enjoyed reading the story, Rikki-Tikki Tavi (which is included in the Stories and Poems for Intelligent Children; but we used a free ebook version for the purpose of the review period).

I'm sorry to admit, Botanist Boy wasn't too keen on doing the workbook pages....perhaps that is mostly because he is in "summer mode" right now. ;-)

I really like what this program has to offer, and would like to incorporate it in to the Botanist Boy's 7th grade curriculum line up this coming school year. I really would like for my boys to learn more about the different types of poetry and literature.

Crew members received various other items for review, as well: The Joy of Discovery (How to Teach With Unit Studies); State Chronicles; My First Report; or other levels of Lightning Literature.

Prices of the 7th grade Lightning Lit: Student Guide, $20.00; Student Workbook, $20.00; Teacher's Guide, $20.00; or the Pack, $91.73.

Contact Information:

Website
Email

Address:
2103 Main Street
Washougal, WA 98671

Phone: 800-348-1750
FAX: 360-835-8697

Facebook
Twitter

Be sure to read what my Crew Mates have to say about Hewitt Homeschooling, as well.

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Disclaimer: As a Schoolhouse Review Crew blogger, I am provided a free copy of the book, curriculum or product to test and use in order to write an honest review. I receive no other compensation and the opinions I share are my own and not influenced by the company in question.
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