Starting Points and LLOTR in one year, too much?

[teacalm]

Hi again,

 

Please bear with me as I keep asking all these questions. This is for my rising 8th grader, soon to be 13 ds. I asked this question on the K-8 board but I'm hoping I'll get a response or two here in the HS board.

 

Quine's Starting Points and Literary Lessons of the Lord of the Rings in one year. Is this too much or just plain crazy? I'm very attracted to both; in fact, I already started LLOTR with my kids by reading the prequel The Hobbitt. However, I couldn't seem to stop looking at Starting Points. The main attraction for me is its biblical worldview. The other one I'm looking at is the Lightbearers by Summit.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Lyn

[Veronica in VA]

Since no one answered yet I'll try. I didn't use Starting Points but I'm familiar with it. We did use Literary Lessons. I think both is too much. Starting Points is meant to be history, English and lit combined. It doesn't have a lot of lit, but still there is a good amount of reading overall for an 8th grader. With Lit Lessons you could just read Lord of the Rings, but to make it even better, you can read some of the works that influenced Tolkien, such as Beowulf, some of the epics, etc. We did this when dd and ds were studying ancient and medieval history. I think if you combined both you would love some of the flavor of each if that makes sense.

 

Veronica

[Lori D.]

Not at all familiar with Starting Points, so I can't answer your question. Just wanted to suggest that lots of 1-year programs can be stretched out over 1-1/2 to 2 years. We've done LLftLotR, and it is very flexible -- you could certainly take longer than 1 year to do it -- for example, do the books and related chapter notes and discussion questions in one year, and then do the 12 units of additional material the following year. I would imagine you could stretch out Starting Points, too.

 

Just a thought! Warmly, Lori D.

[Barb]

Hi,

I've been using Starting Points with my 13 year old son this year. I've also used Worldviews of the Western World by Quine. I really like the biblical worldview teaching aspect of the program. The literature part teaches you to look at what you read or watch and to compare it to the biblical worldview. Three of the books used are from the Chronicles of Narnia series, so if your son has already read these you could go through this part more quickly. That leaves Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I'm not familiar with the literary program you are using though, so I don't know how it would add to the workload. I'm happy to try and answer any questions you have.

 

Barb

[teacalm]

Thanks so much Veronica, LoriD, and Barb for taking the time to respond. Aahhh! Too many choices, really good choices out there. But since I've somewhat started LLOTR, I will continue and see where it takes us. I also find that the greatest learning in my house happens when I stick with one and consistently do it.

 

I'm waiting on Starting Points to arrive and even if ds and I can't go through it this year, we can always save it for next year. For the meantime, i can go through the course and even study it in advance if sleep doesn't overcome first, that is.

 

Thanks so very much, dear ladies.

 

Much blessings,

 

Lyn

[dkholland]

Hi,

I've been using Starting Points with my 13 year old son this year. I've also used Worldviews of the Western World by Quine. I really like the biblical worldview teaching aspect of the program. The literature part teaches you to look at what you read or watch and to compare it to the biblical worldview. Three of the books used are from the Chronicles of Narnia series, so if your son has already read these you could go through this part more quickly.

 

Barb...I am planning on using SP with my ninth grade ds this fall and I wondered how long it takes each day? Do you discuss everyday, or a couple times a week? My ds is an advanced reader so I was going to add in some more lit from the SL 200 list...do you think that is doable? Thanks for your advice. I have been watching for someone who is using SP to ask these questions of!

 

Thanks!

[Barb]

Hi,

Regarding time it takes to do Starting Points: it varies a bit. My son wasn't super motivated in the beginning (he was 12 at the time) and it being the beginning of the school-year, well, you know how that is! It probably takes up to 2 hours a day at this point but I have my son working on the literature aspect, the bible/worldview aspect and the history section concurrently.

 

The syllabus is set up so that each of the sections are worked through one at a time, but I wanted my son to have more history, and to go through the theology a bit more slowly. This has worked pretty well. Right now he is reading Mere Christianity, Frankenstein, and working through the history book. He also has Biology, Grammar and Comp, Latin and a hefty music period but he is keeping up.

 

There is a yahoo group for Starting Points as well as Worldviews of the Western World so you could also get more feedback there. I have personally learned a lot Starting Points and Worldviews about where we are as a culture and how we got here. The downfall is there is no teacher's manual, as in, there is no answer key. Also in answer to your question about discussion time, it varies. We mostly discuss when ds is having difficulty understanding what he is reading. Wish we did a better job at this but...

 

Barb

[dkholland]

until I get my hands on the curriculum, I better not ask too many more questions. I agree, by just looking at it, that I will add some history to it and more literature. My ds devours books, so I will need to add to his list. Thanks so much!