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Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings - opinions please


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Easy to implement. Can easily be done solo by the student -- though the student would receive maximum benefit by being able to discuss with parent/teacher and/or other students (would work well in a co-op setting). For more specifics on how the program is laid out, pros and cons, likes and dislikes, see some of these past threads. BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

 

 

Literary Lessons From The Lord of the Rings

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106555&highlight=literary+lessons

 

Lightning Literature and Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91139&highlight=literary+lessons

 

Tell me what you don't like about Lit. Lessons from LotR

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66929&highlight=LotR

 

Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90772&highlight=Lord+Rings

 

Literary Lessons from LotR -- have you used this?

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20362&highlight=LotR

 

Literary Lessons from LOTR

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4434&highlight=literary+lessons

 

Question for those who have used Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10303&highlight=Lord+Rings

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Love it, love it, love it!

 

I bought this after reading Lori D.'s posts and haven't regretted a minute of it. It is so laid out and easy to use. It is "gradeable" (something we really needed). It has gotten kid interested in reading the "important" stuff - FINALLY. He actually went to the library on his own to check out and read Beowulf. The concept of "nothing is new - authors are simply reworking ancient themes" is finally starting to sink in.

 

 

a

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I know this has been asked before but do you NEED the student book? I plan on using this next year. We do most of our lit discussions orally already. What are the pros and cons of having only the teacher book?

 

Also has anyone used the unabridged CDs by Rob Inglis? I already have two copies of each book and plan to do it as a read-aloud/read together with ds but would love some audio support.

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I know this has been asked before but do you NEED the student book? I plan on using this next year. We do most of our lit discussions orally already. What are the pros and cons of having only the teacher book?

 

 

I looked at the student book, but realized we only needed the teacher manual and never regretted it. We did it much as you describe above -- doing it orally together, and we REALLY got a lot out of the program by doing it all together. The student book and TM are identical, except the TM has all the answers printed right there either on the line for fill-in-the-blank vocabulary and comprehension questions, or a few sentences/few paragraphs answer printed right under the discussion questions. Also, within the chapter notes are occasional writing assignment ideas. And I believe the TM has several appendices of teaching ideas that the student book does not have.

 

The only downside of not using the student book as I see it is if you wanted your student to do the program completely or mostly independently. You *could* go through the TM and tape blank paper over all the answers and then hand it over to your student, but that would be a *massive* amount of work -- you'd really want to save your time and spend the money in that case. BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmly, Lori D.

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I looked at the student book, but realized we only needed the teacher manual and never regretted it. We did it much as you describe above -- doing it orally together, and we REALLY got a lot out of the program by doing it all together. The student book and TM are identical, except the TM has all the answers printed right there either on the line for fill-in-the-blank vocabulary and comprehension questions, or a few sentences/few paragraphs answer printed right under the discussion questions. Also, within the chapter notes are occasional writing assignment ideas. And I believe the TM has several appendices of teaching ideas that the student book does not have.

 

The only downside of not using the student book as I see it is if you wanted your student to do the program completely or mostly independently. You *could* go through the TM and tape blank paper over all the answers and then hand it over to your student, but that would be a *massive* amount of work -- you'd really want to save your time and spend the money in that case. BEST of luck, whatever you decide! Warmly, Lori D.

 

Thank you! That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I'm probably more excited than ds to go through this unit, so there is no way he's doing it without me.

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Another vigorous yay! vote here.

 

DS13 did it ... basically self-directed. He learned a LOT about basic literary concepts. He was very interested in a couple of the unit study extras -- Tolkein's life and the section on heroic epics in particular.

 

We are studying the Aeneid now, and I can see him applying what he learned from LLFLOTR to it.

 

Karen

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Could I add a question here? How long does the study take? Is it a full-year program?

 

If you do the additional 12 units of material, and read some of the other literature suggested in those 12 units, yes it is a full year program. Some homeschoolers have taken 1-1/2 years to do the program with younger students (gr. 5-7). If you skip the 12 additional units of material, a strong student could solo read and go through the chapter notes and writing assignments in one semester.

 

 

LLftLotR took us about 4 hours a week:

- 2 hours a week for the reading (we did it aloud together; silently/solo it would take less time)

- 1 to 1-1/2 hours a week read aloud/discuss chapter notes and answer/discuss discussion questions

- 1/2 hour a week to work through the additional units of material (spent about 3 weeks per unit on average)

- we skipped the fill-in-the-blank vocabulary worksheets and comprehension questions and writing assignments, so if you do that part, you'd probably add another hour a week for the worksheets, writing assignments, and reading of additional literature (we counted the reading of the other material towards a separate "Great Books" credit)

Edited by Lori D.
corrected typo
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Thank. The program sounds great, but I am aiming for more breadth in our literature program. I just can't see focusing one one series for a whole year, or even a whole semester. I'd give it 6 weeks, but no more. There are so many great books I want to cover.

 

Keep in mind, though, that many other works are read and/or discussed, within the context of LOTR. The LOTR books are but one aspect of the program. You may want to look more closely at the website and/or review some of the other threads to get an idea.

 

Just glancing at my TOC, I can tell you that we will be reading/discussing (at least portions of):

 

Canterbury Tales

The Iliad

The Odyssey

Virgil's Aeneid

MacBeth

Beowulf (special unit study included)

The Once and Future King

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

 

These are the works that are explicitly discussed in the program; there are also references to many other works by Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, more Shakespeare, etc.

 

Add in the reading that we do for other subjects (history, theology, etc), and there is plenty of room for breadth. What I appreciate about LLFLOTR is the jumping-off point -- it brings these other works into a more familiar and less intimidating context. I have a math- and science-oriented dd, who needed that; obviously, your needs may be very different -- just didn't want you to have the impression that a full year is spent *just* on the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the exclusion of other works.

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Thank. The program sounds great, but I am aiming for more breadth in our literature program. I just can't see focusing one one series for a whole year, or even a whole semester. I'd give it 6 weeks, but no more. There are so many great books I want to cover.

 

 

Hmmm... You do realize that The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy (3 novels), and each novel is written as 2 books, each about 250 pages long. So you're really looking at a total of 6 densely written classic works, of about 1200 pages in length. I cannot imagine just reading through it in 6 weeks -- much less having ANY time for studying / analyzing / discussing it in that length of time!

 

 

Also, when we did LLftLotR, we did a separate Great Books study. We used LLotLotR as our English credit, and then did about 8 ancient classics as a completely separate Great Books credit. And then the DC also read a number of great historical fiction works to go along with history. We got some terrific tools from LLftLotR which we were able to use with all those other Great Books that year.

 

There are so many great books I want to cover, too, BUT -- I also don't want to race through them so fast trying to get through a big list that we end up really not getting anything out of them. We've worked each year of our high school years to find a happy medium. And it helps to remember that reading the Great Books is going to be a lifelong privilege. I look forward to still reading a Great Book or two long distance with DC even after they are grown and gone! :001_smile:

 

As Susan Wise Bauer says in her book The Well Educated Mind: It's not a sprint; it's not even a marathon; The Great Books are a lifelong pursuit. Just sharing a few thoughts with you. Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited by Lori D.
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Keep in mind, though, that many other works are read and/or discussed, within the context of LOTR. The LOTR books are but one aspect of the program. You may want to look more closely at the website and/or review some of the other threads to get an idea.

 

Just glancing at my TOC, I can tell you that we will be reading/discussing (at least portions of):

 

Canterbury Tales

The Iliad

The Odyssey

Virgil's Aeneid

MacBeth

Beowulf (special unit study included)

The Once and Future King

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

He has already read some of those and some are on the agenda for this year. In fact there are only 3 on that list that aren't already read or planned for. I think I'll just stick with my current plans.

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Specifically, how easy is it to implement? Is it teacher-intensive or more student directed?

 

We are doing this curriculum right now with dd, 13. We have the student book, and she does the fill-in-the-blank and vocab questions independently, and we do the comprehension questions through discussion (the fun part for me!). I assign an occasional writing project from here - other writing assignments come from other courses.

 

It has been very easy to do this year, and we are all enjoying it. DS, 11, has also expressed interest in the books, and just last night they/we were discussing similarities with Harry Potter...

 

hths,

NCW

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-- it brings these other works into a more familiar and less intimidating context. I have a math- and science-oriented dd, who needed that;

 

:iagree:

 

My ds is also a math/sci guy and LOTR is his all-time favorite literature. He started reading it at age 9. Using this curriculum helped him approach literature study with a better attitude, since he already loved the content. He enjoyed looking deeper into it and learning to observe how literature works, especially heroic epics. Now we are doing "all the other" literature, and the ground has been prepared and is fertile.

Karen

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My dc went from reading the books with excitement on their own to moans and groans with the formal study. I wasn't requiring the whole study, but having them go back over chapters to read the study notes, do comprehension questions, and discuss as a group. It could be that I'm a boring group leader;), but I wonder if the study was taking the joy out of reading a book they loved. We were not reading together- that may have led to more excitement, but we didn't have the time in our schedule.

 

I've decided to let them continue their own reading, and I'm making the chapter notes and unit studies available to them to look over. I'll probably be reading the unit studies and sharing bits and pieces as lures:D; the unit studies look wonderful.

 

I've recently listened to SWB's Great Books seminar, and I'm throwing away all formal lit programs and trying her way. I'm hoping any moaning and groaning will be short lived (and not about books they are (or were)loving...)

 

Sherry

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And we did LOTR. We just read it. That's it. I bit my tongue and offered no comments as I read it aloud. *I* read it aloud, rather than having us take turns as usual. When we finished, we didn't discuss it. My children made an illustration for their project/paper. I didn't comment on that except to point out to the older one that he had gone through the same steps to make his illustration as he did when he writes a paper, and to say that I loved their drawings. For my children, LOTR and The Hobbit are the best books ever written. I wanted to read them aloud once more to my high schooler, so we "did" them for great books, but I wanted to leave them their own picture of the books, their own interpretation. They already love and appreciate them. We don't need to study them in more depth to achieve that. We were all afraid, myself included, that doing anything with the books except what they did when they were little (draw) would have spoiled them. I always wonder if Tolkein would have been upset to have his books used overtly to teach people. My children have already gotten important lessons from the books - heros are found in unlikely places, ordinary people can be heros and save the world, if it is necessary you sacrifice yourself for your world, keep going even if it is hard, do the right thing even when it seems wrong, etc..

 

For our other great books, I have picked works that I thought my children could relate to and would enjoy, but not things that were childhood favourites. The groans have been minimal.

 

-nan

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Nan,

I'm laughing a bit at myself- I've had TWTM and been a regular lurker on these boards for 9 years, and I finally feel I'm understanding SWB's ideas. My oldest has been through a bit of SL, CW, Lightning Lit, History Odyssey, and LLfLotR. I'm sure there are others I've forgotten.

My youngest? TWTM all the way J (For writing and history anyway)

Sherry

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