LLftLOTR in high school

[Mom22ns]

I am planning to use LLftLOTR next year with ds. My question is, is there enough writing and vocabulary in this program or will I need to supplement. We usually do a lot of writing and we do Wordly Wise, but ds is already a year ahead in that. I would be happy to have an all-in-one LA program. I just don't want to leave anything out.

 

We will also be using SL Core 7 (with Speilvogel instead of SOTW). I'm thinking ds will probably read most of the readers (he loves to read), but skip the assignments pertaining to them. Will that be enough?

 

Thanks!

[Mom22ns]

:bigear:

[bugs]

LLfLotR has plenty of writing opportunity and vocabulary for every chapter. It doesn't teach your student HOW to write, it just provides writing prompts. We really like this program.

[Lori D.]

Vocabulary

Certainly there is plenty of vocabulary -- exercises of multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank; quizzes; tests. You can see a sample of what the vocabulary exercise looks like in the sample chapter study at the website.

 

 

Writing

The writing that is included is solely suggested writing assignment ideas, usually several to choose among, about every 2 weeks or so. You can see a sample of what the writing assignment ideas are like in the sample unit study at the website. However, there is NO writing instruction, grading rubrics, teacher helps, etc.

 

 

When we used LLftLotR, younger DS, who was grade 8 and struggles with writing, did Jump In as his separate writing program, while older DS (grade 9 that year) did (highly modified!!) Put That In Writing I. Neither program was difficult to incorporate while doing LLftLotR. We did not do the writing programs every day, and some weeks we substituted writing assignment ideas from LLftLotR for the writing assignments in the writing programs.

 

If your DS no longer need writing instruction, and you do not need any guidance in grading writing, then you would be fine just going with writing ideas from LLftLotR.

 

 

 

We will also be using SL Core 7 (with Speilvogel instead of SOTW). I'm thinking ds will probably read most of the readers (he loves to read), but skip the assignments pertaining to them. Will that be enough?

 

 

This seems like a potentially very heavy reading load -- but if you have strong readers who love to read, this may not be an issue at all.

 

Just to give you context for how much work you are looking at: We read LotR aloud (so we could discuss together as we went), and that took about 2 hours per week. Then doing the rest of the study took another 2-3 hours per week (and if you're doing a writing assignment, add more time for that). So you can plan on a good hour a day 5x/week for LLftLotR.

 

Things to think about to help you figure out time/amounts:

- Are you doing Spielvogel's World History: Human Odyssey (the high school edition)?

- If so, how much of it were you planning on doing next year? (SL7 covers about 500 years of history -- in Spielvogel's Human Odyssey that's about 700 pages of a history text -- almost 20 pages per week)

- Can your DC handle that much (some students are voracious readers! :)) -- or might you need to cut/readjust?

- Looks like you're doing SL6 this year, so that will give you a good feel for how much time that takes your family -- will you be able to fit all that in? Will it be too much? If so, are you okay with cutting some books from SL7, or reading some over the summer, or taking more than 1 school year to do them, or...?

 

 

 

Finally -- one last thought: I notice in your signature that your DC are 13 and 11, so I'm assuming they'll be about 14 and 12 next year when you do LLftLotR -- have you considered doing LLftLotR all together?! I don't think 11 or 12 is too young to get a LOT out of the program, and having 3 people for discussing adds a ton! Just something to consider, as the more you can do all together, the easier the homeschooling! ;)

 

 

Enjoy! LLftLotR was one of our all-time high water marks in homeschooling! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Lori D.
added info

[Mom22ns]

Hmmm... ds had done Jump In - that was great. This year we've been doing the writing assignments in Sonlight which have just been ok. He can do a lot of writing on his own, but would probably be better off with a little instruction - at least sometimes.

 

In that case, what do I use with it?

[Mom22ns]

This seems like a potentially very heavy reading load -- but if you have strong readers who love to read, this may not be an issue at all.

 

Just to give you context for how much work you are looking at: We read LotR aloud (so we could discuss together as we went), and that took about 2 hours per week. Then doing the rest of the study took another 2-3 hours per week (and if you're doing a writing assignment, add more time for that). So you can plan on a good hour a day 5x/week for LLftLotR.

 

Things to think about to help you figure out time/amounts:

- Are you doing Spielvogel's World History: Human Odyssey (the high school edition)?

- If so, how much of it were you planning on doing next year? (SL7 covers about 500 years of history -- in Spielvogel's Human Odyssey that's about 700 pages of a history text -- almost 20 pages per week)

- Can your DC handle that much (some students are voracious readers! :)) -- or might you need to cut/readjust?

- Looks like you're doing SL6 this year, so that will give you a good feel for how much time that takes your family -- will you be able to fit all that in? Will it be too much? If so, are you okay with cutting some books from SL7, or reading some over the summer, or taking more than 1 school year to do them, or...?

 

Finally -- one last thought: I notice in your signature that your DC are 13 and 11, so I'm assuming they'll be about 14 and 12 next year when you do LLftLotR -- have you considered doing LLftLotR all together?! I don't think 11 or 12 is too young to get a LOT out of the program, and having 3 people for discussing adds a ton! Just something to consider, as the more you can do all together, the easier the homeschooling! ;)

 

 

Enjoy! LLftLotR was one of our all-time high water marks in homeschooling! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

Thanks Lori. I am only doing LLftLOTR with my oldest. My youngest will do LL7 instead. She isn't nearly as strong of a reader as her brother and doesn't like fantasy. If her brother and I have a great time with LOTR this year she might want to do it later, but it isn't a good fit now. It would be easier if we were all doing the same LA, but this one is all about ds. He really wants to do it.

 

We are using Human Odyssey. Ds has been using it this year and will be half way through at the end of this year. He has the wonderful ability to be able to remember everything he reads and he has enjoyed this text and I have enjoyed discussing it.

 

SL 6 is taking just under 2 hours a day for history and LA together. 45 min of that is writing. I will make sure he is only spending around 60 min/day on SL7 (to count for a history credit). We'll drop a few readers if needed. There are always a few I don't mind losing. However, he really is a voracious reader. He does a lot of reading on his own in addition to doing SL6 & LL8 this year.

 

Thank you for the thoughts. I'm afraid I probably do have the tendency to overload. Reading is the one area I have never yet managed to push ds too far. I will be careful and keep an eye on the workload next year. Thanks for the details of how much time LOTRs took.

[Kindred Hearts]

I am planning to use LLftLOTR next year with ds. My question is, is there enough writing and vocabulary in this program or will I need to supplement. We usually do a lot of writing and we do Wordly Wise, but ds is already a year ahead in that. I would be happy to have an all-in-one LA program. I just don't want to leave anything out.

 

We will also be using SL Core 7 (with Speilvogel instead of SOTW). I'm thinking ds will probably read most of the readers (he loves to read), but skip the assignments pertaining to them. Will that be enough?

 

Thanks!

 

We're using LLfrLOTR now. It has plenty of vocab. & wrting prompts. I agree with bugs that it does not tell the student how to write. IMO using a resource such as "Writer's Inc" would be a good supplement. I don't think a separate writing program is needed.

[Mom22ns]

We're using LLfrLOTR now. It has plenty of vocab. & wrting prompts. I agree with bugs that it does not tell the student how to write. IMO using a resource such as "Writer's Inc" would be a good supplement. I don't think a separate writing program is needed.

 

That is an interesting suggestion. I just added that to my wish list at Amazon about a week ago because I thought it looked interesting. I'll look at it again.

 

Thank you!