MFW and Lit. Lessons LOTR

[momto2blessings]

We've pretty much decided on MFW for high school next year for dd. I'd originally planned on using another curriculum where lit. wasn't included and wanted to do Lit. Lessons from the Lord of the Rings in 9th for English. But now since MFW covers English, that seems like it would be too much to do both. Is there anyway to combine the two w/o being overwhelming? She'll have a very full day as it is and will likely balk at too much extra work:)

 

My 5th grade son is already excited about using this in Jr. Hi., but dd won't be as much so...liked The Hobbit o.k. I'm hoping she'll love LOTR. Or maybe I should just add the books to her extra/summer reading list and forget about the full program. Any thoughts? Thanks:) Gina

[cbollin]

In MFW's ahl program, there is time for "free reading" on several weeks. (or to work on other English).  My oldest did Hobbit and LOTR that year, but did not do any lit guide with them. She just enjoyed the books.  She was motivated to read them. 

 

a small thought popped in my brain though..  if one uses mfw for all of high school, 12th grade year is the easiest to sub out and tweak the literature.

[momto2blessings]

Thanks for the inside look:) It does sound doable, I'll probably just try to fit them in without the program. Maybe when ds does the guide we can share what we learn:)

[EndOfOrdinary]

We have literary lessons from LotR and I really love it. We used it for middle school English and slowed down to one book a year rather than all the books over 1 year. The pace is fast for younger students, but the topics are not too difficult for younger students at all. You would need to supplement juvenile books and/or graphic novels references to Shakespeare etc, just for the sake of time and a bit of subject matter with younger readers, but a 5th grader could use the curriculum and get a lot out of it.

[momto2blessings]

Thx! I was planning on using it for 7th or 8th with my youngest. I hoped to complete in a year. Do you think that's doable? He's a strong reader/strong vocabulary, and it will be his 2nd or 3rd time through those 3 books. He's also 'old' for his grade....will be just turned 13 when starting 7th grade. Thx:)

[8filltheheart]

LLfLOTR is flexible.   It really depends on how you use it.   I have used it with a dyslexic 6th grader over 2 yrs.   We pretty much followed the guide but used Jacobi's audios of the Iliad and Odyssey, an audio of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, etc.

 

This yr, however, I am doing it with my very advanced 9th grader.  LOTR proper is actually not getting much of our time.   We read the Silmarillion, some of the Histories, spent time on Tolkien's philosophy and linguistic background, delved into Norse mythology (definitely a good choice for younger kids b/c the areas of overlap are huge, especially with the Silmarillion),  read a complex version of Beowulf, just finished reading Tolkien's Fall of Arthur and now she has decided that she wants to do an analysis of Fall of Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Idylls of the King.   We also have a nonfiction book on research surrounding King Arthur.

 

So, what had started as a single yr plan for dd has morphed as we have gone along.   I have no idea how long our meanderings will take us, at least this yr and next.   Possibly longer if every time we encounter something we end up diverting like we have been. 

 

Basically, use it however you want.   I love it (with the caveat that what we do doesn't really resemble it too terribly much!! :tongue_smilie: )