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Literary Lessons from LOTR


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Would this be appropriate for a struggling writer? (He is an avid reader, but writing can be a struggle).

 

Also, could this course be completed in less than a year? For an eighth grader? Should I save it for high school? Start it this year and finish a semester in high school?

 

I am just starting to look closely at it and was wondering what the Hive thought. Thank you.

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The program is geared for grades 7-12 (IMO, it is ideal for gr. 7-9). Especially if the student is an avid reader and enjoys the trilogy, there is no problem in doing it in middle school. Sounds like your DS is at an ideal time for it! :) Also, if there is a younger sibling or two, even as young as 5th grade, you might consider including them for the reading aloud of the books and discussion. There have been several people on this board who have done the program very successfully (usually taking a year to 1.5 years) with bright and/or interested grade 5 or grade 6 students, or by having bright younger siblings "tag along".

 

The program does not have a writing component (i.e., no writing instruction or grading rubrics), other than a suggested writing assignment every 2-3 weeks. You could easily skip those entirely, and use a separate writing program to fit DS's specific writing needs and level. (That's exactly what we did with 8th grade DS who struggled with writing -- used LLftLotR for the Lit, and a separate writing program.)

 

The program is designed to take one year. I know some people have done it in less time by mostly just reading the books of the trilogy, and then reading the chapter notes to go with each chapter, plus reading the 12 units, but skipping most of the additional work. That would also be an option if you have a student who either loves the trilogy and doesn't want to slow down the reading of the books, or who is not that interested in spending a long amount of time on a work of literature. We personally enjoyed taking the full year to do the program, to really dig into the 12 units of material and to savor reading / discussing of the trilogy. However, we were also doing other literature that year, which allowed us to use LLftLotR as a special extra that we could enjoy as we pleased. :)

 

Here are the table of contents and sample pages of what you get to go with each chapter, and an excerpt from one of the 12 units, to help you see if the program might be a good fit or not.

 

LLftLotR was a high water mark in our family's homeschooling, but I know that it has not been a good fit for others, typically because the students were already beyond the gentle/beginning level of literary analysis of the program, or either weren't enjoying the trilogy, or because the program moved too slowly for them.

 

If you have any other questions, I'm happy to help. :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

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Thank you so much, Lori! I appreciate your input.I will take a look at those links to get a closer look at the program.

 

I think my son will love the books. I was thinking that using the study will help him slow down and savor the trilogy. We haven't done much for literary analysis yet since we have been working on his writing skills. I think this will be an inspiring way to introduce the concepts with books he is likely to love. I am hoping it will be more enjoyable that way and make high school lit less intimidating.

 

I hadn't originally planned on having my 5th grader tag-along, but will consider it.

 

I am happy to hear that we could continue with WWS as well. And reading selections to go along with our history. This would be a great way to really get him thinking about literature without it being discouraging since the writing portion would not be overwhelming.

 

Off to look at it more closely...

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One last thing: forgot to add: we are not big on "busywork", and there is some of that in LLftLotR, but we just skipped that part -- a fill-in-the-blank summary page or comprehension for each chapter, and vocabulary worksheets and quizzes for each page. Other families do the whole thing and find it useful, so it's totally dependent on what works for your family.

 

What we enjoyed were the chapter notes for each chapter, and the questions at the end of each chapter (they are called "comprehension" questions, but really are discussion questions). And then, of course, the 12 units of material is great. Enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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