Night Elf Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Knowing I'll horrify many people here, I'm so tired of reading The Lord of the Rings that I have to drag myself to the couch every school night to open that book. I didn't even want to watch the 2nd movie because I'm so tired of the story. It seemed like such a good program in the beginning but it's driving me absolutely batty. I have to keep records of what ds14 is doing because I'll be turning in a portfolio to our correspondence program so they will give him credit for his 9th grade LA. I'm doing the bare minimum and am just waiting until the day I can call this DONE. End of whine. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HRAAB Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm doing Literary Lessons with an 8th grader. We are reading the books together because they are my favorites. I could live in the Shire quite happily. If you're really tired of them, why couldn't your student read them alone, do the the comprehension and vocab. exercises, and you just keep grades? I felt the same way about Little House books. By the time my youngest wanted to do the Prairie Primer, I could barely make myself read them again. I finally enlisted an older sibling to read the books with her little sisters. So I do understand being tired of a story. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 If you're really tired of them, why couldn't your student read them alone, do the the comprehension and vocab. exercises, and you just keep grades? We started the read-aloud part as a family thing. DH and dd12 love to be a part of it. Sometimes DH reads while I do other things around the house. Ds14 does the written work independently but I check the answers. I do have to sit with him for writing assignments. Writing is a weak point for him. To be honest, he really only does the test essays. We've not done the other writing assignments because they are, obviously, focused all on the book. I'm looking around for other writing assignments. He has some paragraphs from Write Shop but I want more. I'm worried Keystone will think he didn't write enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm not reading the books. I'd be heartily sick of them by now too if I did. My boys are loving it though, which is why I purchased it. They do most, but not all of the writing assignments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We just finished the unit study on Beowulf...I wish we were further, and I'm not even reading the books! My dds have read & re-read the books many times. For the chapter summary my 16yo is listening to them on CD instead of reading -- does your library have it on CD? As for writing, I'm only having them do the Test Essays and the Unit Study project (which may or may not be writing). We need more writing here too...but none of us like the suggested writing assignments in LLfLotR. This week 16yo wrote about a battle in WW1 and 14yo wrote about the armor a knight wore. If they have to write "factual" papers then they want to write about just the facts. Otherwise they prefer to write their creative fantasy world stories (which I am not allowed to read). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 We started LLLoTR in January. My twins love it, but I am already getting a little tired of the book. I have come to the conclusion that I just do not like the story that much. I do love the program though, and my twins are getting so much out of it. I did decide, after reading the first three chapters aloud, that the kids would be responsible for the reading themselves. They read the chapter (I peruse it, so I can discuss it with them), they do the vocab and comprehension questions, and together we read the chapter notes. We just started the first unit study on Tolkien's life. My son was intrigued by Lewis and Tolkien's relationship, so he is researching that and writing a paper on it (by paper I mean a few paragraphs:lol:). My daughter wasn't so intrigued by his life, but she is very interested in the character Tom Bombadil, so she is researching that topic. I admit that I fear I may grow sick of LOTR and this program before we are completly done with it. I don't think the kids would allow me to drop it though, so I just have to convince myself to stick with it and pretend that I am enjoying it as much as they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I've become a big LOTR fan. Is it the books themselves or the curriculum used to study them? I am reading the LOTR series all over again. I played Lord of the Rings Online for several months before forcing myself to quit. We watched the movies as a family and my daughter is begging to watch the Hobbit, which hasn't been released yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 I've become a big LOTR fan. Is it the books themselves or the curriculum used to study them? The story. It's okay but I don't usually like wordy stories. Tolkien goes on and on with descriptions that I just don't find relevant to the story line. I guess that makes me a lazy reader. I want the plot and action, not a vivid detailed account of the setting. For example, I don't need to know the color of the trees and grass to understand the relationship between two characters, or the shades of grey and white on the mountains to preface a battle scene. He really was developing an entire world and I find all of that extraneous information to be background noise. It interrupts the story. But I know that is one of the things that other people love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 (edited) We completed the first half of the program second semester 7th grade. For first semester 8th grade ds has just read stuff related to our history rotation, Middle Ages. I pulled LLfLOTR yesterday, and we'll start the second half tomorrow. For us, it really is a program that can be done a bit piecemeal because we're already so familiar with the story line. We can jump in and still remember what's happened, what's going to happen. I really like the unit studies and take plenty of time to completely them. I'm sorry that you're not enjoying it. It doesn't sound like you can set it aside either.:confused: ETA: I wanted to add that reading LOTR is, I think, great prep work for the Great Books. The language is complex and you really need to slow down and read patiently to understand and absorb the book. It's GB on training wheels. Edited February 13, 2011 by Stacy in NJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 He really does build a whole world! I spent the past 4 months running around in it online. Enjoying those gray, snow-capped mountains... the view from Weathertop... the misty, spooky great barrows... the sing-songy voice of Tom Bombadi, the rolling lands of the Shire... Sorry to derail your topic, but I've been missing for several months and Tolkien's world is where I've been. What other author can be the inspiration of an entire virtual world that millions enjoy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I play LotR online too. It is super fun and there are free options. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Elf Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 He really does build a whole world! I spent the past 4 months running around in it online. Enjoying those gray, snow-capped mountains... the view from Weathertop... the misty, spooky great barrows... the sing-songy voice of Tom Bombadi, the rolling lands of the Shire... Sorry to derail your topic, but I've been missing for several months and Tolkien's world is where I've been. What other author can be the inspiration of an entire virtual world that millions enjoy? I played it when it required a monthly fee. I didn't like it as well as World of Warcraft (where my name originated). :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I played it when it required a monthly fee. I didn't like it as well as World of Warcraft (where my name originated). :) There is still a monthly fee for some of the content but there quite a lot that is free like the Shire, Breelands and the Lone Lands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.