Literary Lessons from the Loard and the Rings

[TheApprentice]

Would you use this curriculum on a student who really has no interest in the trilogy, and not really a super strong reader? I would say he is slightly above average. He'll be doing 7th grade work next year.

[5LittleMonkeys]

No.

 

Tolkien is not an easy read imo, and if your student doesn't care for the story I think it would be difficult for them to stay motivated.

 

I don't think having a student stretch themselves with a book they don't find interesting is a bad thing but typically it would be one book, over in a few weeks. LLfLoTR is a year of Tolkien and studies of similar genres. That is a long time to chew on something they find completely "meh".

[Mom22ns]

Umm, No.

 

Absolutely not.

[unity]

No. Way.

 

I think that curriculum would be torture with a student who doesn't enjoy the LOTR. (We had fun with it! But I would not recommend it in your case.)

[elegantlion]

We've been doing it this year. Ds is not a strong reader, there are ways to get around that. We've been doing most of it as a read-aloud. But I agree with the others, we've been living Middle Earth this year and enjoying it. If it would be torturous, I would skip it.

[Lori D.]

Totally agree with all the above posters -- LLftLotR is for those who enjoy the fantasy and epic genres, and Tolkien especially.

 

As an alternative, have you looked at Lighting Lit 7? Very enjoyable first exposure to a variety of types of works (novels, short stories, poetry). Very gentle intro into Literature and literary analysis, with helpful work pages to put the literary lesson for each unit into practice. The teaching material for each literary lesson is written to the student, so the program can be done pretty independently by the student, OR, if you would enjoy reading the works together (we did ;) ), you can do that, too. Below is what is covered.

 

We did LL7 with 7th grade DS who wasn't that strong of a reader and wasn't that "into" reading/literature, and he *really* enjoyed all of the works (except for a few of the poems and Helen Keller's autobiography). Again, we read the works aloud together (popcorn style -- "you read a page, I read a page"), which allowed us to discuss as we read; learn vocabulary in context; make some great memories together; and really didn't take that long -- about 20-25 min/day, 4 days/week (and we still finished the program early).

 

BEST of luck in finding what works for your 7th grader! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

LL7

1 = "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" (short story)

literary lesson: plot line

mini writing lesson: openings

 

2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (realistic novel)

literary lesson: plot line in a novel

mini writing lesson: outlines

 

3. poetry unit -- 7 poems

literary lesson: rhyme

mini writing lesson: limerick and haiku

 

4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (fantasy novel)

literary lesson: creativitiy

mini writing lesson: nonce words

 

5. "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky" (short story)

literary lesson: saying it with style

mini writing lesson: writing about yourself

 

6. The Story of My Life (autobiography)

literary lesson: autobiography

mini writing lesson: brainstorming

 

7. poetry unit -- 6 poems

literary lesson: sound

mini writing lesson: cinquain and the list poem

 

8. All Creatures Great and Small (realistic/humorous novel)

literary lesson: character sketch

mini writing lesson: choosing a topic

Edited April 5, 2012 by Lori D.

[TheApprentice]

OK. So I guess that's a NO. :D

 

Thanks.

[PeterPan]

Just as an observation, my dd when she was (I forget, insert age, maybe 10?) DECRIED Tolkein, said the Hobbit was stupid and horrible, blah blah. Totally hurt my feelings and made me give up. About 6 months or a year later, all of a sudden she's reading through LotR *not once* but OVER AND OVER!!! Point is, you can't force that. It may come later, and it's good to save the curriculum for that moment when it really FITS. Just because it doesn't fit now, won't mean it won't fit later. :)

 

PS. I'd have to ask, but I'm pretty sure she has read the trilogy and Hobbit through 10+ times now. Seriously. The child who earlier thought Tolkein was STUPID and humorless. Gotta love kids. ;)