Heather in Neverland Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 My ds wants to do the Lord of the Rings trilogy next year so I am looking at study guides. I have checked out LLFLOTR and the Progeny Press guides and they both look good. Any opinions? Options I have not considered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 (edited) It really depends on what your goal is; the scope, depth, and weekly amount of time spent on PP vs LLftLotR is huge. PP guides are individual book guides. If your plan is to just to read/discuss/analyze the trilogy along with other literature, and don't want to spend more than 6 weeks per book of the trilogy, then PP or one of the other two guides below would be the way to go. Besides the time of reading the books, the student puts in a total of 8 hours or so (including a writing assignment) on a PP guide: background info, what to look for as you read, vocabulary, some comprehension questions, and some "digging deeper" questions, many of which are related to looking up/comparing with Scripture. There are a few writing assignments to choose from. There is only a very small amount of explanation of literary analysis or guided teaching on literary analysis. See table of contents and sample: Fellowship of the Ring See table of contents and sample: The Two Towers See table of contents and sample: Return of the King LLftLotR is a year-long literature program that includes additional material on aspects of literature, plus analysis of excerpts of other works. If your plan is to spend the entire year on the trilogy and use it as a springboard into studying some other works of literature, and to take time going into the additional 12 units of material on various aspects of literature and literary analysis, then LLftLotR is the way to go. Besides the time of reading the books, the student puts in 2-3 hours per week for 36 weeks on LLftLotR. See scope and sequence See table of contents See samples For a fee Christian guides from Christian Novel Studies for each of The Hobbit, and the three books of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; Return of the King. Free secular teaching guide from Houghton-Mifflin. for the same 4 books. It looks like your DS, at 13yo, is at a perfect age for really getting into LLftLotR, which is a great, gentle intro into literary analysis. And if he really is interested in the trilogy, he would likely love getting to dig deep into the trilogy -- and very likely would, by association, find the other works covered in the study (The Iliad OR The Odyssey, Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight) to also be very interesting due to their influence on Tolkien and the trilogy. But I am biased; LLftLotR was an all-time high water mark in our homeschooling; DSs were 8th and 9th grades when we did it, and still refer with fondness to that program! :) BEST of luck, whatever you decide. Warmest regards, Lori D. Edited April 13, 2012 by Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Wow Lori! Thank you for all of the incredible information!!!! And the extra links...lots to think about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofkhm Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Yes, thanks Lori. I needed that shot in the arm as well! I was thinking I couldn't do LLftLOTR with TOG, then I could incorporate LOTR. But with the PP guides, I could! 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.