Heather in VA Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'd like to spend the rest of the year in an in-depth Hobbit/LOTR study with my 8th grader. I'd like something that more than just comprehension questions and something that will help guide me with the symbolism, meanings etc. I know there is the 'Literary Lessons in LOTR' but that does seem like alot of comprehension questions and it's pretty pricey. If it has alot more, I'd like to hear about it. What other options are there for high school level studies of these? Has anyone used Kolbe guides? I'm not Catholic - I'm Protestant - but I am considering joining a Greek Lit group next year that will use Kolbe so I thought maybe trying it out ahead of time might be good. Other options? Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I've no personal experience with it; however, I do know that Garlic Press sells a Hobbit study. See here for a couple of sample pages from The Hobbit: A Teaching Guide. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 LLftLotR is more than comprehension questions. It does go into literary terms, there are writing projects, vocabulary words, and supplement modules that have students studying Tolkien, linguistics, Beowulf, Epics, and more. It's good, but yeah, it's $$$. The writing projects were O.K., I beefed them up, but I really liked the supplements or units studies as she calls them. I spent a year on it with a co-op and I used many links found on her site, and some I probably found myself, to bring fun elements in too. We celebrated Bilbo's birthday which is in September, we learned Elvish (a little), wrote laments to Gandalf, I brought lembas to class and wrapped them in paper leaves, we snacked on them while we had discussion. It was a fun study, good for middle school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawn of ns Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Houghton-Mifflin has free resources for a course on LOTR online. From what I've seen it looks pretty good and I'm thinking of using it in a couple of years with my daughter. If you hunt around on the site there should also be a similar resource for The Hobbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I like the guides from this the Center for Learning. http://www.centerforlearning.org/ViewProductDetails-506-571-42.html They are set up for a classroom, but I adapt the activities to my 2 girls. The Lord of the Rings study doesn't have an online sample, but if you search for another book you can find samples and see if it's something you like. The guides focus on advanced literary elements and character (as in virtues). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 There are two books I've looked at on amazon which might help. One's about LOTR and philosophy, the other is about Tolkien and environmentalism. While I was looking up those links, I found one on Tolkien, literature and theology. Any of those might be useful reading, if you were looking to dig down below the surface. I actually own the first of those, but it was a secondhand, "grab it for later" find, so I haven't read it yet. I'm happy to sit down with it if you want more information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 ... but here it is again. ; ) We found LLftLotR to be a wonderful, gentle intro into literary analysis, and to give us great background info, point out themes, stimulate great discussion, and provide fantastic additional material on a wide range of related topics. We cut costs by: - only using the teacher manual (drops your cost to $50 for a news TM -- and less, if you buy a used copy of the TM); it is a meaty manual! How we modified LLftLotR: - skipped the "fill in the blank" vocabulary and comprehension questions - read aloud together/discussed the wonderful additional notes and discussion questions for every single chapter of all 3 books - read aloud together/discussed the great material in the 12 additional units Other ideas for studying Tolkien's work: I believe Progeny Press (Christian perspective) has lit. guides for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. For Lord of the Rings, look up each of the 3 books of the trilogy under its own title (Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King) to find the guide. Here is their statement of faith: http://www.progenypress.com/aboutstatementof.html See sample pages at: http://www.rainbowresource.com'>http://www.rainbowresource.com'>http://www.rainbowresource.com'>http://www.rainbowresource.com Garlic Press Publishers (secular) has a great, meaty guide for The Hobbit. Garlic Press: http://garlicpress.com/cgi-bin/shop_...uct=LITERATURE See sample pages at: http://www.rainbowresource.com One of the 12 units of Hewitt Homeschooling's (Christian perspective) Lightning Literature & Composition for grade 8 covers The Hobbit: http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp Sparknotes (secular) has free online literature guides for both: The Hobbit: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/hobbit/ Lord of the Rings: book 1 = Fellowship of the Ring = http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/fellowship/ book 2 = The Two Towers = http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/twotowers/ book 3 = The Return of the King = http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/returnking/ One of these books about Tolkien's faith and religious symbolism in his work might be of help: - "Tolkien: A Celebration: Collected Writings on a Literary Legacy" by Joseph Pearce (more of a Catholic perspective) - "Tolkien's Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of the Lord of the Rings" by Mark Eddy Smith (Christian perspective) You might look into reading Tolkien's essay on fairy stories, and also look at several of his short stories, especially "Leaf by Niggle" and "Smith of Wooten Major" to get a feel for both how his Catholic faith underpinned his writing, and on the importance of fantasy in expressing moral virtues, and in being a "sub creator" under our Lord and Creator. Enjoy your journey through Middle Earth! Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 (edited) We cut costs by: - only using the teacher manual (drops your cost to $50 for a news TM -- and less, if you buy a used copy of the TM); it is a meaty manual! How we modified LLftLotR: - skipped the "fill in the blank" vocabulary and comprehension questions - read aloud together/discussed the wonderful additional notes and discussion questions for every single chapter of all 3 books - read aloud together/discussed the great material in the 12 additional units . We only use the TM. We also tweak/modify as Lori does. We're starting a Tolkien semester currently. Ds is buzzing through The Hobbit first. Edited January 16, 2009 by Beth in SW WA typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 How we modified LLftLotR: - skipped the "fill in the blank" vocabulary and comprehension questions - read aloud together/discussed the wonderful additional notes and discussion questions for every single chapter of all 3 books - read aloud together/discussed the great material in the 12 additional units This is how we have recently begun using LLLOTR. We got through the first two books (The Fellowship of the Ring) doing to full deal and all the comprehension questions with the extraordinary level of detail they required was starting to drive me nuts. :ack2: So now we are just reading the book and reading through the notes and unit studies. No output required beyond discussion. I know a lot of people love LLLOTR but for us it was ruining an otherwise great book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janie Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 I've used the Garlic Press Hobbit book for two years with my class of 6th graders. It offers a nice selection of enhancement activities for most of the chapters. I also use their vocabulary, but I combine it with comprehension questions from the Veritas Press book. There is also a free online literature unit for The Hobbit from Beverly Schmidt here. I also shared this site with my students--a modern day Hobbit house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moira in MA Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Omnibus II covers the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings as secondary book selections. There is a total of 14 weeks/3 sessions per week which may be about the right amount of work for a half year study. My girls enjoyed it, even my eldest who had done LLftLotR in 7th grade. Just a thought Moira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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