[Joy]

Littlemanpoet, that is a great idea, although I am not a homeschooling parent - I have no children! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Though, one of my cousins, the 16 yr old, might be homeschooling next yr. She will be in the 9th grade. She was not doing very well in public school, there were too many in her class, 58 total. Last yr she went to a private school, a total of 12 in the whole school! Well, the school will be closing this yr as the teacher for the whole high school is pregnant.

I have talked with her mother and her father, and they both agree that she will be able to do this, if I consent to be the teacher/tutor. I have a BA in Biblical Studies, BA in Education with a foriegn lanuage concentration, a AS in Psychology and an AS in Computer Science.

Hopefully, this will open the door for my other cousins to be homeschooled, as they are being passed by in the system. The 11 yr old, Matt, is in Spec Ed and is reverting to more childish behaviors.

But to keep this on the topic of Tolkien, I have noticed that since the other boys, almost 12 and 12, have read the Hobbit and LotR, they have been more encouraging to Matt and I have noticed that they seem more concerned over his well being.

I explained to them that in a way, we are all on a quest, the quest of life. It takes each person to contribute to the completion of the task. We can either pull each other down or help each other, as Sam did for Frodo. I seem to use Sam and Frodo or Gandalf as a basis of correction for them, since they accept these characters. Then I use a principal here to relate to a foudational principle of the Scripture.

Sorry to ramble. Just spent the whole afternoon with Matt. We talked about the story that is in progess and how we can use this story to relate to one another in real life. It has been an interesting day to say the least. Also, will be spending much of tomorrow with him.