*A $20 refund will be sent to students who pay for the class upfront!*

Hobbits, a race of small humanlike creatures, characteristically value peace, simplicity, and cozy homes yet are capable of incredible feats of courage and resourcefulness. The unwilling hero of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, is persuaded to join Thorin and his 12 dwarfs to recover their stolen treasure, which is being guarded by the dragon Smaug. During the expedition, Bilbo finds a magical ring that renders the wearer invisible, which figures prominently in The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is the story of Bilbo’s maturing from a seeker of warmth and comforts to a fighter, however humble, for the greater good.

In this course, we will study The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit introduces us to Middle Earth and many of the peoples and ideas that are found in the well-known Lord of the Rings series. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are the first high fantasy books ever written and they are still the best in the genre. They are a must-read for all fantasy lovers!

Learners will be assigned to read two chapters of The Hobbit outside of class each week. During class, we will discuss what they read and students will have the opportunity to ask any questions that they have. This will give learners a strong understanding of the book and confidence in expressing their ideas! After discussing, we will do an enrichment activity to help learners better understand the book, both the events that are happening and the literary devices and inspiration behind it all.

We will follow the following schedule:

Week 1 - Oral storytelling traditions
Week 2 - Writing in runes
Week 3 - Riddles
Week 4 - Compare and Contrast Beowolf
Week 5 - Motifs
Week 6 - Introduction to symbolism
Week 7 - Destiny
Week 6 - Magic Sword, Enchanted Loaf, Golden Road - parts of a quest
Week 9 - Heroic Epics of the north, south, east, and west
Week 10 - The inner quest - compare and contrast Bilbo from the beginning and the end
Week - Review

Inspiration for these lessons comes from Harper Collins and all hand-outs that will be used can be found at this website: https://the-hobbit.harpercollins.com/lesson-plans