If your child is anything like mine you struggle with finding appropriate reading material. While his reading level may be at upper high school level his maturity level is decidedly twelve! I have struggled to find him reading material that was both challenging yet not too mature. That is when I remembered Tolkein. JRR Tolkein created a world so complex and so intriguing they have captured audiences imaginations for generations. I couldn't go wrong. It took him three weeks to read The Hobbit, the longest it has ever taken him to read anything, so I know that the reading level was challenging. It completely captured his imagination and now everything is hobbit related in our home.
This past weekend we decided as a family that fresh air was needed. My son put up a massive fight - he would rather stay inside. He argued that he could encounter nature at home by playing his Wii. He fought and argued and put up a fuss but in the end we packed up and headed out to the local state park. There we encountered nature of all kinds. Even there, maybe because of the mystery that woods naturally hold, we could not escape the Tolkein references. The entire trip my son kept calling himself Gandalf and we were on a grand adventure! We found "hobbit holes" in the ground, we found the river, and we forged through the dark forest!
It proved to me, yet again, that I don't need to take him to fancy amusement parks. I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on digital anything. A beautifully written, imaginative story, and a good walking trail through trees is plenty! I saw that day a child be daring that usually doesn't try anything new. I saw a child who stays inside so much he's practically a hermit laugh at a spider. I heard a child exclaim "I am so glad you didn't listen to me."
I am recommending a good three weeks of your time, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein, and a trip to the woods with your geeky son. You'll see his imagination blossom and you'll get him that fresh air and exercise he usually cringes at!
(I just realized that I should probably explain that my son does own more than one shirt! I just happened to catch him in it twice - lol)
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