Mr. Locke’s Classroom

In the interest of disclosure, I should admit up front that I am unquestionably biased when it comes to my fondness for the Beowulf Epic. I have studied it extensively, been inspired by it, and taught it as well. It’s a powerful story, and I am convinced it will continue to be told for the [...]

Tonight I am proud, happy, and a little sad. Grady and I turned the last page on a novel we’ve been reading together by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Children of Hurin. As novels go, it’s short — 257 pages — but it is a novel, written in language that is not “kid friendly” nor even that [...]

Last night I finally took Amy to see Stardust, one of my favorite films this year. I’d seen the trailer for the new Beowulf movie before, but for some reason last night I really started thinking about it for the first time. I taught Beowulf to high school freshmen for many years, and have a [...]

So we did the Chuck-E-Cheese thing. Not my favorite (noise, chaos, junk food), but at least we didn’t have to clean up, and Grady (of course) loved all of it. More pictures are here. Among his favorite two presents were: A set of foam swords and shields I picked out for him. Yeah. Daddy and [...]