Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.
November 2025 Modules
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Advanced Old English Series:
Readings in Prose
Spotlight
Confirmed
Ancient Greek 4
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.
Biblical Hebrew 3
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.
Creative Writing:
Weekend Retreat
Candidate
Saturday November 22 from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Eastern
Saturday November 22 from 3:00-9:00 PM Eastern
Sunday November 23 from 1:00-4:00 PM Eastern
Come for gentle writing. Introspection. Self expression in a circle of caring and community. Come gather virtually in the Cottage in the Woods with Sparrow: she literally wants us to prep food ahead and get away from the family and the dishes for forty eight hours to write our stories. It's so hard to find time for ourselves, so let's intentionally make that time. From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon there will be writing to prompts, conversation, ideas, blocks of free writing time. Does your heart ache to express a private grief on the page? Is your subconscious telling you to rewrite a story? Do you need to rewrite your story?
Here's the plan:
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Friday from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern
Escape session with community building and prompted writing time
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Saturday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
Recovery session with prompted writing, free writing, and discussion
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Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM Eastern:
Nap time.
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Saturday from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern:
Recovery session continues with optional sharing, prompted writing, and free writing
6p - supper time discussion
More Recovery session sharing and writing
9p - Sweet dreams until tomorrow
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Sunday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
Consolation session discussion, prompted writing, and free writing
Wrap up at 4p.
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Our goal is to write our hearts. Is that memoir? Is that a new story just for yourself? Is that a long, long prayer in the form of a poem? Writers might write between sessions as well as during.
You are going to end this amazing experience with something that is uniquely yours. Whether this turns out to be a narrative, creative nonfiction, or a huge list of Be-Happy-Attitudes, this deserves to be on your page, just for you.
Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.
Fairy Tales:
An Adventure from the Writer's Perspective
Spotlight
Confirmed
Note: For more information about the Collaborative Feedback Method in SPACE, please check out our video here.
Le Morte Darthur:
Sir Thomas Malory's "The Death of King Arthur"
Confirmed
Is Arthur dead? Or was he taken to Avalon to be healed? And will he indeed come again one day? Written within the confines of a common prison, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur (c. 1470) addresses these very questions—trying to make sense of Arthur's legendary reign and “piteous” death for a war-torn England at the very close of the Middle Ages. In reading Malory's widely beloved and arguably definitive retelling of the death of the Arthur, this course examines the final dissolution of the Round Table, from the doomed love affair of Lancelot and Guinevere to Arthur's fatal (or near-fatal) wounding by Mordred—a continuous narrative contained within the last two books of Malory's sprawling chronicle, “The Book of Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere” and the titular “The Most Piteous Tale of the Morte Arthur.” Told with a both poignant sense of loss and an undisguised enthusiasm for chivalric adventure, this lively and idiosyncratic tale of Arthur's death combines the best of all the Arthurian epics that preceded it, and would influence all those that would follow after.
Introduction to Watercolor Painting
Confirmed
This class is an introduction to the materials, tools, and methods of watercolor painting. Whether you're brand new to making art, a seasoned painter who wants to connect with other makers, or you just want to find out how Tolkien created many of his Middle-earth illustrations, you’ll find a place in this module!
The module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:
Outline | 8-Session Structure |
---|---|
Week 1 | Session 1: Defining Watercolor – What makes Watercolor different from other art media? |
Session 2: Materials and Terms – What you need and where to get it | |
Week 2 | Session 3: Prep – What to do before you start painting |
Session 4: Composition – Tips for visually interesting paintings and how to save your whites | |
Week 3 | Session 5: Values – How to get good tone, range, and contrast |
Session 6:Color Mixing – Sediments vs. stains and how to make harmonious paintings | |
Week 4 | Session 7: Texture – Tips for interesting textures and brushwork |
Session 8: Overflow, Resources for Further Research, and Final Q & A |
The Hunger Games Book Club
(Book 3: Mockingjay)
Confirmed
Hybrid
Series Outline:
What lessons do the Capitol and Districts have to teach us? What warnings should we heed? What road leads from here to Panem? Over the course of five months, participants in these SPACE modules will read and discuss a modern classic of dystopian storytelling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
In this hybrid series, each week will include one lecture and one live discussion. The lectures will examine the inspirations behind, allusions in, and questions posed by that month's novel. In live discussions, participants will share their insights on, interpretations of, and reactions to the story. Together we will consider why this series has spoken to so many readers and explore how its messages remain relevant today.
Students will be asked to read one book over the course of each month in whatever format they choose. All of these novels are available in print, ebook, and audio format.
(Warning: The Hunger Games series include descriptions - for a young-adult audience - of substance abuse, physical abuse, violence, and death.)
Series Outline:
- Module 1: The Hunger Games (2008)
- Module 2: Catching Fire (2009)
- Module 3: Mockingjay (2010)
- Module 4: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020)
- Module 5: Sunrise on the Reaping (2025)
Japanese for Advanced Beginners 8
(Genki II)
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Recorded Series: All sessions of this series are being recorded and provided afterwards to enrolled students in order to support the learning of the group.
Japanese for Beginners 6
Continuing Series
Confirmed
In this series of modules, you will get familiarized with basic Japanese vocabulary and structures. Using a communicative approach, you’ll learn basic expressions, start to learn the hiragana script, and recognize katakana and kanji in a fun and interactive way. We will also explore Japanese culture in general. いっしょに日本語を学びましょう!
Japanese:
From Zero - 27
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Japanese is a language of great nuance and depth. This module will open the door to that world and build a foundation for greater insight into Japan's culture and its people.
Japanese Through Culture 16
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Note: Japanese Through Culture is for students who already have a basic level of Japanese.
Language Learning & Philology Tutorials
[ST]
(Section 2)
and the 3 and 17 of November
These meetings have been set to automatically record to the cloud.
Diane’s Project Summary – Old Norse in Tolkien
Diane would like to alternate doing scholarly projects and creative writing projects. In terms of Dr. Anderson's areas of expertise, she’d like to focus on:
- Old Norse in Tolkien: as an MA student, Diane took Intro Old Norse and Germanic Philology I and II; she’d like to deepen her study and improve scholarly writing.
Diane would also like to consider submitting to the Collaboratory; and she's hoping to do Moot conference papers as well.
Latin for Beginners 7
Cluster
Confirmed
This module covers chapters 24-27 of Wheelock’s Latin:
- 24: Ablative Absolute; Passive Periphrastic; Dative of Agent
- 25: Infinitives; Indirect Statement
- 26: Comparison of Adjectives; Declension of Comparatives; Ablative of Comparison
- 27: Special and Irregular Comparison of Adjectives
Middle Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Advanced Beginners 2
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Old English 3
Continuing Series
Confirmed
Note: All sessions will be live recorded and shared with all enrolled students afterward for review and to allow those who cannot attend live to still participate in the class.
Readings in Old Norse
Non-Sequential Series
Confirmed
This series will help introduce students to the breadth and depth of Old Norse texts available for study. Each month, Dr. Anderson surveys the group using the Old Norse survey form to see which text students are most interested in exploring next.
Some of the texts we could explore in a given month include:
• Vǫlsunga Saga (“The Saga of the Vǫlsungs”)
• The excerpted short texts in Jesse Byock’s Viking Language 2 (which can both be ordered from Amazon, etc.)
• The other short but complete texts in Byock’s saga series: The Tale of Thorstein Staff-struck and/or Saga of the People of Weapon’s Fjord (which can both be ordered from Amazon, etc.)
• Njáls saga. (There is a modernized Icelandic text online.)
• Laxdœla saga. (There is a modernized Icelandic text online.)
• Egil’s saga. (A free PDF of a good edition is available from the Viking Society.)
• The Prose Edda, or portions thereof (Free PDFs are available from the Viking Society.)
• Something from the legendary sagas (besides Vǫlsunga saga), e.g.:
--- Hrólfs saga kraka. (There is a modernized Icelandic text online.)
--- Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (A free PDF of C. Tolkien’s edition/translation is available from the Viking Society.)
--- Ragnars saga loðbrókar (Olsen’s 1908 edition is available as a PDF online.)
• Something form the chivalric and/or Arthurian sagas (various texts online or in print).
• Eddic poetry (various texts are available online).
• Faroese ballads of the Vǫlsungs (not technically “Old Norse”, but the 19th-century editions are available online).
But there are many other possibilities!
She Watered It With her Tears:
Grief, Mourning, and Death in Tolkien's Legendarium
Spotlight
Confirmed
This November, join She Watered It With Her Tears with Dr. Robert Steed at a special offer rate of $125. Click below to enroll and explore Tolkien’s themes of grief, mourning, and death in a live, interactive SPACE course.
Enroll with the special offer here: She Watered It With her Tears - NOVEMBER SPECIAL
Among the many themes Tolkien contemplates through his legendarium, that of grief and mourning is prominent. In this class, we will unfold the implications of expressions of grief and mourning in his work. For example, why do lamentations matter, and how might they offer healing? Why does Nienna weep? Are there cases of “inappropriate” grief? What roles do grief and mourning play in the creation of wisdom and beauty? Does Elven grief have special characteristics? What about that of Dwarves and Humans? We will explore these topics and more.
The Poetic Corpus of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Later Poems 2
(Volume 3: The Years 1931-1967)
(Section 1)
Confirmed
Hybrid
Monday Lectures (Live-Recorded): Meeting for four 1-hour Lectures with Dr. Sara Brown (and/or guest Patrick Lyon) meeting on Mondays at 11:00 AM Eastern Time on November 3, 10, 17, and 24.
Discussion Sessions: Discussion group meetings with Dr. Sara Brown on Thursdays at 11:00 AM Eastern for four 1-hour discussion groups on November 6, 13, 20, and 27.
In this triad of modules we explore Volume 3 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!
JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!
In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.
There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!
The Poetic Corpus of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Later Poems 2
(Volume 3: The Years 1931-1967)
(Section 2)
Confirmed
Hybrid
Monday Lectures (Live-Recorded): Meeting for four 1-hour Lectures with Dr. Sara Brown (and/or guest Patrick Lyon) meeting on Mondays at 11:00 AM Eastern Time on November 3, 10, 17, and 24.
Discussion Sessions: Discussion group meetings with Dr. Sara Brown on Fridays at 11:00 AM Eastern for four 1-hour discussion groups on November 7, 14, 21, and 28.
In this triad of modules we explore Volume 3 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!
JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!
In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.
There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!
The Poetic Corpus of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Later Poems 2
(Volume 3: The Years 1931-1967)
(Section 3)
Confirmed
Hybrid
Monday Lectures (Live-Recorded): Meeting for four 1-hour Lectures with Dr. Sara Brown (and/or guest Patrick Lyon) meeting on Mondays at 11:00 AM Eastern Time on November 3, 10, 17, and 24.
Discussion Sessions: Discussion group meetings with Patrick Lyon on Thursdays at 9:00 PM Eastern for four 1-hour discussion groups on November 6, 13, 20, and 27.
In this triad of modules we explore Volume 3 of The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien: Three-Volume Box Set, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. All are welcome to join the class whether new to the series or continuing from a previous module!
JRR Tolkien one of those rare authors whose poetry is as accomplished as his prose writing. Up to this point, though, those who wished to focus primarily on Tolkien’s poetry had to access a significant number of books and online resources to do so, as they were scattered far and wide. But now for the first time, a collected volume of Tolkien’s poetry is available, and it is a Tome of Significant Size!
In this hybrid course, we will read and discuss a selection of these poems, enjoying them for their aesthetic appeal as well as analysing them for Tolkien’s style, use of language, and the poetic forms he employed. This is a hybrid course, in which one class per week will be a lecture and the second class will be group discussion.
There are so many poems in these volumes that the intention is to spread the course over several months. If you can’t make one or more of the months, feel free to dip in and out as suits you!
Tolkien & Inklings Studies Tutorials
[ST]
(Section 3)
Primary Project:
Trevor is planning a 4-month Tier 1 engagement to prepare a paper for publication in JTR or Mythlore. He envisions monthly sessions focused on reviewing drafts, receiving critical feedback, and improving the paper's academic quality. The monthly structure is also intended to provide accountability and steady progress, which he finds motivating.
Secondary Project (if the first goes well):
Trevor is also considering a second, more informal project—a popular or inspirational-style book that explores Tolkien’s views on Faery and their significance for modern readers. This project would be more reflective and broadly accessible than the academic paper. He’s unsure whether it fits under Tutorials and wonders whether a suitable preceptor might need to be someone with strengths in public writing, mythopoeia, or spiritual/inspirational interpretation of Tolkien rather than strictly academic.
Additional Notes:
- Trevor appreciates the recording policy for sessions, as he finds it helpful for reviewing dense or rapid discussions.
- He has updated his availability in preparation to begin.
- He is open to working with different preceptors across months depending on the phase of his work.