Anyone move from LL to LFC?

[SophiaH]

DD has completed PL and half of LC1. We are halfway through Lively Latin. We like it and hope to finish it, but for various reasons are looking to move to a different program after LL1. At the pace we're moving, we're likely to be done sometime around September or October. DD will be in 3rd grade.

 

Has anyone moved directly to LFC Primer B after finishing LL1?

Or has anyone switched midstream from LL1 into the LFC series? If so, did you start back over with LFC A?

Or, if you switched after LL1 but didn't go to LFC, what did you use?

 

Thanks!!

[SophiaH]

:bigear:

[Mommy7]

:bigear:

[Malenki]

I've considered this as well... but haven't done it! LOL We're in Chapter 3 of LL2 and I'm disappointed in the number of errors we've noticed already but we love the long translation passages. The stories are pretty funny!

[SophiaH]

I've considered this as well... but haven't done it! LOL We're in Chapter 3 of LL2 and I'm disappointed in the number of errors we've noticed already but we love the long translation passages. The stories are pretty funny!

 

The number of errors I've heard about and the fact that LL2 isn't done yet is part of what is discouraging me from using it.

 

Thanks for mentioning the long passages of translation; I wish there was somewhere I could see samples of BB2??? Although, unless it miraculously gets completed and edited over the summer, I won't be using it anyway. :tongue_smilie:

[Malenki]

I actually thought it was done when I bought it. If it were me doing it, I would not have put it online for purchase with only a few chapters done... yikes. It looks like through Lesson/Chapter 7 is done with history and derivatives and all now. Chapter 8 through 15 are online with the grammar worksheets and so forth but without history and the extras. (Actually looks like Ch. 8 has some of the extras but not all... so it's half finished.) I'm not sure how many chapters are expected total; there are slots for 16 & 17 with nothing in them.

 

There is a big jump in expectations from LL1 to LL2. It's hard to pinpoint but it almost seems like we're racing now. Perhaps LL2 should have been slowed down and turned into 2 more levels instead of just one. LL1 had errors which bugged us but the pace was excellent. I'm slowing LL2 down as needed but it was so much better at LL1.

 

I did see on the CAP website that they do recommend going through LfC A for a month or two as review (and I suppose to make sure you have the same vocab) before jumping into LfC B. That's one of the biggest reasons we're not jumping ship on LL right now... I just don't want to spend that much money when we've already learned so much. Plus of course the LL courses don't resell so I'd be out the money for LL2...

[SophiaH]

I actually thought it was done when I bought it. If it were me doing it, I would not have put it online for purchase with only a few chapters done... yikes. It looks like through Lesson/Chapter 7 is done with history and derivatives and all now. Chapter 8 through 15 are online with the grammar worksheets and so forth but without history and the extras. (Actually looks like Ch. 8 has some of the extras but not all... so it's half finished.) I'm not sure how many chapters are expected total; there are slots for 16 & 17 with nothing in them.

 

There is a big jump in expectations from LL1 to LL2. It's hard to pinpoint but it almost seems like we're racing now. Perhaps LL2 should have been slowed down and turned into 2 more levels instead of just one. LL1 had errors which bugged us but the pace was excellent. I'm slowing LL2 down as needed but it was so much better at LL1.

 

Thanks so much for the info! I've read that a lot of people take many weeks to go through one lesson in LL2. How long, on average, is it taking you? I don't mind looking at LL2 like it's a two-year program, as long as we're getting to about the same place as other programs would in three years' time, ya know?

 

I did see on the CAP website that they do recommend going through LfC A for a month or two as review (and I suppose to make sure you have the same vocab) before jumping into LfC B. That's one of the biggest reasons we're not jumping ship on LL right now... I just don't want to spend that much money when we've already learned so much.

I remember reading that as well about reviewing LFC A first. I totally agree about the $$$ though. I wonder if just buying the Student book would be sufficient for a quick run-through? Any LFC users care to comment?

 

Plus of course the LL courses don't resell so I'd be out the money for LL2...

I have the 2 CD set for LL1, so I could still resell those, although I have a tendency to hang on to curriculum I'm not using anymore, you know, just in case I want to use it with one of my LOs. :tongue_smilie:

[Haiku]

Slightly off-topic, but reading this thread reminded me of a past discussion about the speed (or lack there-of) with which LL2 was getting finished. I found the link to the thread, and on 7/7/09 someone posted that LL2 was completed up to Lesson 6. It looks like, from this thread, that 10 months later, only one additional chapter (and parts of others) has been completed. For people who are considering whether to make a switch, this may be important information. (Disclaimer: I have nothing against LL, although you will read in the thread I linked that the frequency with which home-produced materials run into production problems or are abandoned makes me leery.)

 

Tara

[SophiaH]

Slightly off-topic, but reading this thread reminded me of a past discussion about the speed (or lack there-of) with which LL2 was getting finished. I found the link to the thread, and on 7/7/09 someone posted that LL2 was completed up to Lesson 6. It looks like, from this thread, that 10 months later, only one additional chapter (and parts of others) has been completed. For people who are considering whether to make a switch, this may be important information. (Disclaimer: I have nothing against LL, although you will read in the thread I linked that the frequency with which home-produced materials run into production problems or are abandoned makes me leery.)

 

Tara

 

Thanks for the link, Tara. I remember reading that thread at the time, but WOW! I can't believe it was that long ago!

 

I totally understand that certain family situations can arise which prevent a timely release of new material. Like you pointed out in that thread, one should always be very cautious of purchasing a curriculum that is not yet completed. In this situation, however, I think what is most disappointing is that Ms. Drown has failed to keep her customers abreast of the situation. Her blog has not been updated since the beginning of September, with many people left in the lurch who purchased BB2 and are now awaiting the new chapters! Communication goes a long way...

[Jugglin'5]

Actually, Lesson 15 is up and running. The only thing that these later lessons don't have yet are the history pages, and some derivative work. My co-op class has completed through Lesson 11. LL2 could definitely be a two year program, especially with younger students. I just used mainlesson.com to continue the history work. I plan to do LL1 and LL2 over three years (4th - 6th) with my 9 yr old starting in the fall. Four years wouldn't be a bad pace if you are starting with a 3rd grader. I love this curriculum in spite of its flaws.

[SophiaH]

Actually' date=' Lesson 15 is up and running. The only thing that these later lessons don't have yet are the history pages, and some derivative work. My co-op class has completed through Lesson 11. LL2 could definitely be a two year program, especially with younger students. I just used mainlesson.com to continue the history work. I plan to do LL1 and LL2 over three years (4th - 6th) with my 9 yr old starting in the fall. Four years wouldn't be a bad pace if you are starting with a 3rd grader. I love this curriculum in spite of its flaws.[/quote']

 

Thanks for the information! It's nice to know she's at least still working on it. I finally found samples of LL2. I had to log in to the website and the link was there on the left. I don't know why I hadn't seen that before. I really like the samples that I saw. I love the longer translation passages--it looks like they are included right from the get-go! Is the set-up the same where vocabulary is introduced in one chapter and then no new vocabulary in the next chapter? That is one thing I like about LL1 for dd. It allows us to really work on and solidify the new vocabulary over a couple of weeks time. Although, I guess if each lesson is taking much longer, you're still getting a few weeks to get the new vocab down.

 

Thanks for helping me think all this through!

[Malenki]

Thanks so much for the info! I've read that a lot of people take many weeks to go through one lesson in LL2. How long, on average, is it taking you?

 

Each lesson/chapter seems to take 3-4 weeks right now to go through for us. There is a new vocab list in every chapter in LL2 (it was every other mostly in LL1) which can add time. My plan is for it to last all of next year at least.

 

My DS loves the variety in the program and is doing fantastic with the translations. It has done what I wanted it to do (keep the love of Latin alive) while giving us a clear understanding of the grammar.

 

I was torn between LfC and LL a year ago and we went with LL at the time... but every now and then I feel like maybe I should have gone with LfC. The grass is greener syndrome perhaps?

[Verity]

I remember reading that as well about reviewing LFC A first. I totally agree about the $$$ though. I wonder if just buying the Student book would be sufficient for a quick run-through? Any LFC users care to comment?

 

 

I chose to go with SSL for my middle son and LfC A for my older son this year and have been really happy overall with the program. Sure the video chant of the kids is sometimes a bit off but otoh it's good to see "real" kids doing Latin. I think if you already understand the basics of conjugation and pronunciation that just using the workbook would be fine. You could even get one "slightly" used for review purposes.

 

For next year I've bought LfC B for my older and am getting a new student workbook for my middle son to use. We are going to read Minimus and listen to the chant cd's over the summer to keep it fresh.

[SophiaH]

Each lesson/chapter seems to take 3-4 weeks right now to go through for us. There is a new vocab list in every chapter in LL2 (it was every other mostly in LL1) which can add time. My plan is for it to last all of next year at least.

 

My DS loves the variety in the program and is doing fantastic with the translations. It has done what I wanted it to do (keep the love of Latin alive) while giving us a clear understanding of the grammar.

 

I was torn between LfC and LL a year ago and we went with LL at the time... but every now and then I feel like maybe I should have gone with LfC. The grass is greener syndrome perhaps?

 

OK, that makes sense that there would be new vocab in every chapter since they're so much meatier. We're definitely in no hurry, so if we were to stay with LL, we'd take as long as we need to. DD loves the history portions, even though we're not doing the History of Rome book.

 

The variety is definitely nice, but for my left-brained self it tends to make things feel a little scattered. I'm glad to know that you feel it's giving you a good grasp on the grammar concepts--another of my concerns. It's a little hard to see the big picture! I think my "grass is greener" phases relate more to this issue than any other. Would a more seemingly systematic progression give a clearer understanding of the grammar in the end? Likely, that is just an unfounded fear on my part, and I just need to see it through to the end.

[Jugglin'5]

OK, that makes sense that there would be new vocab in every chapter since they're so much meatier. We're definitely in no hurry, so if we were to stay with LL, we'd take as long as we need to. DD loves the history portions, even though we're not doing the History of Rome book.

 

The variety is definitely nice, but for my left-brained self it tends to make things feel a little scattered. I'm glad to know that you feel it's giving you a good grasp on the grammar concepts--another of my concerns. It's a little hard to see the big picture! I think my "grass is greener" phases relate more to this issue than any other. Would a more seemingly systematic progression give a clearer understanding of the grammar in the end? Likely, that is just an unfounded fear on my part, and I just need to see it through to the end.

 

One of the things I love about LL is its clear progression in grammatical concepts, and its "do the next page" approach. I tried LFC, but I felt it was all over the place, at least grammatically. :tongue_smilie: I think what is a clear presentation to one brain is confusing to another, :lol:.

[SophiaH]

I chose to go with SSL for my middle son and LfC A for my older son this year and have been really happy overall with the program. Sure the video chant of the kids is sometimes a bit off but otoh it's good to see "real" kids doing Latin. I think if you already understand the basics of conjugation and pronunciation that just using the workbook would be fine. You could even get one "slightly" used for review purposes.

 

For next year I've bought LfC B for my older and am getting a new student workbook for my middle son to use. We are going to read Minimus and listen to the chant cd's over the summer to keep it fresh.

 

My dd would probably love watching the kids doing the chants. :001_smile: Thanks for the info on the workbook. I think buying a slightly used one would be a good option if we decide to go that route.

[SophiaH]

One of the things I love about LL is its clear progression in grammatical concepts' date=' and its "do the next page" approach. I tried LFC, but I felt it was all over the place, at least grammatically. :tongue_smilie: I think what is a clear presentation to one brain is confusing to another, :lol:.[/quote']

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the "do the next page" thing too! It appeals to the inner slacker in me! :D

 

I guess maybe I take comfort in programs like LFC and LC because you know what is expected every week. Monday, DVD. Tuesday, vocab. Wednesday, exercises. Etc, etc...For some reason, it makes it feel more like we're getting somewhere.

 

But I'm glad to hear that you feel the grammar in LL progresses clearly. I just don't have enough Latin background (the third declension is kicking my tail in Henle!) to knowledgeably evaluate and compare the grammar progressions in various programs. But since you're much farther along in LL, I'll take your word for it! :D...Even if our brains work a little differently! :tongue_smilie:

[SophiaH]

I have another question for all of you who have joined me on this thread:

 

Where are you planning on going after? Whether you're using LL2 or the LFC Sequence, what is your next step in Latin? My dd is very much a big picture story girl, and loves the Minimus that we're doing on Fridays, so I was thinking maybe one of the reading programs--Ecce, Cambridge, etc.

 

I'd still love to hear comments from LFC users about my initial questions as well! :D :bigear:

[Marie in Oh]

We did LfC A and B with a co-op. I felt the kids were struugling with the end of B so rather than continuing with C with the co-op I decided to fold my next child, a 3rd grader, into the study with LL1. It was all review for my two oldest, and a gentle intro for my 3rd grader this year. It was nice, especially for my oldest, that latin was easy this year. He hates it with passion. It was actually pretty easy for my 3rd grader too.

 

Next year we plan to have my 6th grader continue on in either LfC C or actually just re-join the co-op doing Latin Alive 1. My rising 4th grader and 2nd grader will do LfC A. I think that there is way too much vocabulary to just skip it and I think it will help for her to review some again. LfC B is another 200+ vocab words to the 240 in A, and I believe there are only 100 or so in LL. It seems lite in the respect. Otherwise it has been good.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

We did not finish LL1 -- got to Ch. 10 or so. We went ahead and switched to LC1 -- started at the beginning. He is enjoying the video teaching, I'm enjoying less guilt at *not* being more hands on w/ Latin. Do what is good for you *both!*

[SophiaH]

We did LfC A and B with a co-op. I felt the kids were struugling with the end of B so rather than continuing with C with the co-op I decided to fold my next child, a 3rd grader, into the study with LL1. It was all review for my two oldest, and a gentle intro for my 3rd grader this year. It was nice, especially for my oldest, that latin was easy this year. He hates it with passion. It was actually pretty easy for my 3rd grader too.

 

Next year we plan to have my 6th grader continue on in either LfC C or actually just re-join the co-op doing Latin Alive 1. My rising 4th grader and 2nd grader will do LfC A. I think that there is way too much vocabulary to just skip it and I think it will help for her to review some again. LfC B is another 200+ vocab words to the 240 in A, and I believe there are only 100 or so in LL. It seems lite in the respect. Otherwise it has been good.

 

Thanks for sharing your path. That's a very good point about the vocabulary. I think that makes LL a better option for us at this point, since dd has a difficult time with memorization. I'll have to make sure to take that into consideration come fall when we finish LL1. Thanks a lot for your help!

[SophiaH]

We did not finish LL1 -- got to Ch. 10 or so. We went ahead and switched to LC1 -- started at the beginning. He is enjoying the video teaching, I'm enjoying less guilt at *not* being more hands on w/ Latin. Do what is good for you *both!*

 

Thanks for the encouragement. DD actually enjoyed the structure of LC1, but neither one of us much enjoyed the DVDs. And unfortunately for me, the DVDs allowed me to neglect going over the lesson with dd at other times during the week, and created a situation where I couldn't encourage her progress because I wasn't familiar with what she was learning. :confused: Don't ask me why...:tongue_smilie: (I guess it's kind of like when I have a full day I tend to get more done around the house, than when I have nothing planned on the schedule and I just laze around all day and get absolutely NOTHING done...:001_rolleyes:)

 

With LL, I read over every lesson with her and read the history to her (she's very auditory) and just overall feel much more involved--which I think is good for both of us. That's one thing about LFC that I'm not sure about. I actually prefer NOT having DVDs where someone does all the teaching. Although, the chanting on video would probably be encouraging for dd. Hmmm...

[Malenki]

I have another question for all of you who have joined me on this thread:

 

Where are you planning on going after?

 

We loved Minimus and Secundus. :) We've gone all around... we did Prima Latina, then Song School Latin alongside Minimus, then Latin's Not So Tough 1-3 with Secundus, and then Lively Latin 1 and now 2.

 

The plan is to move on to Latin Prep from Galore Park with Cambridge alongside. It will slow it down but that's fine... we're not in a hurry at this age. Plus, I'm not sure what we'll do after we've finished all that.

 

HTH a little!

[SophiaH]

We love Minimus too. We're doing it on Fridays alongside LL. I've thought about moving on to doing Secundus with our main program when we finish Minimus.

 

Latin Prep would also be an option after LL2, as dd would likely be 10 by the time we finished that up. I've got a while to decide...just kind of thinking ahead. Thanks for sharing what you've done/will do!