Latin???

[Guest mrsbmomof3]

Hi, I'm new here with a question about Latin. I'm curious as to what age others started Latin instruction and which curriculum you went with. My daughter is spelling at a 4th grade level and reading at a slightly lower level. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and begin Latin instruction or wait a little longer and maybe just focus on grammar. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

[Beth in Central TX]

I start Latin in the 3rd grade with Prima Latina by Memoria Press. It's a gentle introduction to Latin with DVDs to help with the instruction. There are some newer programs out for lower elementary students, but I'm not familiar with them.

[Heather in VA]

That sounds like a perfectly good time to start Latin. Lively Latin is a particularly good choice for that level. You can move at your own pace, it's thorough, fun and fleshes out the grammar nicely so the student really understands.

[Susan in SoCal]

Just about any time is a good time to begin Latin :-)

 

At our home, we begin around 3rd grade. But you can start earlier or later with fine results.

 

I think Lively Latin is a perfect curriculum to begin around 3rd grade. It has just about the finest age-appropriate grammar explanations I have found in any early elementary Latin program. I love that it nicely ties together Latin and English grammar and it has wonderful Roman history readings that are interspersed. A fun, gentle program with lots of variety in the exercises.

 

That said, here is a very helpful website that has most of the Latin programs reviewed by WTMers.

 

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/latincurricula.htm

[AllSmiles]

I think Latin can be started anytime after a child is reading well. Like some of the others that have already posted, we chose to start at 3rd grade. We found Prima Latina to be a perfect fit.

[Excelsior! Academy]

You might look into Latina Christiana for her. It can be used successfully with that age group. You do not have to do Prima first, unless you choose to.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I couldn't manage 3rd grade because I was too intimidated.

 

We used Minimus Latin which was a nice introduction. The following year, we started Matin Latin. I chose ML because it was the curriculum that seemed to be best for the clueless teacher ;)

[TengoFive]

We started with Prima Latina when my oldest was in 3rd and my next oldest was in 1st. My current 1st grader will start Prima Latina sometime this year, but we're going to take it very slow. The other 2 are currently in 2nd and 4th and we're using Latina Christiana at the moment. I think Prima Latina was a nice compromise for the two grades I had.

[Laura Corin]

With Calvin I did Minimus in 2nd and 3rd, then Latin Prep from 4th. Hobbes is more interested in Greek, so we are doing some easy Greek in 2nd and 3rd, then plan on Latin Prep for 4th grade.

 

Laura

[Guest Lorna]

I didn't begin Latin until the age of twelve at school. I did do some Latin with my daughter at younger ages but I never found a good programme (I tried using the programmes for her that I did at school but the books were missing a good deal of the teaching aspect).

We started this year (at age twelve) with Latin Prep (Galore Park) and she is retaining the vocab. and understanding the grammar etc very easily. I am glad I waited until now. I will probably wait at least a year with my son too. I want him to be thoroughly grounded in his writing and grammar skills (and to have extra time at this age for the basics).

[Paula in PA]

We are using Minimus and love it. It's a nice introduction and a lot of fun. We will be doing Secondus next year for 3rd. After that, the plan is to use the Latin Prep series.

 

Paula

[Guest mrsbmomof3]

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions....I'll begin looking into each of them!

:)

[Kathy in MD]

the DVD's make it mom free if your child is a bit older or independent.