part of me wants to drop latin

[Halcyon]

Okay, so we've been doing Latin with younger since he was in 2nd and older the same. I am.....a little worn out from it. I feel in order to make progress, it requires a great deal of time and sustained effort, which (now that he's older) is taking away from other subjects like History and Spanish. Over this past year, we did SYRWTLL 2 which basically left him in a holding pattern, as it was mostly review. It didn't take long--probably 30-40 minutes daily, but he didn't advance much either. The one time he REALLY made headway was when he took the high school online course Lone Pine Latin, which was fantastic--except he spent 2 hours a day on Latin and other subjects got short shrift.

 

Now that he's going into 7th, there are so many other subjects I want to dive deep into, but if we keep Latin (and try to make headway this year) I feel like we don't have the time. Another issue is that DH is strongly against dropping Latin. He suggested just spending 30 minutes a day on it, but I explained that I feel like we're treading water when we don't devote more time to it. At the same time, we want to spend time on world religions and art history this year, which in many ways are nice, meandering topics that you could spend a whole day exploring. 

 

Our plan was to use SYRWTLL 3 this year with older and add in more readings, and continue LLBook2 with younger (younger isn't at the same point as older and 30 minutes a day is sufficient). Part of me thinks "if we could just drop Latin, how much more time we'd have!'

 

Thoughts?

[Luckymama]

Drop it.

 

We never started Latin (homeschooling began in fifth grade). We limped along with French for two years and dropped that when life got really busy in seventh grade.

 

Dd will be studying Arabic (her choice) starting this year for her high school language requirement.

[Luckymama]

And if your dh is so strongly opposed to dropping Latin, he can take that subject on. Seriously. A couple evenings a week, maybe a session or two on the weekend.

[Chrysalis Academy]

What are your goals for doing Latin in the first place? As an aid to grammar and vocab and logical thinking? You've probably achieved those objectives and can let it go without guilt.  OTOH, if your goal is to prepare your kids to study the classics and to read ancient literature in the original language, then you'll have to keep going.  What is Latin for in your homeschool?

 

We dropped Latin, because our goals were the former and I decided there were more efficient ways to reach those goals.  It's such a relief.  There is so much more time in the day.  I love luckymama's suggestion - if dh wants them to do Latin, let him do it! They will at least maintain what they've learned that way.

[TracyP]

What does your son want? That would decide it for me. If he wants it, keep it - even if that does mean treading water for another year, that is better than going backwards. If your ds doesn't want to continue Latin, put the ball in your dh's court. If your dh wants to teach a subject that neither you nor your son care about, fine.

[Haiku]

It seems a shame to waste all the time you have put into Latin by just dropping it. I have found that about 30 mins a day, every day, moves us along nicely, and dd will have completed her Latin 1 credit by the end of 7th grade. I'd encourage you to keep going at least until the end of SYRWTLL3. Don't worry about how long it takes you to finish it.

[Walking-Iris]

I agree with others who ask "why?"

 

Why have you been studying Latin every year since 2nd grade? 

 

FWIW we'll be starting Latin ...for the very first time...this year. We've covered Latin/Greek roots in a simple vocab sense, but this year and in the next (maybe) 2 years we'll cover it in a bit more depth.  I haven't even contemplated high school yet, though I do know that I have no desire to ask my children to read classics in a dead language. I want them to be able to understand scientific terms, modern languages, and common Latin phrasings they may encounter in literature or other writings. I am merely using it as a more challenging grammar, spelling, vocabulary exercise. (And it ties nicely into history)

 

My 2nd grader will likely not even participate in learning it. I wouldn't expect him to. He's busy enough learning to read and write in English.

 

If Latin was taking so much time that I couldn't get to other basic subjects, I'd drop it, or reduce it. 

 

 

[jenn&charles]

I'd drop it. That's what I actually ended up doing here. It was taking up too much time and Otter needs to focus on Spanish now to prepare for his future career in law enforcement. I tried doing it just for 30 minutes a day last year, but we made hardly any progress at all and it still cut into other more important subjects. I made the decision to cut it out completely for the upcoming school year.

 

I'm glad we did it though and if I ever have the time, I'll pursue it by myself just for fun. :-)

[Halcyon]

I would love DH to do it, but last time we tried that, he fell off the wagon after a week LOL. He is just really really busy at work. I will approach him again.

[Halcyon]

maybe we will do a semester of Spanish then a semester of Latin?

[Alte Veste Academy]

I would set a time limit (like Tara and your DH said, maybe 30 minutes a day), and just do it. Slow and steady wins the race.

[bethben]

But what do you do for a foreign language?  I am thinking of going back to Latin because honestly, it's something I can do to fulfill a foreign language requirement in our homeschool.  I'd rather do Spanish because I see it has more application but I do not want to wait until my children's junior/senior year which is what most homeschoolers do around here - they take Spanish at the community college.  I also do not want to pay for a tutor because fulfilling this requirement in our homeschool is not one of my larger priorities.  I'm only doing the minimum two years of foreign language anyway.

 

Beth

[Ali in OR]

My youngest will do one more year of Latin and then I'll allow her to quit after 6th grade--it's not really her thing. Now my older dd enjoys it and languages seem to be more her thing. I'm encouraging her to continue even as she begins a public high school this fall that does not have Latin. She did Lone Pine's 200 course last year and we will try 300 and see if it's possible to keep up--she'll have to watch recordings, though she can do the first part of class live since we live on the west coast (7:15 our time!). I'll also comment that I would think he may have been a little too young for Lone Pine. I know as an eighth grader dd had to grow a lot in her ability to handle all of the assignments and manage what truly was a rigorous, sophomore-level course. I think it was really good for her, but it would have been too much when she was younger.

 

Before Lone Pine, dd was going through Latin Alive on her own, first book 1 in 6th then most of book 2 in 7th. She made a lot more progress with the live instruction from Lone Pine, but an option for you would be to buy some time with that--self-instruction with the DVD--then return to Lone Pine if your ds is interested in pursuing fluency.

[Roadrunner]

If your son really likes it, I would put in intensive 2 years into Lone Pine again and try to exit Latin with AP exam in ninth. It would still leave you plenty of time in high school to design content rich classes. For now, a lot of this could be his free time reading. He has spent so much time on Latin, it would be a shame not to "finish." Then you can go full speed on Spanish.

We aren't studying Latin, but plan to finish high school with at least two AP language exams in unrelated languages. Our first language is French and in couple of years (when we are on French 4 level), we will add either Latin or Arabic. Whatever we pick, I want to see it through to the end.

Of course if he doesn't want to continue, drop it and focus on his passions.

[Halcyon]

Oh, he doesn't want to continue LOL. My dh says it's non-negotiable though..my son would rather be doing math. He is truly gifted in Latin though--he has a fantastic ability with tenses (not so much vocabulary!) and I would say he doesn't want to do writing, latin, spanish, history or difficult science reading :D he's not there yet with "loving school" (although he does love math)

[Arcadia]

The one time he REALLY made headway was when he took the high school online course Lone Pine Latin, which was fantastic--except he spent 2 hours a day on Latin and other subjects got short shift.

...

Another issue is that DH is strongly against dropping Latin. He suggested just spending 30 minutes a day on it, but I explained that I feel like we're treading water when we don't devote more time to it.

2 hours a day for a non-native language to see substantial improvement sounds about there to me.

 

I do agree 30mins total per day is more of a holding pattern. If your husband is willing to be responsible for that 30mins than let him do it while you have a 30mins break. Then maybe supplement with intensive Latin during next summer holidays.

 

ETA:

He is going to be a 7th grader. Let him present his case for dropping Latin in favor of more time for math to his dad :)

[Sahamamama]

maybe we will do a semester of Spanish then a semester of Latin?

 

Odd weeks, Spanish? Even weeks, Latin? Same time slot, same amount of effort?

 

Or, alternate Grammar with Latin -- 6 weeks, Grammar; 6 weeks, Latin. Same time slot, same amount of effort.

[Roadrunner]

. My dh says it's non-negotiable though..

Does he say why? Just curious.

[JadeOrchidSong]

It seems a shame to waste all the time you have put into Latin by just dropping it. I have found that about 30 mins a day, every day, moves us along nicely, and dd will have completed her Latin 1 credit by the end of 7th grade. I'd encourage you to keep going at least until the end of SYRWTLL3. Don't worry about how long it takes you to finish it.

What Latin are you using?

[ccolopy]

If he doesn't enjoy Latin, I would let him drop it. If you decide against that, you need to work out a way to have him move forward. Reviewing the same material year after year is painful, but reviewing the same Latin grammar every year borders on child abuse :p. 

 

Your idea of a semester of Spanish and a semester of Latin would probably be a little frustrating because of the amount he would forget, but focusing on moving forward in one language at a time might be a good idea. We fell into that pattern this year and Ds feels that it's worked really well. In the fall, he took an online Arabic class and only spent 2-3 hours per week studying French. In the winter, the online class conflicted with sports (and he was ready for a break), so we focused on French, with 20-30 minutes of Arabic review every morning. 

[Haiku]

What Latin are you using?

Latin Book One

 

We spend two days per lesson and add our own vocabulary review from a box of 1000 Latin flash cards that I have, and we spend some time every day composing sentences for each other.

[Sahamamama]

If he doesn't enjoy Latin, I would let him drop it. If you decide against that, you need to work out a way to have him move forward. Reviewing the same material year after year is painful, but reviewing the same Latin grammar every year borders on child abuse :p. 

 

Your idea of a semester of Spanish and a semester of Latin would probably be a little frustrating because of the amount he would forget, but focusing on moving forward in one language at a time might be a good idea. We fell into that pattern this year and Ds feels that it's worked really well. In the fall, he took an online Arabic class and only spent 2-3 hours per week studying French. In the winter, the online class conflicted with sports (and he was ready for a break), so we focused on French, with 20-30 minutes of Arabic review every morning. 

 

Thank you for posting this idea. It never dawned on me that this would be a good way to maintain one language (1/3 of the time spent on languages) and move forward in another (2/3 of the time spent on languages). I think we'll use this strategy for my 4th grader this year, because even at this level we've felt the frustration of being in a holding pattern for either Latin or French. Usually, Latin gets short shrift, and then it always feel like we're reviewing, reviewing, reviewing.

 

Until now, we've fought against it -- that is, against simply maintaining one language -- but now I think that's the way to go.

 

Not trying to hijack, just thinking out loud here:

 

September through Christmas = LATIN (focus on making some progress) + French (maintain/review/EP workbooks/songs)

 

January through April = FRENCH (focus on making progress/new units) + Latin (maintain/review/Ludere/Book of Roots/songs)

 

May & June = LATIN alone

 

July & August = FRENCH alone (wouldn't immersion be amazing?)

 

I suppose the OP could do the same type of line-up, with Latin and Spanish. I wonder if this will work? Now I'm curious...

 

And, totally off-topic, but -- OP, I miss your blog.

[SheriGene]

I was ready to drop Latin after this year as well (7th grade).  We use the First Form series.  My daughter has gotten through Third Form, but it hasn't really been that bad. Two days of the week we watch the lesson and take quiz or unit test.  For the other three days, we set a timer and work no more than 40 minutes together, then she does her worksheets and any studying.  My husband encouraged me to finish with Fourth Form and be done.  We will do our best this year keeping the same time constraints.  If we don't finish the book, so be it!  No one in my home is interested in reading the Classics in Latin. We will get the benefit of grammar, logic and vocab. and move on. My dd wants to do Spanish in high school, so that is what we will do.  It should be pretty easy.

[Halcyon]

 

 

And, totally off-topic, but -- OP, I miss your blog.

thanks about the blog. i have been too busy since i started working again. 

 

SPeaking of blogs--any idea what in the world happened to Satori's mom and her blog?

[Guest]

If your dh is so set on it, then seriously, he needs to step up and teach it. Does he speak/write it? Abilbilty or not, it is DEAD! Drop it.

[Mama2two]

thanks about the blog. i have been too busy since i started working again. 

 

SPeaking of blogs--any idea what in the world happened to Satori's mom and her blog?

 

I have often wondered the same thing, miss reading her blog

[Mama2two]

I recently decided to just slow down latin for my 2 (ages 8 and 10), we will spend more than a year in Latina Christiana.  I agree with all the other recommendation to just do 20 minutes and go slow if needed

[TKDmom]

I'm contemplating the same question. DD has been working on Latin for 4 years. Her progress has been painfully slow, and she despises the subject. We started First Form Latin this year, and she only got half-way through it. With an hour a day of dragging her feet through a single worksheet. There must be a better use for that first hour of her day.

 

Last night I talked it over with DH. He can't figure out why I'm teaching Latin, or any language at all before high school. Because, you know,neither of us had anything other than 2 years of high school Spanish, and we turned out fine.  :001_rolleyes:  I talked to dd and she feels like she should take Latin, and she likes learning English word roots, but she doesn't see the point and has no motivation.

 

I was going to start ds10 on FF Latin this year, but he just started Spanish. For now, I think we will drop Latin. I'm consoling myself with the idea that we might add it back in later. My goal is not to have them reading the classics--just to improve logic and English vocabulary and grammar. But I feel like I'm giving up something huge by dropping Latin.  :unsure:

[abacus2]

I would love DH to do it, but last time we tried that, he fell off the wagon after a week LOL. He is just really really busy at work. I will approach him again.

 

This is fine. If it is his priority, let him be the one to decide there isn't enough time.