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Which Latin Program?


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I never studied Latin myself, but I would like my children to learn.  I'm planning on starting DS this coming fall, for his 6th grade year.  

 

Can anybody suggest some options for us?  He is a solid student and I do not foresee any difficulties for him.  I would also like my DD to learn Latin as well, however she has some LDs and I'm not sure she will be able to keep up.  

 

 

Also...Bonus Question!

 

We used Wordly Wise this past year to develop vocabulary a bit.  Would you continue with a vocabulary program on top of Latin?  Or forego the vocabulary altogether?  

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The (good) advice is always to start with Getting Started With Latin. It costs about $20, is very incremental and really lays a good foundation for understanding Latin.

 

After that, opinions vary, haha. We moved to Big Book of Lively Latin. It is all in one file, my dc do about one double-sided page a day. I've kept up well, but now, in the second book, I'm falling behind my kids.

 

Regardless of the program, I highly recommend Ankiapp for automated flash cards.

 

FYI, we are in BBoLL 2, but it will have taken us at least 3 years to finish the two books.

 

I don't have any useful advice about vocabulary.

Edited by SusanC
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My older kids both did Getting Started with Latin, and then they moved straight into Latin Alive. I'm a huge fan of GSWL. It is very gentle and incremental. Latin Alive has been a lot of work, but there are also a lot of supports with the videos, and my kids have done really well with the program (and scored very well on National Latin Exam). 

 

We dropped vocabulary when we started Latin Alive. For my kids, it was overkill to do both. 

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Like others said, GSWL is a great introduction.

 

However - it would go very fast for a strong student. My son (now 12) finished it in about 2 months or so. It was a good foundation and I would do it again.

 

We then tried LfC and Lively Latin. We stuck with LfC for 2 years, but it became tedious very quickly. It follows the same lesson pattern lesson after lesson. I found that my son did not retain the work very well, even though we added Headventureland, etc. 

 

We are now taking the intermediate online classes with CLRC. I am very happy with it and my son is enjoying it. He likes that he gets to speak Latin to other students. The homework is manageable and a little more varied. The textbook they use contain interesting stories and history and is not overwhelming or "young" like some other texts. The class was small, but not to small :)

 

I should have moved to online Latin a long time ago. We are actually getting somewhere now.

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GSTW is easy to do at home.

 

After that, I'd suggest an online Latin course that has a teacher. It is very difficult to completely teach yourself. There are lots of good online courses - we are doing one through KET distance learning (which is cheap if you live in KY).

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Dd did getting started with Latin and loved it.

She faffed around doing some minimus, fabulae ceciliae and latina christiana. She liked minimus best.

However I have just started her on the Latin lessons on Linney's website - the author of GSWL - which appears promising!

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Getting Started With Latin is always my first recommendation. After that, there are so many choices, and we have done many. Big Book of Lively Latin, Latin Prep, Form Latin....

 

I prefer Memoria Press Form Latin, but we like get'er done curriculum, the kids don't care for fluff much. We also use Latin Book 1 & 2, free on yahoo group with answers, to practice reading aloud on the fly as well as working through the lessons. After Third Form we will do Wheelocks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Second the recommendation for First Form from Memoria Press. We're just finishing it and have been really pleased with the methodical way topics are introduced and reviewed for retention. It's used as early as 4th grade, so would most likely work well for a 6th grader just starting with Latin. MP also offers Prima Latina and Latina Christiana as a gentler introduction for younger children, which could be options for your daughter as well.

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We use Lively Latin and really like it. It has a lot of history which my oldest loves. My next two not so much so we skipped parts of the history.

 

Oldest did Lukeion Latin I this year after finishing LL and did very well.

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