Help with Latin

[Flowergirl159]

Our Latin lessons need an overhaul.

 

12yo - we started with GSWL, then moved on Visual Latin 1 and now she is doing VL2. For VL1 she would watch the video, then we would work through the worksheet together. That was how we did lessons 3 days every week. However, this year VL2 seems to be more difficult and isn't really working as well. She wasn't enthusiastic about learning Latin, so I wanted her to complete VL1 before she decided that Latin wasn't for her. But she loved VL1 by the end of it and decided she wanted to move onto VL2. Which we did, but it isn't working as well. I also have Lingua Latina and Henle. Her goal is just to be able to read Latin. Can someone please tell me how I can use these curricula to teach her Latin without her losing momentum or enthusiasm?

 

10yo - we did Prima Latina last year in a few minutes a day and she absolutely loved it. I thought she would be able to do Latina Christiana on her own this year, but that just isn't so. I would like her to do LC this year, then move onto VL1. 

 

Its really difficult for me to find 15mins daily x 2 to be working on Latin with each of my girls, with everything else we have to do. I would love someone to show me how to use these curricula for each of my girls and most likely independently would be great.

 

Or even a schedule of do this four days a week with child, then child do this independently.

 

How do others do Latin?

[Tanaqui]

I would not try to fit in the serious study of a language, any language, into 15 minutes a day. 15 minutes a day is for casual Duolingo when all you want to do is be able to order coffee and ask for the toilet, or piano practice when you just want to be able to play a few songs, not perform.

 

I don't know about those curricula, but I think it would be better to carve out 45 minutes twice a week (or even 60 minutes once a week) per kid, and have them do their own study - perhaps vocabulary drill with flashcards, or translating sentences very similar to what they've already done - the other three days.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Tanaqui

[Flowergirl159]

Okay that sounds good. To spend a good chunk of time on Monday for instance, teaching the lesson for the week. Then the rest of the week, they can do flashcards and the worksheets, then perhaps Fridays I can check up on how they went with learning the material. Does this sound like it would work?

 

I like the idea of 12yo reading LL, perhaps especially for the next two weeks. 

[Tranquility7]

I wrote some very lengthy and thorough posts on this older thread about how we use Orberg's Lingua Latina (LLPSI) in our homeschool (especially my posts #11 and #18). I LOVE LOVE huge-puffy-heart LOVE LLPSI and we have used it for about five years now (we started when DS was 6). But the curriculum alone is not going to make you succeed; it also takes just a lot of perseverance and practice.  For an older learner, it will take about two years to get through Familia Romana, if the learner is very diligent. Otherwise I would assume 3-4 years, but you *must review* or else you will hit brick walls along the way.

 

I second a PP who recommended the Dwane Thomas courses. We have not actually taken his courses (though I have viewed several), but if you really need something "outside", that is where I would suggest going in your situation. But honestly it will be far better if you study with your DC and don't make it independent. There is no way my DS would be able to do Latin without considerable support and co-learning with me.

 

[Flowergirl159]

I would really like to see how others use Latina Christiana, like a weekly lesson or daily lessons. Would someone mind sharing?

[Guest]

Buy the MP lesson plans for either 1 or 2 year schedule.

Edited June 18, 2017 by Paradox5

[KrissiK]

The thing about Latin is that your need to keep up with the daily recitations. The teachers book for LC and the Form Series should have a list of what the child should recite every day. That's the only way to really get the paradigms in the head. For LC, I think we watched he video for the first day of each lesson. Then, throughout the week we did a daily oral recitation and then one of the written exercises each day.

 

Latin study can be very tedious at the beginning, but it is worth it, I think some kids get excited about the idea of learning Latin, but get bogged down in the tedium and are not willing to put in the work of reciting all the conjugations and declensions plus vocabulary every day. But there is pay off when you've got that stuff memorized and can translate pretty easily without having to look everything up.

Edited June 16, 2017 by KrissiK

[Flowergirl159]

The thing about Latin is that your need to keep up with the daily recitations. The teachers book for LC and the Form Series should have a list of what the child should recite every day. That's the only way to really get the paradigms in the head. For LC, I think we watched he video for the first day of each lesson. Then, throughout the week we did a daily oral recitation and then one of the written exercises each day.

 

Latin study can be very tedious at the beginning, but it is worth it, I think some kids get excited about the idea of learning Latin, but get bogged down in the tedium and are not willing to put in the work of reciting all the conjugations and declensions plus vocabulary every day. But there is pay off when you've got that stuff memorized and can translate pretty easily without having to look everything up.

 

Thank you Krissi :)

 

I don't have the video, so here is what I plan to do each week:

Mondays have long lesson with her using LC

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursdays - she listens to the CD and complete the drill sheets, complete any worksheets that she can on her own. Those days I will continue working through GSWL with her, usually two lessons each day.

Fridays - review, quiz or game

[Verity]

I have taught all three of my sons Latin (though I didn't know it at all when we started out 8 years ago) using Latin for Children followed by Latin Alive. I tried Latina Christiana but didn't like the cd recording's accent at that time (very southern).  Our process was to watch the video on the first day of the week and do the chants together and discuss any grammar concepts. Then on T, W, Th we do the chant aloud (takes 5 mins) together, then the student does the memory work and an activity page (cross words and games of that type). On Thursday I usually do a larger piece of translation using the Libellus Historia (history reader), Friday is the chant and quiz. Classical Academic Press also has online free vocabulary games for each of their products if the student needs extra practice. I have been very happy with Latin for Children and will be in LFC Primer C with my youngest son this upcoming year. My oldest son took two years of Latin in highschool and made A's without much effort.

[Pistachio mom]

We have studied Latin in our family using Memoria's Prima Latina, Latina Christiana 1 & 2, First Form, part of Second Form, then a year of BJ Press Latin which was not well organized in the book, my daughter finished with a year using Henle with the study guides from Memoria. I did the use the Latina Ludere with LC1 for my second child. I will start Prima in a few weeks with child #3, while her sibling is in First Form.

 

Basically, with studying with elementary age, Latin requires 20 - 40 min per day. Reviewing the grammar, learning the vocabulary, practicing the translation exercises, recitations, etc... I look at it like math - Latin needs daily teaching and review. For me, I like the clear structure of Memoria. We had to switch out of the form series with my oldest since she thought the translation exercises were babyish. While BJ Latin has awesome translation exercises - The BJ Latin is classical - not Christian. It also teaches vocabulary from all 5 declensions at one time which is so confusing. My daughter finished the book out of sheer will power. The cultural information was great, just the language study itself was not a good fit for us. Henle, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. Clear review of everything you learn in LC at a faster pace. The translation in Henle is all about Catholic church related stuff or Caesar war sentences. I did teach everything up to LC2 and Second Form. I did as much as I could from the BJ Latin, and I oversaw my daughter's independent work using the Henle study guides in her last year of study.

 

After all of this Latin, I took my daughter to a local fall concert of the Bach B minor mass. She (and I too) could understand everything! So, for us, relating it to music, the ecclesiastical Latin was much better than the classical Latin.

 

Learning Latin has also made teaching grammar easier, as well as vocabulary. I never knew anything about Latin until learning some with my children. The memoria LC series was written in such a way that I could learn with my children.

[fralala]

I would really like to see how others use Latina Christiana, like a weekly lesson or daily lessons. Would someone mind sharing?

 

I saw your plan below [ETA, well, now it's above this post!] and it looks good, but I just also wanted to respond to this because I also find it very helpful to know how others tailor a curriculum to their kids' needs.

 

I actually plan 2 weeks for each chapter of LC, working 4 days a week. (This is just our style with everything since we school year-round and are slow and always sidetracked.) So we might spend the first 2 days on the introductory lesson depending on how long it is taking

 

When that's finished, she spends a day making flashcards-- actually, she makes two cards for each word (with one blank side) so we can play concentration with them. The rest of the days, we spend playing that game and she makes her way through the exercises (after daily grammar review). Often we throw a few cards from previous chapters into our concentration games for ongoing review. (Playing the game isn't independent, but it's not too time-consuming.) And our final day on a chapter is spent on the quiz.

 

We don't have the CD or any extras, so that has probably influenced the way we use this curriculum, but she seems to be mastering the material in this fashion (albeit at a slower pace).

Edited June 25, 2017 by fralala