Anyone Teaching Greek?

[nixpix5]

I was curious if anyone is teaching their students ancient Greek. I took two years of Greek in my classical minor in college and always figured I would teach the kids Greek but once I began homeschooling Latin seemed to be the preferred choice. Is this due to ease of alphabet and conjugations/declensions or is there another reason? If you are focusing on Greek, what has been your preferred curriculum?

[Clear Creek]

I guess I am, though I never planned to :tongue_smilie:  My youngest saw Greek Alphabet Code Cracker on the bookshelf this spring and decided to do it. He enjoyed it enough to ask for a Greek curriculum to do this fall (he wants to learn more than the alphabet, I guess, lol), so I am going to get MP Elementary Greek for him. He liked the look of the samples, and it looked pretty easy to teach, which is important because I have never studied ancient Greek. He is also doing Latin, so it isn't an either/or for us.

 

My older girls only did Latin (I require it from 3rd-8th), not ancient Greek. At least, neither of them has asked to learn it yet. Oldest is starting ASL this year (she dropped Latin at the end of 8th), and the middle is continuing with Latin and starting French.

[GeoKitty]

Last year my sixth grader did the Greek Alphabet. So for next year she wants to continue Greek and will also use MP Elementary Greek. She is also studying French and Czech. We have also done some Latin in the past.

[nixpix5]

I guess I am, though I never planned to :tongue_smilie: My youngest saw Greek Alphabet Code Cracker on the bookshelf this spring and decided to do it. He enjoyed it enough to ask for a Greek curriculum to do this fall (he wants to learn more than the alphabet, I guess, lol), so I am going to get MP Elementary Greek for him. He liked the look of the samples, and it looked pretty easy to teach, which is important because I have never studied ancient Greek. He is also doing Latin, so it isn't an either/or for us.

 

My older girls only did Latin (I require it from 3rd-8th), not ancient Greek. At least, neither of them has asked to learn it yet. Oldest is starting ASL this year (she dropped Latin at the end of 8th), and the middle is continuing with Latin and starting French.

That is awesome! :) I really want to do Greek with my three but I never see anyone talking about it so I have been unsure about what curriculum would be good. I love Greek...I mean I LOVE it. I would have probably majored in classical studies instead of neurobiology if there would have been a career path I could justify. My DH used to tease me in college and tell me I was like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding...ie. "give me any word and I will tell you how it came from Greek" ;) I rocked my GRE for grad school because of Greek. It is so useful!

 

Please update how the curriculum goes for you. I will be watching with much interest ;)

[Guest]

We do Hey, Andrew:

 

http://www.greeknstuff.com/andrew.html

 

It is Koine not Attic. My olders got as far as the fourth book. We'll see how far the caboose baby gets.

 

There is also a Song School Greek.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Guest

[nixpix5]

We do Hey, Andrew:

 

http://www.greeknstuff.com/andrew.html

 

It is Koine not Attic. My olders got as far as the fourth book. We'll see how far the caboose baby gets.

 

There is also a Song School Greek.

Do you know if SS Greek is Attic or Koine? I suppose I can go look it up ;) What about MP Greek. Is that Attic or Koine? Didn't see it mentioned on their site but I could have missed it.

 

That is the tough call for me. I took Attic and would love the kids to be able to study Sophocles, Euripides etc in Greek but it would probably be more useful to study Koine so they can read the NT in its original form. I have had zero exposure to Koine. Does anyone know if the difference is so substantial that it would require a difinitive decision one way or the other?

 

It seems like a greater difference than say, deciding between Ecclesiastical vs Reformed Classical in Latin. Does anyone know if that is true?

Edited June 26, 2017 by nixpix5

[KrissiK]

Latin is the primary language we focus on, but a couple of years ago I thought we'd pick up Greek, too. We did it for a year. It just got to be too much, so we dropped it. I liked it and since we were doing Latin, it was a little easier. The kids already knew the paradigms of an inflected language, so that part was fine. It's just.... learning a new language. And a new alphabet. And we were already struggling getting the regular work done.

 

We used Elementary Greek, but if we ever picked it up again I'd use MP's First Form Greek.

Edited June 26, 2017 by KrissiK

[winterbaby]

Do you know if SS Greek is Attic or Koine? I suppose I can go look it up ;) What about MP Greek. Is that Attic or Koine? Didn't see it mentioned on their site but I could have missed it.

 

That is the tough call for me. I took Attic and would love the kids to be able to study Sophocles, Euripides etc in Greek but it would probably be more useful to study Koine so they can read the NT in its original form. I have had zero exposure to Koine. Does anyone know if the difference is so substantial that it would require a difinitive decision one way or the other?

 

It seems like a greater difference than say, deciding between Ecclesiastical vs Reformed Classical in Latin. Does anyone know if that is true?

 

It's a simpler form of the language - some forms and distinctions have dropped away, sentence structure is more straightforward, things are more explicit - for example there are more prepositions used instead of the relationship being indicated with just a case ending. It's a good foundation for later moving onto classical Greek, I think, similar to how it's easier to start out reading the Vulgate or medieval Latin before you move on to Cicero.  It almost doesn't even make sense to skip that step, especially if we're talking about children. I don't know what the track record is on these programs for teaching young children other dialects, but I doubt they'll get to actually reading classical texts any faster for having skipped the more accessible form of the language. When you get to the classical authors there are other dialectical differences to deal with anyway - that's a really normal part of dealing with Greek. It's not like one form gets fixed in your mind and you can't process any others.

[nixpix5]

It's a simpler form of the language - some forms and distinctions have dropped away, sentence structure is more straightforward, things are more explicit - for example there are more prepositions used instead of the relationship being indicated with just a case ending. It's a good foundation for later moving onto classical Greek, I think, similar to how it's easier to start out reading the Vulgate or medieval Latin before you move on to Cicero. It almost doesn't even make sense to skip that step, especially if we're talking about children. I don't know what the track record is on these programs for teaching young children other dialects, but I doubt they'll get to actually reading classical texts any faster for having skipped the more accessible form of the language. When you get to the classical authors there are other dialectical differences to deal with anyway - that's a really normal part of dealing with Greek. It's not like one form gets fixed in your mind and you can't process any others.

This is immensely helpful! Thank you :)

[Loesje22000]

We used Athenaze for a while

[Zoo Keeper]

We've only done Koine; I recommend  Elementary Greek by Christine Gatchell.

[Milknhoney]

Yes, we do Greek. I tried to do both Greek and Latin, but it was just too much, and ds really disliked the Latin but was really enjoying Greek. When you read all of the reasons behind learning Latin, I feel that the same benefits exist in Greek, with the added benefit that the NT was written in Greek. I think that adds an extra level of internal motivation for both of us to keep studying it, that we wouldn't have with Latin.

 

We started off with Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and then moved on to Elementary Greek. I'm not positive, but I think that MP took it over so theirs is the same one now, just a different publisher. We LOVED EG. 

 

With dd I decided to try Song School Greek after Code Cracker. I just assumed it was Koine but they do pronounce things differently than EG does, so I'm not absolutely positive. She really likes it. And she started off the year complaining about not wanting to do Greek. She loves the songs. And it includes things that EG doesn't cover. EG vocabulary is based on the frequency the words occur in the Bible. So we only learned a few numbers in random order. But in SSG, there's a whole song where you count up to ten (or is it twelve? I can't remember. We're on summer break and so is my brain).  

 

The only disadvantage to Greek is the limited choice in curriculum. Not a problem when we started because EG is just awesome, but when we finished it, finding something to move on to was a problem. I think most people around here do Athenaze next. Athenaze is Attic or Homeric (not sure). Since our primary goal is to be able to read the NT in the original language, I decided a textbook that focused on Biblical Greek made more sense. I ended up choosing Primer of Biblical Greek by Clayton Croy, and to be honest, I'm struggling with it.(Ds is doing well with it, actually. Young brain...). It lacks the structure, bite sized lessons, flashcards, and audio that EG had. (What else did I expect from a college textbook?) I'd buy a new book for next year if I had a clue of what might work better. 

[nixpix5]

Yes, we do Greek. I tried to do both Greek and Latin, but it was just too much, and ds really disliked the Latin but was really enjoying Greek. When you read all of the reasons behind learning Latin, I feel that the same benefits exist in Greek, with the added benefit that the NT was written in Greek. I think that adds an extra level of internal motivation for both of us to keep studying it, that we wouldn't have with Latin.

 

We started off with Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and then moved on to Elementary Greek. I'm not positive, but I think that MP took it over so theirs is the same one now, just a different publisher. We LOVED EG.

 

With dd I decided to try Song School Greek after Code Cracker. I just assumed it was Koine but they do pronounce things differently than EG does, so I'm not absolutely positive. She really likes it. And she started off the year complaining about not wanting to do Greek. She loves the songs. And it includes things that EG doesn't cover. EG vocabulary is based on the frequency the words occur in the Bible. So we only learned a few numbers in random order. But in SSG, there's a whole song where you count up to ten (or is it twelve? I can't remember. We're on summer break and so is my brain).

 

The only disadvantage to Greek is the limited choice in curriculum. Not a problem when we started because EG is just awesome, but when we finished it, finding something to move on to was a problem. I think most people around here do Athenaze next. Athenaze is Attic or Homeric (not sure). Since our primary goal is to be able to read the NT in the original language, I decided a textbook that focused on Biblical Greek made more sense. I ended up choosing Primer of Biblical Greek by Clayton Croy, and to be honest, I'm struggling with it.(Ds is doing well with it, actually. Young brain...). It lacks the structure, bite sized lessons, flashcards, and audio that EG had. (What else did I expect from a college textbook?) I'd buy a new book for next year if I had a clue of what might work better.

Wow, this is just really encouraging, thank you. My preference is Greek. Latin just doesn't pull me in the same way but since it isn't all about me I was going to cave and just do Latin. This is really helping me rethink that. I feel like I will be more motivated to teach something I truly love and enjoy.

 

What are the ages of your kids? What age do you see EG working best for?

 

Thanks!

[Milknhoney]

Wow, this is just really encouraging, thank you. My preference is Greek. Latin just doesn't pull me in the same way but since it isn't all about me I was going to cave and just do Latin. This is really helping me rethink that. I feel like I will be more motivated to teach something I truly love and enjoy.

 

What are the ages of your kids? What age do you see EG working best for?

 

Thanks!

 

My kids are Ds-12 and Dd-8. Started Ds in grade 3, which is what I think EG recommends. There are three levels, but we took almost four years to work through it (we stopped for several months when I thought I was going to have to enroll him in a private school, and we only did 4 days a week and the book is written for 5). 

 

Started Dd this last year when she was 7. It took her about half the year to get through Code Cracker (unlike Ds who did it on his own over the summer). And we're only part of the way through SSG, so she'll be starting EG later. That's okay, because now I realize that the only options after EG are college level textbooks, so no point in being in a rush.

 

I don't know how old your kids are, but personally I would recommend EG even if they are older. I had no exposure to Greek whatsoever until I started it with Ds, and so I've been learning it right along with him. And even as an adult, I think I would have been overwhelmed with anything more advanced than EG. A more mature student could probably move through it quicker. 

 

I agree that you should do what you love. Besides, you have experience with Greek and your kids will get a lot out of your own store of knowledge that they would miss out on with another language. It has taken me a very long time (and I'm still learning) to fully realize that homeschooling means you can do whatever you want, not what someone else thinks you should do!

[eagleynne]

Yes, we do Greek. I tried to do both Greek and Latin, but it was just too much, and ds really disliked the Latin but was really enjoying Greek. When you read all of the reasons behind learning Latin, I feel that the same benefits exist in Greek, with the added benefit that the NT was written in Greek. I think that adds an extra level of internal motivation for both of us to keep studying it, that we wouldn't have with Latin.

 

We started off with Greek Alphabet Code Cracker and then moved on to Elementary Greek. I'm not positive, but I think that MP took it over so theirs is the same one now, just a different publisher. We LOVED EG. 

 

With dd I decided to try Song School Greek after Code Cracker. I just assumed it was Koine but they do pronounce things differently than EG does, so I'm not absolutely positive. She really likes it. And she started off the year complaining about not wanting to do Greek. She loves the songs. And it includes things that EG doesn't cover. EG vocabulary is based on the frequency the words occur in the Bible. So we only learned a few numbers in random order. But in SSG, there's a whole song where you count up to ten (or is it twelve? I can't remember. We're on summer break and so is my brain).  

 

The only disadvantage to Greek is the limited choice in curriculum. Not a problem when we started because EG is just awesome, but when we finished it, finding something to move on to was a problem. I think most people around here do Athenaze next. Athenaze is Attic or Homeric (not sure). Since our primary goal is to be able to read the NT in the original language, I decided a textbook that focused on Biblical Greek made more sense. I ended up choosing Primer of Biblical Greek by Clayton Croy, and to be honest, I'm struggling with it.(Ds is doing well with it, actually. Young brain...). It lacks the structure, bite sized lessons, flashcards, and audio that EG had. (What else did I expect from a college textbook?) I'd buy a new book for next year if I had a clue of what might work better. 

 

 

You should look at Basics of Biblical Greek by Bill Mounce. It's a college text but is designed so that people can teach themselves if they want to. It is Koine and uses the NT for much of its translation work from the very beginning (adapted for the beginner). He also has a workbook and video lectures available. You can get the book on Amazon and his website is at billmounce.com.

[bensonduck]

We did 2 years of Elementary Greek, then jumped to Athenaze. It is challenging- DD and I are learning together. The accentuation rules are really tripping us up. Not to mention - Latin has 5 noun declensions; Attic Greek has 49. Yikes. It is so rewarding though. DD absolutely loves Greek and the funny ongoing story in Athenaze makes things click. I can see her starting to really use the language more naturally through Athenaze.

 

The textkit forums are super helpful if you have questions. Lots of Greek scholars over there to help you figure out why your translation is not as good as the one in the book, or explaining some nuance that isn't fully clear. Textkit also maintains a library of free public domain Greek textbooks and readers. I have downloaded a few just to serve as a reference in case we get confused.

 

Also - Donald Mastronarde is a professor at UC Berkeley. He has an awesome college level text called Introduction to Attic Greek that i also use as a reference. (It is way too dry for my DD as a primary source but I can read the relevant sections if we get bogged down in something.). He also maintains an excellent website called atticgreek.org which has some nice online tutorials, declension and conjugation grids, vocab review, etc.

 

Enjoy. I never ever thought I would be learning Attic Greek with my daughter but now I can't imagine our homeschool without it.

[ikslo]

I still have my Athenaze books from high school, so I am planning on using those eventually. However, I was thinking about starting DS this year with Galore Park's Intro to Classical Greek. Anyone have any experience with their Greek materials?

[nixpix5]

My kids are Ds-12 and Dd-8. Started Ds in grade 3, which is what I think EG recommends. There are three levels, but we took almost four years to work through it (we stopped for several months when I thought I was going to have to enroll him in a private school, and we only did 4 days a week and the book is written for 5).

 

Started Dd this last year when she was 7. It took her about half the year to get through Code Cracker (unlike Ds who did it on his own over the summer). And we're only part of the way through SSG, so she'll be starting EG later. That's okay, because now I realize that the only options after EG are college level textbooks, so no point in being in a rush.

 

I don't know how old your kids are, but personally I would recommend EG even if they are older. I had no exposure to Greek whatsoever until I started it with Ds, and so I've been learning it right along with him. And even as an adult, I think I would have been overwhelmed with anything more advanced than EG. A more mature student could probably move through it quicker.

 

I agree that you should do what you love. Besides, you have experience with Greek and your kids will get a lot out of your own store of knowledge that they would miss out on with another language. It has taken me a very long time (and I'm still learning) to fully realize that homeschooling means you can do whatever you want, not what someone else thinks you should do!

This is great. Thank you. I think I will go ahead and use Code Crackers with them and song school after that and then move them into EG in 3rd (I have soon to be 1st and 2nd graders).

 

This just gets me all geeky and excited :) Thank you again!

[nixpix5]

We did 2 years of Elementary Greek, then jumped to Athenaze. It is challenging- DD and I are learning together. The accentuation rules are really tripping us up. Not to mention - Latin has 5 noun declensions; Attic Greek has 49. Yikes. It is so rewarding though. DD absolutely loves Greek and the funny ongoing story in Athenaze makes things click. I can see her starting to really use the language more naturally through Athenaze.

 

The textkit forums are super helpful if you have questions. Lots of Greek scholars over there to help you figure out why your translation is not as good as the one in the book, or explaining some nuance that isn't fully clear. Textkit also maintains a library of free public domain Greek textbooks and readers. I have downloaded a few just to serve as a reference in case we get confused.

 

Also - Donald Mastronarde is a professor at UC Berkeley. He has an awesome college level text called Introduction to Attic Greek that i also use as a reference. (It is way too dry for my DD as a primary source but I can read the relevant sections if we get bogged down in something.). He also maintains an excellent website called atticgreek.org which has some nice online tutorials, declension and conjugation grids, vocab review, etc.

 

Enjoy. I never ever thought I would be learning Attic Greek with my daughter but now I can't imagine our homeschool without it.

Haha! Yep...sooooo many endings. When I would study for my exams in college I used to make these photocopied sheets where I would just essentially do copy work by writing them over and over and over until they stuck. I used to have dreams about it. I was digging in the garage not too long ago and found some of those sheets and had PTSD flashbacks :) Good times!

 

So glad others find Greek as fun as I do!

Edited June 27, 2017 by nixpix5

[AlexaBarret]

I don`t teach Greek, I`m sure))) :laugh:

[Slache]

We're focusing on Greek, but going into 1st grade so not very helpful. He's doing Hey Andrew and I'm working my way through Greek 101 after some time with Mounce. My goal is reading comprehension.

[Ms.Ivy]

We are doing Greek! So far we have started out with Hey Andrew and a bit of Song School Greek, moved to Elementary Greek, and plan to go to Mounce after EG is finished up. We are learning a lot, even though we only do it for a total of an hour a week! Since I didn't know much about grammar, I found studying Latin first pretty helpful for getting into Greek.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

Based on these posts, I think we'll try Greek Alphabet Code Cracker this fall alongside our Latin studies and see where it leads ...

[ninishop]

We teach modern Greek.  Completely different from Ancient Greek.  I use the Papaloizos curriculum.  Easy to understand and they also have an option online with books, online only or just books.  Kids love it and are learning a lot. http://www.greek123.com/

[Hunter]

We did a lot of Koine pre-Y2K and in the early 2000's. A lot of what we used is OOP and getting harder to find.

 

I like Hey Andrew books 2-4.

 

If your library offers Mango language online and app, it has both Attic and Koine. Most capital city libraries offer a free card to all residents in the state, and access to all online and digital resources.

 

Euclid and some other math was written in Koine. This website is still up after all these years. https://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/nugreek/contents.htm#conts

 

Make sure to check out the bilingual Loeb classics. The green are Greek and the red are Latin. The English and classical language are on facing pages.

[nixpix5]

We did a lot of Koine pre-Y2K and in the early 2000's. A lot of what we used is OOP and getting harder to find.

 

I like Hey Andrew books 2-4.

 

If your library offers Mango language online and app, it has both Attic and Koine. Most capital city libraries offer a free card to all residents in the state, and access to all online and digital resources.

 

Euclid and some other math was written in Koine. This website is still up after all these years. https://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/nugreek/contents.htm#conts

 

Make sure to check out the bilingual Loeb classics. The green are Greek and the red are Latin. The English and classical language are on facing pages.

Hunter I want my capital city to offer me a card to access all of the wonderful resources in your brain ;) Seriously though...you always have all of these great resources I never knew about or wonderful alternatives to what I was thinking. This is great, thank you!

[Hunter]

Hunter I want my capital city to offer me a card to access all of the wonderful resources in your brain ;) Seriously though...you always have all of these great resources I never knew about or wonderful alternatives to what I was thinking. This is great, thank you!

I'm so sorry you are not in a state that the capital city offers cards to everyone. I need to get offline, but will try and think of some other things.

 

I have heard that Texas offers cards to everyone, but that getting to the capital city is impossible for a large number of residents due to the vast size of the state and lack of public transportation to the capital.

 

Is there any chance you have a computer old enough to use Ted Hildebrant's site.

 

https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/New_Testament_Greek/MNTG_Interactive/MNTG_TableOfContents.html

[Hunter]

I haven't been on this site for awhile and don't know what is still free and functioning.

 

https://www.inthebeginning.org/ntgreek/

 

I'll be back, later.

[Hunter]

Great Courses Greek 101 is still showing up for me in Hoopla. Sorry, for those that don't have a library subscription.

[Hunter]

I just downloaded a couple lectures of Greek 101. It is the same guy that does Latin 101. I love that guy! Seriously. He is such a total geek, but the cool and awesome type of geek that makes this horrid world seem...I don't know, just worth keeping around.

 

Im not interested in learning more Greek right now, but I might watch him just to amuse myself.

 

I checked out Udemy. The Latin and Hebrew courses I bought on sale from them were cheap and excellent, but in my search, not much came up for Ancient Greek.

[Hunter]

Louis Tyler is my favorite for audio of the Koine New Testament.

 

http://audiohebrewgreekbible.com/english

 

http://www.letsreadgreek.com/resources/greekntaudio.htm#tyler

 

The free Ephesians audios are here.

http://donpotter.net/greek_2/

Edited June 28, 2017 by Hunter

[Alexigail]

We are starting with a virtual classroom this year and they eventually require Greek. We're going to try Code Cracker so they can begin the MP EG with the class next year. I'm really grateful that we will have outside help with it. My background with languages is with Spanish and Russian so not much help!