I'm sitting outside waiting :)

My two daughters are doing it for the first time this year. They've done sample questions.

My two cents: I'd encourage you to start with Elementary Greek. We are partway through Book 3 with my 9 and 11 year olds. We will have taken about 2 years to go through the whole program. The program is very well done and easy to manage with elementary age kids. It offers a lot more than most elementary age language programs. My goal has always been Attic Greek, but there is really nothing appropriate for the younger kids. Elementary Greek is extremely user friendly and the workbook format is great for the younger kids. It is mostly basic grammar and vocabulary. I have looked at several Attic Greek programs, and so far, I have not found anything that will be different when we switch. I'm assuming the differences would emerge as one got further into Koine Greek. So no, you wouldn't be wasting time by doing this first. I think we will end up with a nice solid base from which to go forward. I'm hoping to move into Athenaze next. I have the Galore Park book also. I think it would be a good intro for an older kid. It moves faster; it's not a workbook; the declensions are in the British order (which always makes my head explode!). If we have to, we will go through that first before Athenaze. Just watch out for errors in the Elementary Greek books. Hope that helps.

:grouphug:

Where is the jealous smilie?? I absolutely love this piece. I discovered it last year and listened to it obsessively for something like 3 months. I'll never ever be able to play it, but I bought the music anyway as a kind of talisman....does that make me a weirdo or what. (my favorite rendition is Artur Rubinstein's on YouTube. Unbelievable)

My girls are 8 and 10. They have lessons twice a week. Last year was an hour each both times. This year one day is bumped up to 75 mins each plus 30 mins for duets. They practice anywhere from 30 mins to 1.5 hours per day, not including the lesson days. I remind them to practice, but I don't force them. I have never sat in on their lessons or practices. We started the twice a week lessons last year and I must say we saw a huge difference in the quality of their play and their progress. They really love it and the increase in the lesson time was a mutual agreement. I don't foresee a musical career for either of them, just a lifelong love for a wonderful hobby. In my completely inexpert opinion, the ones who have a musical career ahead of them are already practicing multiple hours a day at 9. Oh, my daughters also love ballet. My older daughter puts in 6.5 hours a week normally, and 10.5 hours now during nutcracker lead up. My younger daughter does 4.5 and 6.5. Plus two hours a week of tennis...it's a lot and hard to keep up, but I figure at this age, because we are homeschooling, we have the luxury of time. So I'm going to go with it until it becomes competely unsustainable or I lose my mind :D

This is really interesting. I didn't realize SYRWTLL is not thorough. Is there a specific aspect that isn't enough, such as vocab, grammar, or amount of translation work, or is it an overall thing? I will be sticking with it for at least the next two years, because it's a good fit or my student, but would like to know the ramifications. My tentative plan was to have her go through Wheelocks after SYRWTLL. Thanks!

This is big for me as well.

Enjoyed the article. Thanks for posting. Somehow missed the poison :D

I took Latin through the AP level, plus one random semester in college. It was far and away my favorite subject. I think long term, it was the one I got the most out of. Things like vocabulary for sure, but also attention to detail, writing skills, logical and orderly thinking, and focus (can't say I've totally retained those skills...). And learning another language, even if it's not a Romance language, is so much easier after Latin. One of the things I like about it, is that you get out what you put in. You cannot coast. There are no shortcuts. You cannot bluff your way through it. The only advantage you can gain is if you are quick to memorize. So for an accelerated kid, it's a perfect subject. I don't like elementary programs for language in general. We tried Lively Latin in 3rd, and it was too all over the place for us. We tried Getting Started With Latin last year in 4th and it was too slow. Starting mid way through 4th, and into this year, we are using So You Really Want to Learn Latin. It is extremely straightforward, no fluff at all, with a heavy focus on grammar. The lessons and exercises are short and sweet, and it is easy to go at our own pace and not get overwhelmed. I would like my kids to go farther than I did. I think I just got a good introduction. In my ideal world, we will finish the basic grammar/syntax before high school so we can spend high school reading original texts. I also want to do Greek. :D

Climbing Parnassus, by Tracy Simmons Outliers, by Malcom Gladwell Mindset, by Carol Dweck Well Trained Mind Nurture Shock, by PO Bronson How Children Learn and How Children Fail by John Holt The Meaning of a Liberal Education, by Dean Everett Martin

Oh my goodness are they long! I find myself dreading them. But, we have been sticking them out, and she has definitely gotten better at it. I don't stick to the three times rule at all. I read it once and we talk about what it is about so I know she has the general gist of it. I read it a second time and she takes a stab at it. Then I read it as many more times as is necessary. She has never gotten it after three, but she has gotten it after four a couple of times. After a certain amount of times, I will give her one word corrections here and there to get her the last percent of the way there. She has definitely improved, and her attitude and confidence has also. I think it's worth it. Your mileage may vary!

Ok, this is totally off topic, but I've been wondering why you switched from BfSU to CPO? I could have sworn you posted something about BFSU2 being the bomb and then all of a sudden you weren't doing it any more. Just curious....as someone who is still doing BFSU verrrrry slooooowly.

Hmm. No, I remember that too, but I think it was text, not video. Maybe a post on one of her blogs or an article on the main website.

I agree 100% with wapiti :001_smile:

I'm reviving my rusty Latin by going through Wheelocks. Just finishing up the Greek Code Cracker to learn the alphabet and trying to work up the courage to dive into Greek. Plodding though biographies of George Washington and Alexander the Great. Reading and loving The Meaning of a Liberal Education by Dean Everett Martin (was flailing around for something after being inspired by Climbing Parnassus). I started taking piano lessons again last year and that's been amazing soul food. I wish I were more disciplined about carving out enough time to work more consistently on these. Also waiting to add in literature and history readings. would love to work through AoPS but can't figure out how to get the time to do it. Trying to stay ahead of my dd in Conceptual Physics. Love this thread!

I miss her too.

Art of Problem Solving

Hmmm. A bit off the topic here, and probably a bit random and incoherent. I am doing Latin with my oldest now, and planning to start Greek next year. I've always loved Latin; it was my absolute favorite subject in high school (I did the Aeneid too, but in 11th!) and I've always regretted not doing more than one semester in college (my major required a minor in a modern language). So Latin was never in doubt. I've always been somewhat fascinated and interested by Greek, but wasn't sure if we would incorporate it. I didn't find LCC particularly compelling - I actually couldn't even make it through. I read Climbing Parnassus this past spring and it really changed my outlook. I do think, for my kids, studying Greek and Latin will be of enormous benefit. Simply the training and discipline involved, without even considering the other benefits, really appeal to me. We are heavily focused on math; science is important too, but not quite as much as math. We will go lighter on history to compensate. History is more of a straight overview here - no frills (no activities, no historical novels unless they are classics). Literature is for now still just reading wonderful books, mostly on their own time. So, focus on Latin, Greek, math, science, writing. It seems doable to me. We will see. I'm definitely sensitive to time constraints. We are pretty heavy on extracurriculars here, so five hours per day is the absolute max for now. I also believe that starting Latin and Greek later means you can go faster. I start Latin in 4th, and will start Greek in 6th. By that point, grammar and spelling take up very little time. We don't do separate vocab. I've really reprioritized and I feel pretty happy with my current plan. Of course you never know how it will pan out in reality. I guess my conclusion, if it's possible for such a mess to have a conclusion, is that I really love TWTM, and it was at the heart of my decision to homeschool, but I've realized I don't want to be history focused. I want to be math and classics focused. And of course, I feel even more out in the wilderness than I did when I decided to homeschool! :D Curious to hear the thoughts of others.

Mine is currently reading and loving Eight Cousins, by Louisa May Alcott.

How about taking a break and spending a little time with Lingua Latina? Not as a substitute curriculum, but just to build some confidence and excitement? Look, I can translate effortlessly! :)

For our first two chapters of Prealgebra, we basically went through it all together. I started to "detach" in chapter three. It takes a while to understand that it's ok to try a problem you haven't been taught how to do. I'm really bad at analogies, but it's like you are traveling and have reached a river. With old math, they would say, here's the river, and there is the boat you use to cross it. With AoPS, they would say, here's the river, and you have to figure out how to cross it. And so, you think about it for a while, try a few things, and end up with a boat of your own. It may not look anything like the other person's boat, but it gets you across. It was super hard to do, but hey, now you know that you CAN make your own boat, and next time, it will be easier. And maybe your boat will be more elegant next time. The transition period is when you are helping the other person to build a boat, since they've never done it before. Ok, so I got a little carried away... :D In my boat.

It does seem like a lot! For many subjects, you are using multiple curricula. How about for writing, just use WWE and drop IEW? (for WWE, he isn't supposed to remember how to spell words. You are supposed to spell them for him as needed) For grammar, since you are enjoying intermediate language lessons, why not just do that and drop FLL and MCT? For math, maybe 4 programs is too many? For science, just pick one? Then, after you've simplified, see how it goes. You can always add things back in if you find you hit a groove and have extra time. Just my thoughts - hope it helps!

If it's working and they are happy, I wouldn't worry. Just stick with what you have. You may want to look at Art of Problem Solving for your older to maybe switch starting with their PreAlgebra. For your younger, maybe you could add their Beast Academy as a supplement. But really, if it's not broken... (we used Singapore math, which I found really easy to compact/accelerate. I have never used Saxon)

I'm using Beast with my dd8. She's just finishing up SM6A. The way we use it is for a break. She'll take a week and just wallow in Beast. Then we go back to Singapore. I feel it's been very worthwhile, not least because she wants to do it totally independently. I think she is only about halfway through B. but we have been off for the summer and just started back up this week. (and we took a detour with Greek Code Cracker today - fun!)