I've been collecting links to free texts. I've been so happy to find some really great free readers! These are the ones we're dipping into, trying to figure out what works best for us. No verdict yet but we one of our favorites so far is Julia. These are all easy enough for a student 20 pages into D'Ooge (like my ds and I) to get into, in our experience. A New Latin Primer Julia - A Latin Reading Book Lingua Latina Cornelia Carolus et Maria D’Ooge, Colloquia Latina <-- check it out...D'Ooge has his own reader. Ludus Latinus

Thank you to everyone! My biggest worry was that Lingua Latina would be too difficult. I know it's easy in the beginning, but I didn't know how quickly it became difficult. I think we'll go with that. I found this page, which seems great! http://hiberna-cr.wikidot.com/reading-material Does anyone have any experience using these texts? Level 1: Absolute beginners Cornelia (Mima Maxey, 1933): this book provides a continuous text beginning at the easiest level possible but advancing as the story unfolds. Of all the listed texts, this one is the easiest. <momentarily offline> Carolus et Maria (Marjorie J. Fay, 1933): this book starts at the easiest level possible and provides a continuous story. <momentarily offline> Julia - A Latin Reading Book (Maud Reed, 1941): For absolute beginners as well, difficulty level increases continually, with a few passages from Latin poets interspersed, however (can be safely ignored). Narrationes Faciles de Historia Romanorum: a large selection of easy texts concerning Roman history (or legend) compiled by John P. Piazza. Scroll to Latin history narratives. Narrationes Faciles de Mythologia Romana Graecaque: a selection of easy texts concerning Roman and Greek mythology compiled by John P. Piazza. Scroll to Latin mythology narratives. Colloquia Latina (Benjamin D'Ooge, 1888): a series of dialogues for beginners.

I've been bravely teaching my ds and myself Latin for the last couple of years, beginning in elementary grades with very easy resources. Now we've started in on a free Latin course, D'Ooge's Latin for Beginners. In case you don't know it (and why would you, I certainly didn't a couple months ago), it's a traditional out-of-print junior high to high school text, not as challenging as Wheelock, but possibly more challenging than the Oxford and Cambridge courses. Everybody says to "do readings!" too, and we're far along enough in D'Ooge to start, but I don't know what's best. I found some super-easy starter readings, but I'm wonder if anyone can recommend anything in particular? What do you think of combining a basic grammar-translation method with "Lingua Latina"? Hope this makes sense...tx

I thought I would post an update. Thank you all so so so much for your advice. We have stuck with Saxon. I don't think Saxon is the problem. Yes, it can be dry, but it is also a very thorough math sequence and has more practice than we could possibly need. First, I took your advice and sat down with my ds to do the work. This sped things up quite a bit (of course!). But we were still taking two hours, even working together. So I talked things over with a homeschooling friend and now I'm convinced that all we really need to do is cut out the extra problems that cover stuff that ds has mastered. If I'm sitting next to him and I know which problems he understands very well, it is easy to say, "Just skip that one." So, we do! With these time-saving points, we're down to 90 minutes. And even though he hasn't gotten as much practice as he did between tests, his test scores are still fine. His test scores have been 90%, 100%, and 85% even when we've been doing fewer problems. We're probably still doing too many problems...probably 2/3 of the problems, although "officially" I'm aiming to do only half. So we'll be stricter about skipping the ones I've said we'll skip. That will speed us up. Also, I've been having him write down many of the answers, which really isn't necessary, since so many of the problems can be done mentally. So I'm going to have him stop writing down answers that he works out in his head. Finally, today I decided...we just won't go over an hour. If necessary, we'll cut down the number we do even more. I'll watch the clock and if we're coming up against the deadline we'll just skip more. I feel like we're really going to solve this problem. Love it when that happens!

All - This is a great community. I love all the ideas and advice. I guess we're trying to transition him to something more like the Robinson Curriculum. I didn't even know about it until a few days ago, but that's more or less what we've been trying to do. I can be in the same room, making sure he stays more or less on task and answering questions, but I'm afraid I do have work to do online even while homeschooling...so actually working with him all the time he's studying is out. I can probably take an hour out and watch him carefully while he does math. But the rest of the time, when he's writing and reading, I can't afford to take the time. It's just how it has to be...I wish it weren't... It works out all right most of the time. Math is the big problem. I guess I'll try a few days where I help him all the time with math...as I think many of you are saying to do... Thanks everyone

This is a great idea! We're going to try it. Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.

Hello homeschooling veterans! I need tricks to help my ds7 focus when I'm not breathing down his neck. If I sit next to him and look at what he's doing, even if I'm not saying much, he goes pretty quickly, usually. For example, I just sat next to him, watching his work, and he did 10 Saxon math problems in 12 minutes, which is good for him. Then I went to the other side of the table and got back to some work on the laptop. He did the next 10 problems in 24 minutes! And this is typical. It's even worse in Latin (we're doing Getting Started with Latin), where he can do a 10-problem set of exercises in 10-15 minutes, but he stretches it out to 30 minutes if I am not looking closely at his work and pushing him. Have you ever got a child who was constantly distracting himself, fidgeting, etc. to work more consistently? How??? Is there something you can tell a child like this? Anything you can do? I'm already timing him and giving him many 1-3 minute breaks, but that doesn't help much. I tried racing Latin problems with him yesterday and today. Racing helped yesterday, but today I got too far ahead of him and he lost interest in the race...

I really appreciate all the advice, but...well, not that I necessarily expected consistency, but I'm getting conflicting advice and it's hard to know who is right. Let me try to summarize the different solutions people have given (and did I mention that I appreciate all of this??): Don't do all the problems; do only the ones ds needs to do. (Does this work over the long haul? Has anyone tried it for years and still gotten good scores on the exams? I want a permanent solution.) Sit down with ds and work every problem. Maybe on a whiteboard or orally for some of them. With direction from me, he should be able to get through the lesson much more quickly. Work at half speed, split up lessons into two sections. Or otherwise "work sideways"... Set a timer and let him do as many problems as he can, don't have him work longer than that. Change the curriculum, because Saxon might be a bad fit for an accelerated student but some disagree with this. BA, Singapore, MM Racing for candy :laugh: Use a "Robinson schedule"...sorry I don't know what this means. I found this http://www.robinsoncurriculum.com/ but nothing about a schedule? Consider that he might have visual-motor difficulties. :confused1: Also, just to put everybody's minds at ease, I rarely make him do 2-3 hours of math in one day. I'm just saying that's how long it takes him all together to get through a lesson.

Thanks sooooo much to everyone. It's nice to know my ds isn't the only one struggling to stay focused. We haven't tried out Beast Academy but we'll look into it. Saxon still appeals to me intellectually, but it is such a grind. We'll also seriously consider halving the workload...but, actually, that's sort of the pace that we've been working at. Doesn't it get easier after a year or two?? Are there kids who start out taking a long time to get through the lessons and then later on find they can get through them in an hour? Somebody elsewhere suggested something that I found very interesting, although it sounds like a lot of work. Break the lesson into parts, and time each part. For example, time how long it takes to get through Facts Practice, Mental Math, Reading, etc. Then record the times in a spreadsheet and (I don't know how to do this, but I guess I could learn) make a progress graph. He says this would help my ds "self-monitor." If I try it and it works, I'll let you know, but my hopes aren't high..... I do like the idea of racing, but at this stage I'll always beat him and he knows it. :laugh:

He's 7. He hasn't skipped anything, he just started early and went through 1st & 2nd grade stuff relatively quickly. Then started slowing down a lot with 3rd & 4th grade math.

Thank you so much, regentrude. I didn't want to stop him from doing all the problems because of advice from homeschoolwithsaxon.com. I like the idea of complete mastery and he's definitely understanding math better than ever. But yeah...maybe he's bored... :sad: I think maybe we will try it your way...

Help! My ds started Saxon 5/4 this past year but is having a hard time finishing. It's taking him 2 hours, up to 3 hours (!!), per day to go through the whole lesson. It's no mystery why it takes him so long. It's not usually because he doesn't understand how to do the problems, because he usually does. The problem is that if I give him half a chance, he just stops working. I sometimes walk out of the room, just as he's starting a problem, and I come back in 10 minutes, and he's still working on the same problem. He gets up and wanders off, or just stares into space. He gets Bs and As on the exams, which I understand is pretty good for Saxon, and when I look over his shoulder it's clear he knows how to do the problems, usually. I'm not making it easy on him...per the Saxon instructions we're having him do all the problems, all the mental math, etc. He's working above his grade level...so it might be just immaturity. He doesn't even dislike math. Sometimes he says he likes it! I've really tried everything and I'm at my wit's end here. I don't think it's just Saxon, either. Let me explain: We switched back to our old system earlier this year. It was still like pulling teeth to get him to work on math. And he has the same sort of problem with some other activities we do. So I don't think it's just Saxon. If I have him write down the time that he starts each problem above the problem, then he sometimes finishes a little faster, like in 90 minutes. If I sit down next to him, looking over his shoulder, and nag him relentlessly whenever he seems to be pausing, then he can finish pretty quickly. But who wants to do that? I've split it up into two math periods. It doesn't matter. If we do 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon, then he's about a third of the way through the whole chapter. I've used rewards and punishments...no dice. He can finish chapters in 60-90 minutes. He just doesn't... Maybe he's ADD, but I really really don't want to get him tested because I really don't want him to get put on drugs. No way! Help!

I am a pretty new homeschooler who made an account just to join in this fascinating thread! I love that there is a place where people really care about questions like this! I'm with those who say it's all about understanding the heritage of Western culture, or the "Great Conversation." Grammar, vocabulary, critical thinking/brain building, fun/challenge—these are all good points, but they can also be said about other languages as well. But these points do apply especially to Latin (except maybe the "fun" part? That's subjective). But the classical argument for classical education, as I understand it, is one that other languages can't claim. Latin and Greek are uniquely important (says stuff I have read, these aren't my thoughts) because understanding these languages, and reading texts in these languages, provide the keys to intimate familiarity with the concepts, concerns, values, and basic assumptions of the Romans and Greeks. This was all one culture, because the Romans deliberately followed the Greeks in many aspects of their culture. And European and American culture, Western culture generally, are still very much based on this Latin culture. To understand Latin and Greek language and classics is to understand the roots of our culture. It is to understand more deeply why we think as we do. This both helps us understand ourselves and also helps us understand all the references people make to mythology and history etc., and use they make of philosophical, legal, etc. concepts. The other classical argument for classical education (again, I'm just reporting, these aren't my thoughts, I barely know either language) is a judgment about Greek and Latin culture, namely, that it's particularly worth studying. The Greco-Roman culture gave us devotion to reason, tolerance, individual liberty, tools for a theoretical understanding of God, and much more, and originated so many things, like philosophy, theology, history, drama, etc. The concepts and practices that we associate with civilization itself largely came from Greece and Latin. The ideas and the classics themselves are so beautiful and worthwhile (so they say...I sort of agree) that one is edified by a deep acquaintance with them. I don't know about studying Latin when younger. I think it's OK to wait until the traditional age of starting (later elementary, I think). My 7-year-old is learning Latin from Getting Started with Latin, which isn't too hard, but I worry about whether he'll be ready for his first serious Latin text after that. (I'm looking at free public domain textbooks written for school children and having a very hard time coming to grips with what's out there and what's best.) I had a hard time with other foreign languages and had a year of Greek in college and that was pretty hard. So I really really doubt Latin and Greek are "easy" and in fact one argument I've come across recently is that they teach discipline just because they are so hard and require discipline to master. So I and my 7-year-old will play it by ear, and I'll give my 3-year-old a few years before we start conjugating "amo." :huh: :lol: