Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 (edited) My son has a language-based learning disability. My goal for him with latin is to use it to meet his high school foreign language requirement. The earliest I will start him in latin is next year, 5th grade. Would it benefit him to start it at that age considering my goal or should I wait until 7th or even high school? He has a full load of schoolwork as it is, so the later the better, from that standpoint. I've been looking at different programs trying to weed through what would work best for him, but I'd love to hear suggestions from others. Thank you! Lisa ETA: Because of my son's LD's, grammar is a real weakness for him. So, do I use a grammar-based program hoping it will strengthen his English grammar or do I use a reading-based program? He is a strong reader. Edited November 2, 2009 by LisaTheresa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Bump :) I'd love to hear any thoughts even if you can't answer my question about special needs. Do some programs take a slower pace and offer more practice and review than others? Thank you! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Bump :) I'd love to hear any thoughts even if you can't answer my question about special needs. Do some programs take a slower pace and offer more practice and review than others? Thank you! Lisa Getting Started With Latin introduces one word or concept per day, and then you translate 10 sentences. Each day builds on the previous material, so there is that review built in. It might be a good starting point. I am intruigued with Great Latin Adventure, but I haven't used it. I'm thinking of getting it for my ds9 (he'd prefer Lively Latin, but I don't like to print things out and it's kind of expensive). My ds10 is doing Latin Prep this year. He's doing well with it and he is enjoying it. Given what you said, I would not use Latin for Children. It moves fairly quickly and there is not a lot of review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Latin's Not So Tough is very workbook-y, and it has a LOT of repetition. A better bet would be to start memorizing the declensions, conjugations, and some common vocabulary now. You could memorize a large portion of the material in two years in just a few minutes each day, and he would be very successful when you start in seventh grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Getting Started With Latin introduces one word or concept per day, and then you translate 10 sentences. Each day builds on the previous material, so there is that review built in. It might be a good starting point. I am intruigued with Great Latin Adventure, but I haven't used it. I'm thinking of getting it for my ds9 (he'd prefer Lively Latin, but I don't like to print things out and it's kind of expensive). My ds10 is doing Latin Prep this year. He's doing well with it and he is enjoying it. Given what you said, I would not use Latin for Children. It moves fairly quickly and there is not a lot of review. Thank you, Judomom! Would we begin with Getting Started with Latin and then move directly into Latiin Prep? I will have to take a look at Great Latin Adventure. I haven't heard of that one before. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Latin's Not So Tough is very workbook-y, and it has a LOT of repetition. A better bet would be to start memorizing the declensions, conjugations, and some common vocabulary now. You could memorize a large portion of the material in two years in just a few minutes each day, and he would be very successful when you start in seventh grade. Angela - Thank you! Are you saying that I would start him in LNST in 7th, but buy the program now and use the book to do some memorizing before 7th? What level with LNST take us through? I know nothing about latin about this point, so sorry if I'm being dense. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Angela - Thank you! Are you saying that I would start him in LNST in 7th, but buy the program now and use the book to do some memorizing before 7th? What level with LNST take us through? I know nothing about latin about this point, so sorry if I'm being dense. Lisa Sorry, I wasn't clear at all. :001_smile: I was giving two different options. One would be to use LNST for the next two years. If you did LNST 3-5 over two years, he would have an excellent foundation for junior high/ high school Latin. The other option would just be to do memory work for two years until you want to start in 7th. The start of any Latin program, no matter what age level, is memorizing certain information (the noun declension charts, the verb conjugation charts, some common vocabulary words.) That memorization is usually what trips students up. If you memorized all that ahead of time, he would be very successful in 7th grade when you put him into a Latin program. It would be an effective use of the two years, but without having to add a full Latin program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 I wonder if you would consider starting earlier and breaking one book into two years. I did that for our first two years of Latin b/c I wanted it to be enjoyable . . . I didn't want it to b/c overwhelming. We used LfC and made one chapter take two weeks instead of one and used it over the course of 2 yrs. For LfC B we used the 1 ch/wk format as written. I will agree with others who said that LfC may not have enough review for you. It works with us but you have to judge for yourself. There are sample pages on their website. I would also not recommend LL. We are pretty stong language and grammar people but I think it would be overwhelming if we weren't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 The other option would just be to do memory work for two years until you want to start in 7th. The start of any Latin program, no matter what age level, is memorizing certain information (the noun declension charts, the verb conjugation charts, some common vocabulary words.) That memorization is usually what trips students up. If you memorized all that ahead of time, he would be very successful in 7th grade when you put him into a Latin program. It would be an effective use of the two years, but without having to add a full Latin program. OOOoooh, I agree with that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Sorry, I wasn't clear at all. :001_smile: I was giving two different options. One would be to use LNST for the next two years. If you did LNST 3-5 over two years, he would have an excellent foundation for junior high/ high school Latin. The other option would just be to do memory work for two years until you want to start in 7th. The start of any Latin program, no matter what age level, is memorizing certain information (the noun declension charts, the verb conjugation charts, some common vocabulary words.) That memorization is usually what trips students up. If you memorized all that ahead of time, he would be very successful in 7th grade when you put him into a Latin program. It would be an effective use of the two years, but without having to add a full Latin program. Thank you, Angela! Now I understand. This is encouraging to me because he is actually very good at memorizing, so I don't think that part will be any problem for him at all. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yslek Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Getting Started With Latin introduces one word or concept per day, and then you translate 10 sentences. Each day builds on the previous material, so there is that review built in. It might be a good starting point. :iagree: This is what I was going to suggest as well. I started both B & T in LFC A last year, and it was just too much for B. I had him use GSWL instead, and he did very well with it...not overwhelming at all. One nice feature, is that whenever a new grammar concept is introduced, there is an entire lesson in English before the concept is introduced in Latin. Both boys are using Latin Prep I this year, and so far B is doing OK. (BTW, I don't think he has a disability, but he does struggle more with foreign language study than T does. I don't know whether he's at the "normal" end of things where this is concerned [and T is somewhat gifted] or whether he really does have some struggles [and T is at the normal end of things.] Foreign language study has always come fairly easily to me, so I'm not a good judge of what "normal" looks like in this arena. :)) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 I wonder if you would consider starting earlier and breaking one book into two years. I did that for our first two years of Latin b/c I wanted it to be enjoyable . . . I didn't want it to b/c overwhelming. We used LfC and made one chapter take two weeks instead of one and used it over the course of 2 yrs. For LfC B we used the 1 ch/wk format as written. I will agree with others who said that LfC may not have enough review for you. It works with us but you have to judge for yourself. There are sample pages on their website. I would also not recommend LL. We are pretty stong language and grammar people but I think it would be overwhelming if we weren't. I do want to take my time with this, but he is in 4th grade right now and our schedule is pretty full this year. Thank you for your comment about LL. I've been looking at that program a lot because it seems like it would be more enjoyable than some of the others, but maybe that wouldn't be for us. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 :iagree: This is what I was going to suggest as well. I started both B & T in LFC A last year, and it was just too much for B. I had him use GSWL instead, and he did very well with it...not overwhelming at all. One nice feature, is that whenever a new grammar concept is introduced, there is an entire lesson in English before the concept is introduced in Latin. Both boys are using Latin Prep I this year, and so far B is doing OK. (BTW, I don't think he has a disability, but he does struggle more with foreign language study than T does. I don't know whether he's at the "normal" end of things where this is concerned [and T is somewhat gifted] or whether he really does have some struggles [and T is at the normal end of things.] Foreign language study has always come fairly easily to me, so I'm not a good judge of what "normal" looks like in this arena. :)) Introducing the grammar concept in English would probably be helpful to him since grammar is such a weakness. I wish I could get my hands on all these programs and look at them before I had to make up my mind! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 So it looks like Getting Started with Latin or Latin's Not So Tough would be good options but Lively Latin may move too quickly. Any comments on Prima Latina or Latina Christiana? The dvd component of those has some appeal to me. Thank you! Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latinteach Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 You say he has a language-based learning disability, but you don't say what his learning style is. Does he learn best visually? Or is he an auditory learner? A reading-based program can strengthen his grammar if you choose to provide a special focus on the grammar. You might consider beginning with Minimus, making a special effort to ensure that he comes out of this course with an understanding of the different parts of speech in the English language. This is a stated goal of the "Minimus" course. "Minimus" is intended to teach students about the different parts of speech in their own language, while at the same time giving them a sampling of the Latin language. If you use "Minimus" with the goal of ensuring your son can recognize nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions in English, with a general idea of what they look like in Latin, you would do well. Then you could move into a more detailed course in either a grammar-based or reading-based program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yslek Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Introducing the grammar concept in English would probably be helpful to him since grammar is such a weakness. I wish I could get my hands on all these programs and look at them before I had to make up my mind! Lisa One nice thing about GSWL is that it is pretty inexpensive. The author has free audio files on his website to go with the lessons; B found these helpful, and was usually able to check his own work with using them. (See here: http://www.gettingstartedwithlatin.com/downloads.php) We did try Latin's Not So Tough before doing GSWL. B did quite well with the first couple of levels (learning the alphabet & memorizing simple vocabulary), but became completely lost in level 3. YMMV, of course. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verity Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 So it looks like Getting Started with Latin or Latin's Not So Tough would be good options but Lively Latin may move too quickly. Any comments on Prima Latina or Latina Christiana? The dvd component of those has some appeal to me. Thank you! Lisa I tried Prima Latina with my two older boys at the start of the year and I didn't like the way it was set up at all. We have successfully moved on to Latin for Children A for my 5th grader and Songschool Latin for my 2nd grader. The key for both is the chants (sing songy memorization, on the LfC they are kinda like marine corp marching chants - we really enjoy them!) and for the older son what I consider to be good quality DVD instruction for every week. We practice our chants every day M-F with the audio CD (one day a week or more going back and doing all the chants for all the chapters we have completed). The basic primer only has the lesson, a worksheet and a weekly quiz but we also use the activity book with crossword puzzles, mazes and other exercises as well as using the FlashDash Latin game for free at the ClassicalAcademicPress website. I was excited about using Prima Latina upfront, a family friend is well acquainted with the folks at Memoria, but was really offput by the strong dialectical accent on the audio CD and found the workbook very dry. There are alot of great programs out there - most websites have samples of the audio, workbook and more - take some time and really look at your options. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't work for your son most of these are easy to resale (that's how I got my LfC and I sold my PL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 Thanks again for all the replies. Looks like I have some homework to do. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted November 3, 2009 Author Share Posted November 3, 2009 You say he has a language-based learning disability, but you don't say what his learning style is. Does he learn best visually? Or is he an auditory learner? A reading-based program can strengthen his grammar if you choose to provide a special focus on the grammar. You might consider beginning with Minimus, making a special effort to ensure that he comes out of this course with an understanding of the different parts of speech in the English language. This is a stated goal of the "Minimus" course. "Minimus" is intended to teach students about the different parts of speech in their own language, while at the same time giving them a sampling of the Latin language. If you use "Minimus" with the goal of ensuring your son can recognize nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions in English, with a general idea of what they look like in Latin, you would do well. Then you could move into a more detailed course in either a grammar-based or reading-based program. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what his learning style is, but he loves listening to audiobooks and picks up lots of things very well that way. He is a good reader, but I don't think his comprehension is as good when he reads to himself versus when he listens,so maybe he is an auditory learner. Does that help? I will look at Minimus. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what his learning style is, but he loves listening to audiobooks and picks up lots of things very well that way. He is a good reader, but I don't think his comprehension is as good when he reads to himself versus when he listens,so maybe he is an auditory learner. Does that help? I will look at Minimus. Lisa Minimus has an audio CD you can buy. I own it but haven't used it yet. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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