Latin Suggestions for 9th Grader

[countrykiddos]

No one at our house has any experience with Latin, so I need something very user friendly for my 9th grader. This will be her first time learning Latin.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Kim

[Faithr]

I think it is very hard to teach yourself Latin along with your 9th grader. And I think if you are going to do at home program, it will be necessary at the high school level for you to know at least some Latin. I tried it using Henle and we crashed and burned quickly. I would advise signing them up for an online Latin program (maybe sign yourself up too). Luckily we have a Latin teacher 20 minutes from us who has been teaching it for 20 years so it is great. I have not tried any on line programs but many on this board have and you could get recommendations from them.

 

Now my advice probably wouldn't apply if you student is a self-started who is motivated to teach themselves.

[jibaker103]

I think it is very hard to teach yourself Latin along with your 9th grader. And I think if you are going to do at home program, it will be necessary at the high school level for you to know at least some Latin. I tried it using Henle and we crashed and burned quickly. I would advise signing them up for an online Latin program (maybe sign yourself up too). Luckily we have a Latin teacher 20 minutes from us who has been teaching it for 20 years so it is great. I have not tried any on line programs but many on this board have and you could get recommendations from them.

 

Now my advice probably wouldn't apply if you student is a self-started who is motivated to teach themselves.

What can be used if you can't afford an online course?

[Mothersweets]

I have been doing a little researching on Latin for my kids (I have a 14yo, too) and I decided to start out with this.

 

I have zero experience with Latin and I wanted to get a few basics down in as painless a way as possible. I saw this on Amazon and thought I would try it. It just arrived today so I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I think if this program works for us, then I will go on with something like Latina Christiana as I should be able to use their different levels with all of my kids.

 

I would suggest doing a search here or on the K-8th board - there are many ladies on there with Latin experience! hth

[Laura Corin]

I would suggest Latin Prep. It's very clearly explained and has lots of practice at translation - English to Latin as well as Latin to English. I learned alongside my boys using it. It's designed for middle school, so you would probably want to go faster. Perhaps you might do the following:

 

9th Grade: LP1 and half of LP2

10th Grade: second half of LP2 and LP3

 

Then in 11th grade you could review your Latin by doing the same company's So You Really Want to Learn Latin III, as well as starting on reading original texts.

 

There are samples on the Galore Park site. Don't be deceived by the jokey tone - this is serious language study. You can get the texts from horriblebooks.com in the States (you sometimes need to wait for Ray to get another batch in) or with free postage from bookdepository.co.uk

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[In The Great White North]

How self-motivated is your student? I hand-held ds through Unit 7 of Henle (over 9th and 10th grade) It was painful, not because I had never had Latin but because he didn't want to. Dd is going through the same Henle book totally on her own and is already past where her brother ended. She has only asked me a question once or twice all year. Henle does explain everything, provide enough practice, tell you what to memorize, etc - he just didn't try at all to make it fun.

 

In hindsight, I should have used something computer based with him. Cambridge Latin is more entertaining and has a fun, interactive website (which used to be free but is now $10 a year. Still cheap.)

 

http://www.cambridgescp.com/main_entrance.php

 

Dd didn't want fun; she wanted to get it over with, so we stuck with Henle.

[Faithr]

I think also it has to do with one's goals. Is Latin going to be the foreign language of choice in high school? If the student isn't motivated than you can spend a lot of painful time not earning enough credits to count as their foreign language requirement. My goal has been that everybody in our family have a good solid exposure to Latin. To me that meant at least the equivalent of one year of high school Latin. My oldest took an outside class in 6th, 7th and 8th. But she really didn't want to continue in Latin. So she wound up taking CC classes in Spanish in her 12th grade.

 

To answer the question about not being able to afford an on line class, I see three approaches:

 

1. Have a self-starter/motivated student who finds a text they feel they can use. They are working towards using this study for foreign language credits of either 3 or 4 years.

 

2. Go at a more casual rate to get a year's worth of Latin in so you can feel somewhat classical in your school and learn all those word roots and grammar to the benefit of the student (helps with the SAT, etc) but then let the high schooler choose another language they are more interested in for their credits.

 

3. Drop Latin altogether.

 

I tried to be one step ahead of my now 17 year old via Henle and it nearly killed us! Then I tried Artes Latinae with him but he was so unmotivated and he still is. Then we got an opportunity to take a homeschool Latin class. My oldest is just taking the class so he can earn his credits and that's it! He has zero interest in learning Latin. My 14 yo actually enjoys Latin so I think I finally have a Latinist on my hands and I am actually learning it too.

[Grace]

I am planning on using Latin Alive! from Classic Academic Press.

 

http://classicalacademicpress.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

 

There is suppose to be a total of 3 levels, which I understand can be used as 2 HS Latin credits.

 

I haven't used it yet but it may be another option for you to research.

 

HTH

[Chris in VA]

We tried Henle and got about one semester done before we crashed and burned. I just couldn't keep up--didn't want to, actually.

 

 

Mine has trouble with foreign languages, almost like a learning disability. If I could do it again, I'd either pay for a course that moved at an individual pace, or do something extremely gentle and not on a high school level, like Latin for Children or Latina Christiana I and II for the first year. Then I'd move to something on the high school level. I might have tried the Latin Road to English Grammar, too.

 

My other son is taking Latin at public school. They are using Ecce Romani Latin (I think that's what it's called) and he is very good at it.

[countrykiddos]

Thank you for all of the insight and recommendations. I hadn't planned for Latin, but dd wants to possibly pursue a career in medicine and I'd like her to at least have some background of the language under her belt before college.

Kim

[Margo out of lurking]

Oh my goodness, without hesitation I would recommend Getting Started With Latin. (I'm running out the door, just google that phrase.) I'm Latin-challenged; this curriculum was recommended to me by a friend who's directed a local Classical Conversations group for several years. This was a perfect fit for my dd this year; it's 1/3 to 1/2 high school credit, and she'll be moving into something else in the next few weeks.

 

Check out the GSWL website in the meantime...

[Carmen_and_Company]

Thank you for all of the insight and recommendations. I hadn't planned for Latin, but dd wants to possibly pursue a career in medicine and I'd like her to at least have some background of the language under her belt before college.

Kim

 

I think a Latin & Greek roots program would better serve your dd for science purposes, as she can focus on the roots/stems vs. learning a whole language only to obtain a specific vocabulary.

 

Here are a few programs to look into:

 

Vocabulary Vine

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/latinlifesci.htm'>http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/latinlifesci.htm

 

Vocabulary from Classical Roots

http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1263786392-992091&subject=8&category=1964

 

English From the Roots Up

http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1263786392-992091&subject=8&category=6188

 

Word Roots

http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1263786392-992091&subject=8&category=1958

 

Science Roots

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/latinlifesci.htm