Okay, I'll bite. Tell me about Latin Prep.

[Amy loves Bud]

My kids will have completed LC1 at the end of this school year. I think if you asked them, they would say that Latin is their favorite subject. They have both done very well with it, even Peyton who is only 7.

 

They like LC 1, so I had intended to move forward with LC 2, but I'm just wondering if the grass really is greener. Everyone seems to love Latin Prep so much. Will it move my kids from really liking Latin to being Latin Freaks?

 

So tell me - how is it different and what will we like about it that LC1 doesn't offer.

[Mama Lynx]

Heh heh heh. Join us ;-)

 

LC I is mainly vocabulary memorization, with some grammar memorized, and very little translation. I thought it was effective for the age I used it (too young to really conceptually deal with translation), but boring.

 

I have only glanced at LC II, so I don't know what it covers very well.

 

For a child at about the 5th grade level, who has some grammar under their belt, I think LP is much more interesting and comprehensive than LC. It's colorful, the exercises are more varied, and there's translation, of interesting passages, from the beginning.

 

But even though Peyton did well with LC I, I'd really hesitate to recommend Latin Prep based on her age. It moves fairly quickly on grammar. And, uh, I can't find our book right now, to give you an example. I think my son has left it up in his room, forgetting that we have ONE textbook and TWO students who use it, so it is supposed to be left in Mom's office only :glare:

 

I plan to use either Lively Latin or LC I with my two little ones, in a year or so. I have not yet decided which. Then, when they are closer to 5th grade level, I'll start them on Latin Prep. (My 4th grader is doing LP this year, but he loves languages and is advanced in this area. I had already taken him through LC I *and* LfC A. He's not at all far behind my 6th grader, who's been doing Latin for longer.)

 

How old is Luke? (Duh. I see that in your signature.)

[susie in tx]

I can't add anything to what Stephanie said, but I do own Latin Prep and could bring it to a local store common to us so that you might peruse it. ;)

[Mama Lynx]

I can't add anything to what Stephanie said, but I do own Latin Prep and could bring it to a local store common to us so that you might peruse it. ;)

 

Oh, stop that! :toetap05:

 

(there's no "pout" smiley)

[KIN]

For a child at about the 5th grade level, who has some grammar under their belt, I think LP is much more interesting and comprehensive than LC. It's colorful, the exercises are more varied, and there's translation, of interesting passages, from the beginning.

 

 

So, would you (or someone!) recommend continuing LCI and LCII until 5th grade and then making the switch? My ds will be doing LCI in 3rd next year and I'm wondering if he would be ready in 4th for Latin Prep or if he should go on to LCII first. Advice, anyone? Also, is Latin Prep a 1 year course and then you continue with what? Educate me please. :)

[Jenny in Atl]

LP is awesome... like Laura in China says about her son when he is translating from English to Latin, "It makes your (his) face scrunch up." Kinda like eating a lemon, but a very tasty one. We like it so much, I'm using it along with dd12. It's exercise for your brain!

 

:iagree:

[Mama Lynx]

So, would you (or someone!) recommend continuing LCI and LCII until 5th grade and then making the switch? My ds will be doing LCI in 3rd next year and I'm wondering if he would be ready in 4th for Latin Prep or if he should go on to LCII first. Advice, anyone? Also, is Latin Prep a 1 year course and then you continue with what? Educate me please. :)

 

I'd say it really depends on the child. For some kids, they will not be ready for LP in 4th grade, and would benefit from doing LCII first. Some kids will be ready to jump into LP.

 

I just checked their website, and Galore Park recommends LP 1 for years 5/6. I think that translates into grades 4/5 here. I was thinking that 4th grade was a little on the young side, but maybe not.

 

I think it is meant to be a 1 year course. It certainly could take a full year.

[Crissy]

So, would you (or someone!) recommend continuing LCI and LCII until 5th grade and then making the switch?

 

I don't want to contradict Stephanie, as I'm not a good judge of age/grade appropriateness, only of what works with my guys. However, we started using LPI at the beginning of my son's 3rd grade year, and it has been a great success.

 

It was nearly impossible to keep Hunter's interest with LCI, and I couldn't stomach the idea of the hours of boredom he would experience with LCII. So we switched.

Maybe the difference for him has to do with the fact that we are using the workbooks along with the text, stretching each lesson a bit.

It could also be the format of LP. He thinks the stories are hilarious, and loves the little comic-like drawings. He translates those paragraphs like a champ, and the grammar continues to be an easy grasp for him.

 

If/when we hit a difficult patch, I think LP could easily be used at a slower pace. I can see it being a bit more teacher intensive that way, but I think it would be worth the effort.

[Mama Lynx]

I don't want to contradict Stephanie, as I'm not a good judge of age/grade appropriateness, only of what works with my guys. However, we started using LPI at the beginning of my son's 3rd grade year, and it has been a great success.

 

It was nearly impossible to keep Hunter's interest with LCI, and I couldn't stomach the idea of the hours of boredom he would experience with LCII. So we switched.

Maybe the difference for him has to do with the fact that we are using the workbooks along with the text, stretching each lesson a bit.

It could also be the format of LP. He thinks the stories are hilarious, and loves the little comic-like drawings. He translates those paragraphs like a champ, and the grammar continues to be an easy grasp for him.

 

If/when we hit a difficult patch, I think LP could easily be used at a slower pace. I can see it being a bit more teacher intensive that way, but I think it would be worth the effort.

 

Well ... I started Latin Prep with Aidan when he was 9.5. It's been fine, we just take it a little slowly. He recently told me he felt it was moving a little fast for him, and asked to switch to Lingua Latina for awhile. I do think it was moving a little fast for him, but I could have just stretched it out a little more. He was doing very well.

 

So that's two 9 year olds who have done well with it. However, I don't know that my oldest would have done well in it, when he was 9.

[SS in MD]

Just wondering would Latin Prep 1 be appropriate for a child with no latin background? I'd like to start my 12 yo -7th grade next year, and 10 yo -5th next year in latin. If LP assuming previous latin knowledge anything else you all would recommend? Also, Laura in China said something about cases needing to be in US order? (hope I'm saying this right!) - Can someone explain that to me? Or post them somewhere? -

 

Thanks for your help!

[Cindyg]

I'll provide an example of grammar picking up pretty quickly: Chapter 2 covers transitive and intransitive verbs.

 

I used to teach in a post-high school vocational school, so those students would have been 18+ year-old high school graduates. And they had a heck of a time wrapping their brains around transitive and intransitive verbs. They certainly didn't remember learning them in the 4th grade. Of course, that's why we homeschool. :)

[Susan in SoCal]

Agreeing with Stephanie and Crissy. In my opinion, in general, 5th grade is a good readiness starting point. That said, some kiddos are definitely able to tackle LP at a younger age. It all just kinda depends. I know there's NO WAY my current 8yo will be remotely able to begin LP next year. So we're just slowly making our way thru Lively Latin.

 

My oldest son, however, easily could have tackled LP at 8 or 9yo. He's currently 11yo and is almost half way thru LP3. So, it all just kind of depends. I would think that a younger starting student would most probably need the additional exercises from the workbook, as well as a possibly slower pace.

 

SS in MD - yes a 12yo without any Latin could easily begin LP1. In fact, I think it's a terrific curriculum for that age. And yes to the 10yo also (tho, again, possibly at a slower pace than the 12yo). And yes, LP teaches the cases in a different order than the American (traditional) order. American order is:

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Ablative

(and tacking Vocative down at the bottom, or sometimes after Nominative)

[Pensguys]

We started LPI this year in 5th grade and my ds was close to 10.5 when we started it (around Sept or Oct whenever Ray placed that first order of books). I am using the workbooks to stretch things out. My ds amazes me at what he remembers and then sometimes I want to say "HOW long have we been doing this now and you STILL can't remember what X means?" He still freaks out when we have to translate the paragraphs so I started working WITH him. It makes it more tolerable for him. He loves to translate sentences into English but for some reason the paragraphs scare him. And he gets probably what I'd call a scrunchy face when we have to translate into Latin...although he does very well with translating both ways. This has NOT been easy for him/us, but I wouldn't say it is easy either. Some parts have been easier than others. It definitely has provided us with some brain exercise and he does like it better than the LC books we tried.

[Mama Lynx]

Just wondering would Latin Prep 1 be appropriate for a child with no latin background? I'd like to start my 12 yo -7th grade next year, and 10 yo -5th next year in latin. If LP assuming previous latin knowledge anything else you all would recommend? Also, Laura in China said something about cases needing to be in US order? (hope I'm saying this right!) - Can someone explain that to me? Or post them somewhere? -

 

Thanks for your help!

 

LP assumes no prior knowledge of Latin. It is appropriate for absolute beginners.

 

Case order is not a big deal. In Latin, nouns have six cases. You generally chant the cases, in order, to memorize them. U.S. texts use a different order than British texts, but the information you memorize them is the same. If you've never studied Latin before, then you'll just learn the British order with LP. Just be aware that if you pick up an American text book later on, the cases will be in a different order.

[susie in tx]

My 12 yo dd began LP1 this last year with no prior Latin knowledge. She had a little over a year of modern Hebrew under her belt, though. We take it very slowly, but she seems to catch on quickly.

 

My almost 10 yo could probably pick it up and run with it as well, but I am going to keep her in Hebrew for another year before we add in Latin, if we add in Latin. Both of these children seem to pick up languages quite quickly.

[Nikita]

My 13yo tends to get paralyzed when he sees a long stretch of work ahead of him, in any subject. This was happening with the paragraph translations in LP so I have started setting them up as worksheets - just create a word doc that has them sentence by sentence, with space for translating each sentence directly after. He's doing so much better with them this way.

 

Nikita

[SS in MD]

Thank you all for the posts! I think I'll go ahead and try LP 1 with both dc. Can someone give me Rays website? Also, I'm assuming I buy the texts & workbooks? The later LP 2 & 3 don't have workbooks do they?

 

One more thing, can someone kindly tell me how they schedule LP weekly?? (how many days a week and for how long?) - This would be a great help!!

 

Do you all plan to use LP thru' LP3? or switch to something else? Just wanted to know if anyone had long range plans! thanks!

[Cindyg]

Schedule: We just do the next thing. There are about 15 exercises in each chapter. My intent is to do one exercise a day (plus whatever reading leads up to the exercise). But some of the exercises are super easy, so we keep going. And some of the exercises are multi-part, so we stretch that over more than one day.

 

Then at the end of each chapter, there's a memory list. We spend a day or two here working with flashcards.

 

Then there is the workbook. If you buy that, there are more review exercises relating to the chapter. You could add many more days here (if you're trying to slow the pace down); or just go on w/o doing them.

 

The whole books is 10 chapters.

 

You'll want to buy the student text and the answer key for LP1. Then if you want, the workbook and the answer key. (I'd say this is optional.) There is soon going to be a pronunciation CD available; but it's not available yet.

 

Ray's website is: http://www.horriblebooks.com/galoreparkbooklist.htm

[SS in MD]

CindyG,

Thanks so much, this give me a good idea of the books layout. Any idea if the CD will be out in this summer (then I'll wait to place an order till late summer). Thanks again!

[Cindyg]

The pronunciation CD was recorded on March 13. Then it has to be fluffed up, polished up, boxed up, etc. I have no idea how long that will take. I truly hope it's available before we finish LP1. And I hope they get working on the one for LP2 and 3.

 

There's a Galore Park Yahoo group where the Galore Park guy, Nick, tantalizes us with such secrets.

[Amy loves Bud]

I left this post to go watch the last disc of the last season of 24 with Bud, and forgot to come back!

 

Anyway, this has been tremendously helpful.

 

Luke will be 10, starting 5th grade, and Peyton with be 8, starting 3rd grade when we start the next program. I really want to keep them together. I think that is part of the fun of Latin for them.

 

If I make the change from LC, I'd really have to keep them together. Peyton is a very good student across the board, better than Luke was at her age, but it seems like a bit of a jump. I'll have to think a while on it.

 

Any other suggestions would be welcome!

[Amy loves Bud]

I can't add anything to what Stephanie said, but I do own Latin Prep and could bring it to a local store common to us so that you might peruse it. ;)

 

I will PM you to see what might work. Also, I will be going to Arlington in May with my friend who is considering HSing. Will you be there?

 

Thanks for making such a generous offer!

[Amy loves Bud]

Oh, stop that! :toetap05:

 

(there's no "pout" smiley)

 

Well, you could always take a road trip. :auto: We can wait till you get here!

[susie in tx]

I will PM you to see what might work. Also, I will be going to Arlington in May with my friend who is considering HSing. Will you be there?

 

 

 

It's likely, though I'm not sure at this point. I really don't need any curriculum. But I love to fondle all the stuff at the bookfair.