ancient greek?

[st_claire]

Anyone do it for k-8? If so, what do you use?

 

Thanks :)

[DawnUK]

My two older children (10 & 11) will be starting Greek next year using Elementary Greek. I have the first two years of the program, and it looks great. We did the first several lessons last year, but had to drop it in order to keep up with Latin and the other subjects during an overseas move with two little guys in tow! I think that several others here use it, maybe they can answer any specific questions that you have.

 

--Dawn

[st_claire]

My two older children (10 & 11) will be starting Greek next year using Elementary Greek.

 

Who's the author? I googled "Elementary Greek" and found a few different things. But all the ones I found were for Koine greek. I'm looking for something for classical/ancient greek.

[Tutor]

I hope you don't mind, S. Claire. :001_smile:

 

If you teach Greek in elementary school, do you teach Koine or Attic Greek?

 

My dh would like to teach the kids Attic Greek, but all we can find for elementary school ages is Koine. Anyone know where we can find Attic Greek resources for this age? Thanks.

 

ETA: I somehow missed your follow-up question. Sorry for repeating.

[mcconnellboys]

I haven't used it (yet) but the company who writes Latin for Children is coming out with a Greek for Children that looks terrific!

 

Regena

[Melissa B]

I believe Greek for Children will also be Koine Greek. As far as I can tell - Galore Park will have the first classical Greek for younger students. I may purchase Athenaze and work through it myself. Right now we are only working on the basics, letters and such. I believe Laura in China uses a beginner book from Galore Park that could be stretched out for a semester or so of beginning classical Greek.

[st_claire]

Thanks for the tip. Found this on the galore park site:

 

http://www.galorepark.co.uk/product/home_schoolers/168/greek-a-new-guide-for-beginners.html

 

Has anyone tried it? What age range is it good for?

 

Thanks.

[Plaid Dad]

As far as I know, there is no Attic Greek curriculum for children much below middle school age. An experienced teacher could start Athenaze in 6th or 7th grade, perhaps, particularly if the student already had a good foundation in Latin.

 

I haven't seen the Galore Park book, but I'm guessing it's a high school level text. (I'm not familiar with UK school terminology, so maybe one of our UK ladies can clarify?)

[nmoira]

Thanks for the tip. Found this on the galore park site:

 

http://www.galorepark.co.uk/product/home_schoolers/168/greek-a-new-guide-for-beginners.html

 

Has anyone tried it? What age range is it good for?

IIRC, this is a product they are distributing, but it's not their product. There is a SYRWTL Greek series (not Koine), similar to Latin Prep, in the works, but I don't think there's a firm release date. Last I read was perhaps Fall 2009.

[KarenNC]

As far as I have been able to see, there are no curricula designed for elementary age students that use anything other than Koine and which do not have as their primary (if not sole) purpose translating the New Testament in a devotional way.

 

We have an interest in ancient Greek, but not for Christian devotional purposes. I would love to hear about something else if you do find it, even something Koine which *doesn't* use the NT as the primary source of material. There has to be other material out there written in that language as well that can be used for translation and examples.

 

A while back I did suggest to the authors of Elementary Greek that they consider doing a supplement of non-Christian-specific materials for examples and translation, much like publishers of some other curricula do a Bible supplement to appeal to those wanting Christian-specific material. They were open to the idea, but it was not something that was in any way a priority for them at the time as they were getting all the basic levels of Elementary Greek out. I have no idea if it will ever come to be.

 

For the moment, we will be working on Latin and Greek roots and looking to possibly add in Greek later on.

[Mama Lynx]

Karen,

 

I will write them and ask for the same thing. I'm currently using EG, but like you, translating the Bible is not my goal. I would be thrilled to have non-Biblical supplementary materials.

 

I thought long and hard about just doing the work to adapt Athenaze for my younger students, but in the end, I just don't have the energy to do so right now. So we are using Elementary Greek until I can either find something that better suits our needs, or until I have more energy ;-)

[KarenNC]

Karen,

 

I will write them and ask for the same thing. I'm currently using EG, but like you, translating the Bible is not my goal. I would be thrilled to have non-Biblical supplementary materials.

 

I thought long and hard about just doing the work to adapt Athenaze for my younger students, but in the end, I just don't have the energy to do so right now. So we are using Elementary Greek until I can either find something that better suits our needs, or until I have more energy ;-)

 

I take it that you like the structure of Elementary Greek? It looked like a well written program to me. Do you think someone who has little knowledge of Greek beyond the alphabet would find it easy enough to teach? Unfortunately, I will be learning the Greek alongside my daughter, so adapting material is unlikely to be an option for us. I need something that will hold my hand!

[dragons in the flower bed]

Here's what Laura in China had to say on the old boards:

I'm using it with Hobbes. It's distributed by Galore Park but not written by them - their own Greek Prep won't be out for a while.

 

This is the page for it. It's pretty slim and doesn't take you that far. There is also no answer book, but Hobbes and I are enjoying playing with it while we wait for Greek Prep:

 

* Greek - A New Guide for Beginners

 

It's both a textbook and an exam prep book. It leads to an exam taken by children in Britain who want to get into the top private schools (Eton, Harrow, etc.). If you click on the classics syllabus on this page:

 

http://www.iseb.co.uk/syllabus.htm

 

Then look on pages five and six, then twelve to fifteen of the classics syllabus PDF, for Level I Greek. This will give you an idea of what is covered.

 

So far I think it's a fine book. We have spent about six weeks just learning the lower-case alphabet (I pulled extra worksheets off the internet). We have just started using the alphabet to spot Greek words that still exist in English and have learned some diphthongs and are studying breathings and upper case letters. That takes you to the end of chapter 2 - there are fifteen chapters in all.

 

We only do Greek once or twice a week. If you did it every day, you could zip through it, but it will probably take us a year.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Right now, my kids are learning a teeny bit of koine with levels one and two of Hey Andrew, while I study this free program (the HTML is weird; click here to see Unit 1) s u p e r s l o w l y and planning to purchase the guide Laura in China is using with Hobbes. Our goal is not Bible readings, either, so the koine of Hey Andrew is really there just so that the language has a place in our day. I'm anxiously awaiting the publication of anything better.