greek for k-6

[Guest rubilynne4]

what are some good greek curriculums for k-6> i am looking for homeric or attic, but would consider koine if that's all there is. most of the stuff i see is koine. thanks.

[Ester Maria]

Do you know Greek yourself and/or happen to speak modern Greek?

[Guest rubilynne4]

Do you know Greek yourself and/or happen to speak modern Greek?

no greek experience whatever. just really sold on the whole latin and greek thing. hubby is partial to koine because it is the lang of NT, and my oldest DD wants to be a missionary, so biblical studies is probably in her future. i read, however that it's best to start with the homeric or attic and move forward from there. harder to go back, then forward, or something like that. any info would help. thanks

Edited June 11, 2010 by rubilynne4

[Heather in Neverland]

I don't know about Attic Greek for kids but we are using Hey Andrew Teach Me Some Greek with our young boys and we are pleased with the results.

[Laura Corin]

I have used Galore Park's Classical Greek programme with Hobbes - we started when he was about eight. You can buy it with free shipping from Book Depository.

 

Laura

[Saille]

I could not find an Attic program to use with my kids, though we may switch to Athenaze when they're older, as Attic is actually our goal. We started with Greek Code Cracker from Classical Academic Press. Right now, we're doing Elementary Greek, which is a Koine program. My youngest in this program is 6 1/2, and she's following along fine. We would perhaps have tried Greek For Children, had it come out in time. They released it about a month after we started EG. :glare:

[Guest rubilynne4]

thanks everyone for the curriculum titles. will check them out. i saw the hey andrew. looks good, it's koine right? the other sones are news to me. gonna look at them.

[Lizzie in Ma]

It isn't attic but we really enjoyed and did well with the Hey Andrew series.

[Guest rubilynne4]

I have used Galore Park's Classical Greek programme with Hobbes - we started when he was about eight. You can buy it with free shipping from Book Depository.

 

Laura

thanks, i am currently looking into this. my dds will be starting latin this year, so i may wait until next year or the following to start greek studies, but this certainly will help.

[Ester Maria]

no greek experience whatever. just really sold on the whole latin and greek thing. hubby is partial to koine because it is the lang of NT, and my oldest DD wants to be a missionary, so biblical studies is probably in her future. i read, however that it's best to start with the homeric or attic and move forward from there. harder to go back, then forward, or something like that. any info would help. thanks

I see; I was about to give you the link to the site with a bunch of textbooks for ancient and modern Greek which are used in schools in Greece, but you couldn't use them if you don't know at least one of the two yourself.

 

Regarding regular Greek programs, probably the best thing on the anglophone market that I'm aware of is Athenaze (despite Italian Athenaze trying to imitate certain methods which I... let's say disagree with :D), but I think your children might be too young for it, since you asked for K-6, and the earliest you might use it would be around 5th or 6th, and even that with very determined children and taking a slower pace.

 

In any case, a few general suggestions I can give you are that you do not buy a curriculum to teach you the alphabet/accents only - it's a complete waste of time and money, you should not spend months learning how to read, not even with elementary aged children, and that whatever you choose, you try to get out of it as soon as possible to switch to texts. It might take you 5-6 years to "cover" grammar if you're starting with very young children (to me it took even longer :glare:, though I covered it in 2-3 years when I went to school, but we started in 7th), so count with that.

 

Attic is the best to start unless your ONLY motivation for learning Greek is reading NT. If you want to cover the classical component as well, you need Attic. Another reason why people start with Attic is that if you learn Attic, there is no need to "learn" Koine since you'll be able to read it anyway. When I went to school we read Bible when we needed a break from ancient texts and it was a joke. You can read most of it prima vista (meaning, without analyzing, you just pick it and read) if you've encountered more difficult Attic texts before, since the language really does tend to be quite simple.

 

Whatever you do, THE most important thing in the beginning is NOT to drag the alphabet over months. If you start dragging the alphabet, you'll drag nouns, then you'll drag third declension for a year because of all the irregularities, and when you get to aorist, you'll quit because it will seem endless and never-ending. Not BTDT (I didn't have the luxury of giving up at school :D), but I've seen it with quite a few people who attempted to learn Greek out of the "system". Adjust the pace to the kids, but don't spend a year learning how to read. :)

 

Also, buy a dictionary and a grammar right away, regardless of which text you're using.

[Guest rubilynne4]

I see; I was about to give you the link to the site with a bunch of textbooks for ancient and modern Greek which are used in schools in Greece, but you couldn't use them if you don't know at least one of the two yourself.

 

Regarding regular Greek programs, probably the best thing on the anglophone market that I'm aware of is Athenaze (despite Italian Athenaze trying to imitate certain methods which I... let's say disagree with :D), but I think your children might be too young for it, since you asked for K-6, and the earliest you might use it would be around 5th or 6th, and even that with very determined children and taking a slower pace.

 

In any case, a few general suggestions I can give you are that you do not buy a curriculum to teach you the alphabet/accents only - it's a complete waste of time and money, you should not spend months learning how to read, not even with elementary aged children, and that whatever you choose, you try to get out of it as soon as possible to switch to texts. It might take you 5-6 years to "cover" grammar if you're starting with very young children (to me it took even longer :glare:, though I covered it in 2-3 years when I went to school, but we started in 7th), so count with that.

 

Attic is the best to start unless your ONLY motivation for learning Greek is reading NT. If you want to cover the classical component as well, you need Attic. Another reason why people start with Attic is that if you learn Attic, there is no need to "learn" Koine since you'll be able to read it anyway. When I went to school we read Bible when we needed a break from ancient texts and it was a joke. You can read most of it prima vista (meaning, without analyzing, you just pick it and read) if you've encountered more difficult Attic texts before, since the language really does tend to be quite simple.

 

Whatever you do, THE most important thing in the beginning is NOT to drag the alphabet over months. If you start dragging the alphabet, you'll drag nouns, then you'll drag third declension for a year because of all the irregularities, and when you get to aorist, you'll quit because it will seem endless and never-ending. Not BTDT (I didn't have the luxury of giving up at school :D), but I've seen it with quite a few people who attempted to learn Greek out of the "system". Adjust the pace to the kids, but don't spend a year learning how to read. :)

 

Also, buy a dictionary and a grammar right away, regardless of which text you're using.

wow! thanks so much for this. i am new to all this, so this is very helpful. what about Galore Parks Greek curriculum? any feedback there?

[Saille]

Also, buy a dictionary and a grammar right away, regardless of which text you're using.

 

Ester Maria, do you have specific recommendations?

[Alphabetika]

My dd11 used Elementary Greek this year and learned so much!

[Ester Maria]

Ester Maria, do you have specific recommendations?

Nope, as long as it's comprehensive (i.e. BIG :D) - you won't notice much difference unless you'll be getting into university-level studies. The key is no pocket dictionaries (waste of money that will begin to frustrate you rather soon), and a grammar should be separated from a course so you can follow it and used it as a reference regardless of what texts you use. Irregular verb tables are also useful and maybe worth investing into, but most of other extras are waste of money. :)

[kleahey]

Ester Maria, do you have specific recommendations?

 

I apologize, as I know that this question wasn't directed towards me, but I would love to suggest the Liddell-Scott Lexicon. I'm a junior at a college that requires every student to take two years of Attic Greek, and the Liddell-Scott is the dictionary to which everyone turns. It comes in three sizes, affectionately referred to as the "Little Liddell", the "Middle Liddell", and the "Great Scott".