Desperate for Latin recommendation...

[lovinteachin]

I've read a lot of info. on the forum about different Latin programs, but it's all a little fuzzy now, and I have to make a decision soon. This is my situation: My dd (now 9th grade) started Cambridge Latin I last year with a tutor who is an expert in Latin but because of personality differences, teaching style.. who knows why, she did not enjoy it and is dreading going back for Latin II. She felt it was rushed and she still doesn't understand some of the basics. She would like to try another program and do it ourselves at home.

 

One of her complaints was that in translating, there was no way to detect what the Latin root word was... so she didn't know if the word shown was already in a certain declension or verb form, or just showing the root. She did learn all the forms/tenses. I don't know Latin so maybe I'm not describing this correctly. Anyway, she was very frustrated and her teacher would simply say, well you just have to figure it out, learn them all, etc..

 

Can you recommend a Latin curriculum and level, since she did go through Cambridge Latin I but didn't grasp it... should I start over with another curriculum from the beginning?

 

Any advice is appreciated... sorry for rambling on.

 

LovinTeachin

[Rhea]

Are you familiar with Lingua Latina? My daughter did Latin 1 last year at The Potter's School and loved it, and definitely knows her endings and such, but in a more intuitive way than I ever got with Wheelock's. She just reads it and knows what's going on. And yes, she understands the grammar and endings being used, it just isn't the struggle of "What is this ending, what are it's possible meanings, now lets look at this word," that I'd been taught with. Anyhow, dd did it through TPS, but my friend's kids did it themselves at home, keeping to the same high school pace. My friend is however looking to use TPS this year for Latin 2 because she wants the kids to have a teacher to ask questions of.

 

From this link you can look at sample pages for Lingua Latina:

http://www.lingua-latina.dk/index2.htm

 

Rhea

[Tullia]

I'd also suggest Lingua Latina along with Jeanne Neumann's A College Companion which explains grammar, idioms, vocabulary, and has a lot of contextual information. We also have the pc version of the interactive text/audio/exercies, but it works reliably only so long as the latest Windows update hasn't fouled things up. I do think that you can now pay for online access to this feature, though.

 

We'd done some Latin Primer and Wheelock's as well as Henle I. Ds found all of them tedious, but we both enjoyed and learned a lot using LL. LL is not in easy, but it's a lot more fun than anything else we'd ever used, and after the first few lessons, I really began to read and understand the text instead of just stumbling along translating word by word.

 

HTH,

Martha

[tampamommy]

Latin Alive! One is what we're using here in 8th grade now. It's produced by the same folks that do Latin for Children. Latin Alive! is dvd-based, with a student and teacher book, exams, etc. It's really fun so far and is designed for 8th or 9th grade. Latin Alive! Two is almost ready to be released.

[southcarolinamom]

We used Latina Christiana from Memoria Press, and then added in Mars Hill Latin.

[Janice H]

Henle is very methodical. It gives students great security.

 

"What is this ending, what are it's possible meanings, now lets look at this word," that I'd been taught with.

For people who like this style, I think Henle is great. I do like Lingua Latina too, with the companion. I own all of the above. I think the Henle Yahoo group is still active. The Henle book is inexpensive. Your dd could skim and do some of the exercises until she hit unclear material. It would probably go quite fast. As you have probably read, the Henle book has tons of exercises, works with limited vocabulary in order to deal with the grammar, and students who don't like Caesar or the Catholic Church references will be annoyed.

 

If you're interested and there's no online sample, I can scan a couple pages and e-mail them for your dd to look over.

[iwka]

 

Grammar I at the CLAA and here is Intro

 

[LanaTron]

How many books will end up in the Latin Alive series? Does Latin Alive 1 cover 1 year of high school Latin? Thanks

[LeeAnn Balbirona]

I also recommend CLAA Grammar I. My 7th grader finished both LCI & LCII and CLAA Grammar is a whole different ball of wax. Challenging and enjoyable. I highly recommend it! And at $125 for the online course, a real deal. See the link here http://www.classicalliberalarts.com/Courses/TRIVIUM/ClassicalGrammarI/index.htm

[Cindyg]

I'm going to recommend a different one: BJUP's Latin 1 course.

 

I started this and Cambridge Latin at the same time with my 13YO ds. We're about four chapters in to both of them, and we're going to stop Cambridge for now and continue with BJUP.

 

The reason: The Cambridge text went much faster and introduced words at a lightening pace, much faster than we could memorize them. Yes, we were able to read and understand the stories, especially with the illustrations. However, we still felt like we were drinking out of a fire hose.

 

In contrast, the BJUP high school text moves slowly. Only a few words are introduced with each chapter, and lots of background information is given on why everything is like it is. We do not feel like we're drinking out of a fire hose.

 

If you decide to buy this, you will need the activity manual and the answer key to the activity manual. I'm not sure if you can proceed without the TM. I ordered it and I do use it, so I can't say for sure what it would be like without it. I will tell you this, the "answers" are in the activity manual answer key. There aren't really questions or exercises in the textbook. The pronunciation CD comes with the book, and we use it extensively.