What Latin course(s) would you choose for the following requirements...

[Hedgehog]

1) Grammar/vocab intensive

2) Classical pronounciation

3) suitable for Latin study right the way through Grade 12

4) non-teacher intensive

5) course CD preferred in the early stages

 

???

 

I know I've asked this kind of question before, and I've received the following recommendations: Latin for Children, Lively Latin and Galore Park Latin, but I'm not sure that any of those go through to Grade 12. My oldest dd loves languages, learns quickly with no difficulty and I can see her wanting to continue with Latin and French and maybe do other languages right through her schooling.

 

I don't mind switching from one program to another provided they follow on reasonably well. I don't have any Latin knowledge myself and not a lot of English Grammar although that's coming along as I teach the dc!

 

Thanks for helping - I think I am getting to grips with this slowly!

[Carrie12345]

I think Memoria Press's programs fit all of your requirements except for the pronunciation.

I'm a big fan of the Forms, and plan to follow with Henle II +. I have no worries about ds running out of work before graduating!

[everlastingstarflower]

I've looked at several Latin programs and none of them go all the way through to 12th grade. We've used Memoria Press' Prima Latina last year and Latina Christiana I with Ludere Latine I and just the Lingua Angelica songs (not the LA student workbook) for this year. Memoria Press has also added (in addition to Latina Christiana I & II) First Form Latin and Second Form Latin. If you request a catalog, it outlines how they recommend teaching Latin from K - 12th. But, at some point they transition from Second Form Latin to the Henle series. (Their catalog shows all of this in detail.) Memoria Press' books are for individuals who have no Latin background and they are fairly easy to follow. I like the Latina Christiana I teacher's manual much better than the Prima Latina tm. It gives better explanations as to how to lay out your teaching schedule. The only requirement you have that MP doesn't fit is the pronunciation as it is Ecclesiastical. There is a course CD but, I've chosen not to use it.

[Carrie12345]

Memoria Press has also added (in addition to Latina Christiana I & II) First Form Latin and Second Form Latin. If you request a catalog, it outlines how they recommend teaching Latin from K - 12th. But, at some point they transition from Second Form Latin to the Henle series. (Their catalog shows all of this in detail.) Memoria Press' books are for individuals who have no Latin background and they are fairly easy to follow. I like the Latina Christiana I teacher's manual much better than the Prima Latina tm. It gives better explanations as to how to lay out your teaching schedule. The only requirement you have that MP doesn't fit is the pronunciation as it is Ecclesiastical. There is a course CD but, I've chosen not to use it.

 

Second will be followed by Third and Fourth (they're just not printed yet), which will then transition to Henle (II, I think).

[Ester Maria]

I don't recommend Memoria Press, especially materials aimed at youngsters, but that's only me.

I recommend starting Latin around 5th grade, using Wheelock's or anything you prefer that resembles it, i.e. the way things are introduced and dealt with (ideally, you would know Latin and be able to teach it the way it suits your child the best), but the way that Latin grammar is finished in 3 years, and then for the remaining 5 years just work on the texts. I have a good sequence for texts, but grammar has to be covered first.

[Joy at Home]

I don't recommend Memoria Press, especially materials aimed at youngsters, but that's only me.

I recommend starting Latin around 5th grade, using Wheelock's or anything you prefer that resembles it, i.e. the way things are introduced and dealt with (ideally, you would know Latin and be able to teach it the way it suits your child the best), but the way that Latin grammar is finished in 3 years, and then for the remaining 5 years just work on the texts. I have a good sequence for texts, but grammar has to be covered first.

 

 

Would Wheelock be difficult to teach for someone with no prior knowledge, if I wanted to learn along with her? I'm leaning toward Latin Road for English Grammar since there are the DVDs and seems user friendly. Do you have an opinion on this program?

 

Thank you!

Lisa

[Ester Maria]

Would Wheelock be difficult to teach for someone with no prior knowledge, if I wanted to learn along with her? I'm leaning toward Latin Road for English Grammar since there are the DVDs and seems user friendly. Do you have an opinion on this program?

Yes - Wheelock's is originally designed for colleges, and it's quite a dense text. The only reason why I'm mentioning it is because you need *something like that* (not necessarily Wheelock's) that can effectively teach you entire grammar in 2-3 years for older and 3-4 years for younger students. Latin studies BEGIN when grammar is DONE - that's why it's not a great idea to drag it over 6-7 years as people usually do, thus never reaching the texts.

 

I found that kids ARE capable of learning grammar the Wheelock's style already in 4th-5th grade, but they need somebody to water down the text a bit for them. That's why, ideally, you'd know Latin when teaching it. But this whole idea that kids are "too young for it" is actually totally wrong - they're NOT too young for concrete Latin or Greek grammar and they DON'T need vocabulary-based curricula at that age, it's just that they're not used to dense texts because they're 'spoiled' by colorful curricula with a bunch of distractions and projects in all subjects, so of course parents start to panic when they see plain, dense text. But up until some decades ago, it was a completely normal mode of learning.

 

If you can effectively teach your daughter with Wheelock's, even with slower pace, I definitely recommend you to go for it. I also think 5th grade is the ideal Latin start for most kids, and that time before that is better spent on MOM's Latin than on kids learning a few vocabulary units as programs aimed for kids usually start them. If you invest early years into your own Latin, you're heading towards a higher quality instruction in middle school, and can be on texts in high school.

[Joy at Home]

Yes - Wheelock's is originally designed for colleges, and it's quite a dense text. The only reason why I'm mentioning it is because you need *something like that* (not necessarily Wheelock's) that can effectively teach you entire grammar in 2-3 years for older and 3-4 years for younger students. Latin studies BEGIN when grammar is DONE - that's why it's not a great idea to drag it over 6-7 years as people usually do, thus never reaching the texts.

 

I found that kids ARE capable of learning grammar the Wheelock's style already in 4th-5th grade, but they need somebody to water down the text a bit for them. That's why, ideally, you'd know Latin when teaching it. But this whole idea that kids are "too young for it" is actually totally wrong - they're NOT too young for concrete Latin or Greek grammar and they DON'T need vocabulary-based curricula at that age, it's just that they're not used to dense texts because they're 'spoiled' by colorful curricula with a bunch of distractions and projects in all subjects, so of course parents start to panic when they see plain, dense text. But up until some decades ago, it was a completely normal mode of learning.

 

If you can effectively teach your daughter with Wheelock's, even with slower pace, I definitely recommend you to go for it. I also think 5th grade is the ideal Latin start for most kids, and that time before that is better spent on MOM's Latin than on kids learning a few vocabulary units as programs aimed for kids usually start them. If you invest early years into your own Latin, you're heading towards a higher quality instruction in middle school, and can be on texts in high school.

 

Thank you, Ester Maria!

[Laura Corin]

Grammar/vocab intensive

2) Classical pronounciation

3) suitable for Latin study right the way through Grade 12

4) non-teacher intensive

5) course CD preferred in the early stages

 

Latin Prep provides you with three solid years of Latin (we actually spread it over more years and, interestingly, the boys' new private school spreads it too) then So You Really Want to Learn Latin 3 extends that for another year. In US terms, you would then - according to Abbeyej on this board - have accomplished three years of high school Latin (so up to 11th Grade), although you would need to add in a bit of civilisation/history to make it a true high school course. In UK terms, this takes you up to GCSE level for grammar/vocab/translation.

 

After that, you need to be working with original texts, which would complete your GCSE work in UK terms, and I assume might form a good 12th grade programme in the US. I had been planning on the boys taking a distance learning course from Cambridge Latin for this stage. The Galore Park programmes do not study classical texts in detail because the GCSE set texts change periodically, which is inconvenient for a textbook publisher.

 

You are also asking for something not too parent intensive. I don't think that LP is too intensive, but I would hesitate to just hand it to a child to work through. Calvin and I used to read through the grammar explanations together, then he would do any Latin-to-English exercises on his own on paper for me to mark. Then we would go over any mistakes. English-to-Latin translations we did orally together. I also set him memorisation tasks, based on the book, and set up a system to review old memorised grammar, so it wasn't forgotten. I have an ancient O level in Latin, but I picked up a fair bit as we went along. The answer book was my friend, and Calvin's Latin is definitely better than mine, but I do think that my involvement was important.

 

I hope that helps you with your decision making,

 

Laura

[elegantlion]

Our plan is to use CAP Latin products for our grammar instruction, then move to Latin texts for the remaining years. We've completed LFC A & B and start Latin Alive I this year. LA II was just published, not sure on the timetable for LA III.

 

Here's a great site to show you what's available in texts after you've completed a grammar sequence.