CarrieF Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I am hoping to start a study of Latin with my gifted 3rd grade son after the first of the year and have narrowed it down to Lively Latin and Latin for Children. If you have used one (or both!) would you please weigh in on the pros (and/or cons) of these curricula? I would really appreciate some opinions, thoughts, advice from fellow homeschooling moms. My son has little to no experience with Latin, but has worked his way through most of Greek for Children all by himself and picked it up very quickly. I would love to learn Latin with him, but may not have the time to devote to it, so that will play into my decision.:001_smile: Thank you for any input you can give! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Have not tried Lively Latin, but we're doing LFC A and love it! I had 4 years of Latin in high school, so it's not new to me but I really like the DVD that comes with it. I am not going to keep up by putting in a lot of time studying, but I sit down at the beginning of each week and watch the DVD so I know/understand what is being covered each week. I think this would be a GREAT program if you wanted to learn alongside your son. I can think of anything about the program I don't like, other than some of the excercises in the Activity Book - busy work like word searches that my son hates. But the Student Book with the main exercises is very good. He likes it a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verity Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Have not tried Lively Latin, but we're doing LFC A and love it! I had 4 years of Latin in high school, so it's not new to me but I really like the DVD that comes with it. I am not going to keep up by putting in a lot of time studying, but I sit down at the beginning of each week and watch the DVD so I know/understand what is being covered each week. I think this would be a GREAT program if you wanted to learn alongside your son. I can think of anything about the program I don't like, other than some of the excercises in the Activity Book - busy work like word searches that my son hates. But the Student Book with the main exercises is very good. He likes it a lot. :iagree: And the LfCB book has less busy work like the word searches and spends more time on more useful exercises and review. I love the derivative study and review in LfC, it makes it so clear why Latin is important today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeidiKC Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 Forgot to say - I think the grammar is a bit hard, with terms my 5th grader is just now encountering in English. Seems like that could be a problem for some 3rd graders, but doubt that applies to your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I am hoping to start a study of Latin with my gifted 3rd grade son after the first of the year and have narrowed it down to Lively Latin and Latin for Children. If you have used one (or both!) would you please weigh in on the pros (and/or cons) of these curricula? I would really appreciate some opinions, thoughts, advice from fellow homeschooling moms. My son has little to no experience with Latin, but has worked his way through most of Greek for Children all by himself and picked it up very quickly. I would love to learn Latin with him, but may not have the time to devote to it, so that will play into my decision.:001_smile: Thank you for any input you can give! I use Lively Latin. I like the history intertwined in it and that it had less memorization. The biggest down side is the typos, and those are not the end of the world. I generally wait till 5th grade then hand my child a page a day. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishmommy Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 We do a few pages a week of LL and my son is in 4th grade. We love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn&charles Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 I've tried both. LfC is a good program, but for whatever reason, it just didn't mesh with our learning style and things didn't stick. Neither one of us really understood what we were doing (although we both got the vocabulary down pat). I think it would be great for others. The videos are fun and I LOVE Headventureland.com -the free website with great videos, etc. that match up with what's being taught in the program(s). We still used Headventureland on a regular basis, even though we aren't actively using LfC anymore. With Lively Latin it all finally clicked. I actually understand what we're doing and both of us are retaining everything pretty well. We're in the 2nd year of Lively Latin and reading simple Latin stories. I like the variety of worksheets and I like the concept of including history lessons (although we've been skipping those this 2nd year as they don't match what we're currently studying history-wise). I've tried several other Latin programs and Lively Latin is the ONLY one that worked for us. It's given us a good start and I'm excited to be able to move on to some other things after we finish with a good foundation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarrieF Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Thank you, ladies, for all the helpful input! I have spent time this afternoon reading reviews of both and am leaning toward Lively Latin. The main reasons are that when my son tackled Greek for Children he could only get "so far" and then needed a LOT of input from me; I am looking for something that is a little more independent. Also, as lame as it might be, the sample pages I've seen of LL look SO FUN! : ) Any other insights/opinions are welcome . . . I haven't purchased yet. : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in PA Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 We have only done LL, and DD does it very independently and retains a lot -- even when we take long breaks. I really like the built-in grammar reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarrieF Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Okay, just couldn't stand it any more and ordered Lively Latin! SO EXCITED. Thanks for all the great feedback! Any other LL users: please feel free to leave any tips or helps. : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkermamaof4 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Can you all chime back in and answer another question? We are using Song School Latin for a 2nd grader and 5th grader this year. I purchased LFC-A and am scared of the grammar! For next year, would LL be a better choice for the then to be 3rd grader or would it have the same amount of grammar coverage, none of which he will have heard of by then? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarrieF Posted December 19, 2010 Author Share Posted December 19, 2010 After just one week of Lively Latin, I highly recommend it! It is SOOOO user/mom friendly! There is a video lesson for each lesson - taught by the creator of the curriculum herself. Hello!? : ) We have all thoroughly enjoyed it and since we're all pretty opinionated around here, it only takes a lessone or two (at most!) for us to know if something is not going to work. Two thumbs up for LL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.