Is FLL needed with Latin?

[kidswife]

I just received the latest issue of Classical Teacher from Memoria Press. There's an article in there about how grammar in English isn't necessary if you're already doing a Latin course. I was planning on doing Prima Latina and First Language Lessons with my 6-7 y/o next year. Can I just drop the FLL and just do the Latin??:confused:

I was also going to start WWE.

[Pata]

I was planning on just doing Prima Latina and CW this year, thinking that the two would be enough grammar. I found that it's enough if you are ok with lighter grammar in the early years. I wanted something more, so we added FLL back in.

[redsquirrel]

My son says that the grammer he learned from FLL (all four years) is what has made Latin so enjoyable. He tells me that quite often. "Good thing I already learned that in my grammar. Now todays Latin will be easy!"

[Cleopatra]

Theoretically that's correct; you have to know grammar to be able to read and write Latin. Yes, you could probably do it without an English grammar program but I think Red Squirrel is right that it makes it easier and more enjoyable to have had some English grammar.

 

We used FLL, began Latin with Prima Latina and my dd is sailing along in both (she's in R&S now for grammar). I believe it would have been rougher waters if we hadn't had the English grammar alongside the Latin.

[plimsoll]

We have found the two studies to complement each other well.

[Jayne J]

We are doing Prima Latina and FLL here as well. I find that there is a nice synergy when we work the two together--we cover a new concept in Latin (nouns, or verbs or whatever) and then I turn to the same subject in FLL and we learn the English applications. He gets excited to see that the definitions are the same, whether it is Latin or English. I think it is helping him understand that language, any language, has the same basic parts.

 

I have questioned skipping FLL/grammar but find that it makes Latin easier at this point. Perhaps down the road, if I see that his Latin is grammar enough, we will skip a year here or there though.

[kidswife]

So would it be okay to do Prima Latina with the first year of FLL & WWE. Starting all 3 of them at the same time?

[CourtneySue]

As someone who didn't learn Latin and Greek until college, I remember the one thing that I wished I had going into it was a stronger background in grammar that I did not receive from my public school education. As nice as an idea it is to skip English Grammar if you are learning Latin, I don't think it is a reality.

[redsquirrel]

So would it be okay to do Prima Latina with the first year of FLL & WWE. Starting all 3 of them at the same time?

 

I don't know prima Latin. We use Lively Latin and FLL and WWE altogether. So far, so good. He enjoys all three and see connections between all three. It doesn't feel like too much.

 

Well, we finished FLL last year and now we are using GWG. He misses FLL.

[kidswife]

Why did you switch to GWG from FLL?

[Brenda in FL]

So would it be okay to do Prima Latina with the first year of FLL & WWE. Starting all 3 of them at the same time?

 

My only concern would be the writing/spelling expectations for the child. Prima Latina can definitely be done orally. And can definitely be understood and taught successfully to a first grader. I had one that couldn't spell in english let alone latin!! I like starting in 3rd grade.

[Hedgehog]

I agree with the PPs who said that learning Latin (or any foreign language, come to that) is so much easier when you already have some knowledge of English Grammar. When I was in school, we didn't learn any kind of Grammar until our later years of learning French and German, and then it was hard learning the Grammar rules on top of it being in a foreign language. I plan on teaching Grammar to mine at least until they're through middle school.

[JudoMom]

Here is a link to a thread on the article :).

[Jayne J]

We started FLL about a month before we started Prima Latina. It just happened that way, but it has worked. As far as WWE. I would base that decision more on your dc's fine motor ability--does he/she have the physical ability. It really doesn't have much grammar, and it can't be done completely orally, as Prima Latina and FLL can (for the most part. FLL does have some writing/copywork in it, but you can skip it and still get the instruction). So you could start the FLL and Prima at the same time and begin WWE whenever you feel your child's manual dexterity/handwriting skills are appropriate. (we started all three at about the same time FWIW.)

[redsquirrel]

Why did you switch to GWG from FLL?

 

I didn't switch from FLL. It finished. There are only four years of FLL and I now have a 5th grader. So, I had to find another grammar program.

 

I am still using WWE because I used it a year 'behind'. My son was one of those "my haaand will faaaall ooooff" kids. I didn't make him write for a couple years. We did almost everything with him dictating to me. In third grade WWE came out and I started him in year 2. It was a perfect fit.

 

Now he is in 5th grade and we are using GWG 5 for grammar and WWE4.