Teaching Greek over Latin or vice versa...

[Rockflower]

Hi Moms (and Dads),

I have a question and could sure use your wisdom and advice. For those of you who are teaching your children Latin and/or Greek, I was wondering...

1. Why you chose to teach Latin?

2. Why you chose to teach Greek?

3. Why you would chose one over the other?

4 Do you have any curriculum suggestions for either?

 

We are considering teaching Greek over Latin and would love to hear some other thoughts on the matter. Thank you so much for your help.

 

Blessings,

Linda

:001_unsure:

[Maus]

We are starting with Greek. We chose it because:

 

1) I had a semester of Greek in college, so it isn't brand new to me (where Latin is), and

2) our modern language is German, which I speak fairly fluently and DH speaks a little. German and Greek are in the same language tree.

 

 

If we were doing Spanish or French, we'd probably do Latin.

 

We have "Hey, Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek." We've not gone very far in it yet. I've heard both 'Elementary Greek' (Christine Gatchell) and Song School Greek/Greek for Children (Christopher Perrin) recommended over 'Hey, Andrew,' but it's working so far, and we're already invested in it, so we're sticking with it for now.

[almondbutterandjelly]

1. I chose to teach Latin because it is a really good foundation for our own language (English) since many words have Latin roots. It aids in learning English grammar, as well, and it is a good foundation for any of the Romance languages (we'll probably do Spanish and French at some point.) Also, it's been a staple of classical education for a very long time. I am trying to give my dd a really great education.

2. I chose Greek because I felt called to teach Biblical Greek after re-reading the book, The Latin Centered Curriculum. I had initially been thinking of Spanish or French, in addition to Latin, but decided on Biblical Greek for now. Those others will come in another year or two.

3. I am not choosing one over the other. Although if I had to, I guess I would pick Latin. Latin seems more widely applicable than Greek. Really, both Latin and Greek come from the same parent language, so there are quite a few similarities.

4. For Latin curriculum, I like Minimus followed by Cambridge Latin 1. For Biblical Greek, I like Biblical Greek 4 Kids.

[Diana B]

We are currently working on Biblical Hebrew. We will probably spend another year on this, and then introduce Latin. We will be doing Latin for multiple reasons, the biggest of which is to help understand English grammar and vocab. After a couple years of doing Latin (and continuing our Biblical Hebrew) we will introduce Biblical Greek. The Greek will also be to help with Engilsh vocab and to aid in Bible Study.

 

I do not expect a fluent mastery of any of these languages, unless my DS takes a high enough interest that he wants to go that far.

 

We will do a modern language in high school if there is interest and/or need. Otherwise we will continue to work on our Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

 

We've chosen to go in this order because (a) My husband is most proficient in Hebrew (he's taught himself all 3 ancient languages). So it is making it a fun thing for my son and I to learn together right now with the help of DH. It's kind of like our 'family language' even though it's not the native language for any of us. (b) Latin came next for the help in vocab & grammar. This will come with a more formal study of both vocab and grammar. © Greek is last because it's just the way it fell. The biggest benefit will be for Bible study and he won't really be doing word studies like this until middle school at the earliest anyways.

[SnMomof7]

Have you listened to the Bluedorn's talk about learning Classical languages? You can find it at their website - http://triviumpursuit.com

 

They recommend teaching Greek if you can only learn one ancient language because you can read the NT for yourself!

 

If you can teach two, they recommend Latin first, then Greek. Latin first because it has the same alphabet, and because of the HUGE benefits of learning the grammar and vocabulary for English speakers.

 

We are starting with Latin using Memoria Press courses at a couple of levels (one for DD, one for myself), and in another year or two hope to add Greek, and I'd even love to learn Hebrew, but that is a ways off :).

[serendipitous journey]

We're planning on both Greek and Latin starting this year (actually, starting the Greek alphabet tomorrow!)

 

We'll do Koine Greek first, because it was easiest to find materials for it, but I hope to move toward classical Greek later.

 

Latin, for the Romance language roots; for the grammar; for the classical literature; and for the fun of it.

 

Greek, because ancient Greek was recognized as an extraordinary language for saying things in. By which I mean, both the Jewish and Roman contemporaries of the Greeks seemed to find the language remarkably well-suited for expressing subtle, precise, elegant thoughts. So that, combined with all the above reasons for Latin.

 

of course we haven't really started yet. I plan to teach the Greek and Arabic alphabets in the first half of the year, one letter per week, and then hit Song-School style Greek and Latin vocab during the latter half of the year, also at a mellow pace (I don't have Arabic figured out for the second half of the year :)). My goal for the first couple of years is to develop an interest. I'm hoping that the coincidence of ancient languages and ancient history will light a bit of a fire, interest-wise, this year ...

 

:bigear::bigear::bigear: