Convince me which Greek to use... please!

[WyoSylvia]

This summer my ds - 7 learned the Greek alphabet with me. He loved it and asked to study Greek.

 

I've looked into the recommendations and, frankly, they don't look like fun to me. (I'll be studying right along with him.) Hey Andrew and Elementary Greek samples both look like just repetitive fill-in-the-blanks, with not a lot of variety. Am I correct? or is this an adult view and perhaps he will really like them?

Normally, I wouldn't concern myself so much with issues of "how fun it is," but he and I were learning the alphabet for a class in which he had hoped to learn more Greek. It turned out to not be that sort of class. So, while he was disappointed he was a good sport about it. That was when he asked about learning it for this school year. He is really looking forward to it and I don't want this next attempt to be another disappointment for him. I want to reward his efforts and encourage his enthusiasm.

 

Also, if you know the lowercase Greek letters, would the following be a good idea or not? Also, which do you prefer?

• The Greek alphabet Code Cracker
  

or

• A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner's Copybook for the Greek Alphabet with Pronunciations
  

along with

• Greek Alphabetarion: A Primer for Teaching How to Read, Write & Pronounce Ancient & Biblical Greek
  

 

 

I am open to any other suggestions.

 

Last question: will it be a bother that we learned the historic koine pronunciation?

 

Thanks for any help.

[Dmmetler]

HA is VERY repetitive, but it does work. We skip around quite a bit with my DD, usually doing 2-3 pages from each section over several days rather than all the activities. She has retained almost 100% of HA 2, even over summer break where we didn't do Greek except for keeping the CD on the Mp3 Player, and we ended up skipping the first 6 chapters of HA 3 because they were redundant with HA 2.

 

Greek Code Cracker is fun, but it's basically just the alphabet.

 

Have you looked at "Song School Greek"? It's more designed for the little ones and builds up vocabulary.

[mom2boys030507]

My boys are using Hey Andrew for levels 1-3 then switching to Elementary Greek - well at least at this point. Yes, the pages get repetitive but it is the suject my boys ask for everyday. They seem to retain it very well. I have not been learning with them as I found it took me longer than either of my boys to remember all the different vocabulary.

 

If you know the alphabet well I think you can start with Hey Andrew 3.

[Bloggermom]

Greek for Children looks like a lot of fun. I heard they were coming out with a DVD soon.

[WyoSylvia]

Thank you all for your replies. I have a few questions:

 

My boys are using Hey Andrew for levels

1-3 then switching to Elementary Greek

 

Is your reason for switching a reflection on Hey Andrew?

 

Greek for Children looks like a lot of fun. I heard they were coming out with a DVD soon.

 

Do you know what that is going to be? Can you direct me to any info? I was wondering if there was any possibility that it might be in the same vein, or hopefully as well done, as their video teaser for The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker. That was great.

[mom2boys030507]

I am switching my oldest to Elementary Greek from Hey Andrew because he was getting bogged down with the daily pages of translation. He really enjoys Greek and wants to continue, but it was becoming no so fun so it was time for a change. I am hoping that Elementary Greek will just be a better fit for his learning style. I have it but we haven't started yet - the first part of Level 1 will be review for him.

[Violet Crown]

We used Hey, Andrew! with dd15 (when she was little) and now again with dd8. Both girls had problems in Book 4, where suddenly they throw the accent rules at you all at once, and shortly thereafter, all the cases for 1st and 2nd declension nouns. Dd15 just got marooned there, and eventually took up German instead. The next time around we were better prepared, and dh made up his own lessons on accent rules and cases and taught them to dd8 until she was ready to resume HA.

 

We don't have a problem with all the translations; if it's too much, we split it into parts and spread it over several days. If dd8 is having a recurring issue with the translations, dh stops HA and tutors her on his own for a while.

 

If you don't have someone reasonably competent in Greek in the house, though, you might want to switch to something else at that point.

 

We bought HA because, back then, it was the only option we could find for elementary-age Greek. I didn't even know it came with a CD now. Dh plans to switch to Athenaze when dd8 is done with HA.

[Bloggermom]

This year DS10 is going to be using Athenaze.