Latin Before High School?

[oldskool]

My dd has done LFC for the past 3 years (through LFC B) and has now moved on to an online Latin course that uses Wheelocks. The class is challenging for her to say the least. I had thought that having done Latin during the pre-high school years would have been helpful, but besides knowing some vocabulary and being exposed to things like conjugating, it seems that she is starting all over. My dilemma is whether to have my other two kids continue with Latin or just wait to start Wheelocks in high school and focus on a modern language during the elementary/middle years.

 

Anybody have experience on how helpful starting Latin before high school was for learning high school level Latin?

 

 

Lesley

[FaithManor]

We do Prima Latina, Latina Christiana, and Latina Christiana II in the middle school years with Henle 1 for 8th grade. Prima Latina - 6th grade, Latina Christiana and LC II for 7th, and Henle 1 for 8th grade.

 

They do Henle 2 & 3 as freshman for one credit of high school Latin and then I drop Latin and they pursue three years of a modern foreign language though I do throw some Latin review at them from time to time.

 

I don't really pursue Latin to the level of translation work or fluency. We are a scientific household and Latin vocabulary makes remembering scientific terminology and definitions easy. Since there is also heavy Greek background to scientific terms as well, we do all of the Vocabulary from Classical Roots books during middle school as well.

 

DD and ds are pretty decent with the Latin from the standpoint that they recognize it everywhere, remember the roots and are able to determine the definition of terms they've never seen before, and were conversational Latin revived, they'd be able to converse primitively...they remember several prayers and songs in Latin as well. But, because pushing the study of Latin to the higher level would have detracted from our science studies and projects, I chose to easy up in comparison to WTM recommendations.

 

DD found that her Latin was a great foundation for medicine - her peers were envious of how easily she learned medical terminology and had a less difficult time remembering a huge number of definitions, as well as a nice tie-in to Spanish.

 

We did not pursue modern foreign language in the young years though that is an excellent time for children to become adept with another langauge. It was a trade off in time. We've been pursuing highly rigorous science from 1st grade onward and I'm not willing to trade that for langauge study. But, I did speak French around the house in the hopes the kids would catch on and my sister, when she visited, would carry on easy little conversations in French with me or read fairy tales/fables in French to them in the hopes they'd develop an interest and some of it would sink in. It was all for nothing! Not one French word stuck with them, I gave up and have since become VERY rusty in French, and none of them want to study French in high school. :( One is intent on German, one wants to learn Danish, and one is determined to work on Hebrew and Arabic. Grrrrrr......

 

Faith

[wapiti]

My dd has done LFC for the past 3 years (through LFC B) and has now moved on to an online Latin course that uses Wheelocks. The class is challenging for her to say the least. I had thought that having done Latin during the pre-high school years would have been helpful, but besides knowing some vocabulary and being exposed to things like conjugating, it seems that she is starting all over. My dilemma is whether to have my other two kids continue with Latin or just wait to start Wheelocks in high school and focus on a modern language during the elementary/middle years.

 

Anybody have experience on how helpful starting Latin before high school was for learning high school level Latin?

 

 

Lesley

 

I don't know LFC. What did your dc get out of LFC - knowing noun endings? Is there much translation? You may get a lot of mileage out of doing GSWL prior to Wheelock's. GSWL does not take long at all. There's a list on the website of what is included. I thought it was excellent preparation before my dd started Henle.

 

I'm also not familiar with on-line classes of Wheelock's but I'd suspect that they move rather fast. One option might be to use Wheelock's at home for a while, at your student's own pace, before starting the on-line class.

[Brenda in MA]

Lesley,

 

We started Latin with Prima Latina when my son was in the 2nd grade. He used LC 1 & 2 after that. He began Henle I in the 5th grade, and we spent 4 years working though that at a slow pace, using the Memoria Press guides at first, then MODG guides. Last year, in 9th, he completed Henle 2 with the MODG guide. I've found that the slow, steady pace at learning the Latin grammar and forms has been really effective.

 

This year, he's taking a Latin literature course where the whole emphasis is on increasing reading fluency. The course is challenging, but so far, he's keeping up and his thorough background in the grammar has been very helpful.

 

I'm not familiar with LFC, so I can't comment on what a student would cover using that program for three years. I do think early Latin study is very helpful to becoming fluent in high school. If you want to stick with Latin for the younger kids, perhaps you should look at a program that teaches the grammar during middle school.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[Alphabetika]

My dd did 1.5 years of LC (LCI and half of LCII) before going on to an online class that used Wheelocks (maybe same one as yours?) She had the same experience as your dd. She told me that she learned more in the first 2 weeks of class than she had learned in her 1.5 years of LC, and it would have been just as useful not to start until high school. (She started by her own choice, just to be clear.) Her Latin teacher believes that ancient languages are best started when kids have reached the abstract thinking level and have the work ethic and dedication to work as hard as learning an ancient language requires.

 

For what it's worth, dd loved Latin, took 2 years (now wishes she'd gone farther and may someday in the future) and did fabulously, earned a silver and gold on the NLE, and doesn't regret a minute of it. I have never seen her work harder on academics than she did in this class, and I think it taught her more than just Latin!

[Heather in VA]

We did several years of lighter Latin before going into Wheelock's. It was definitely a big step up from what we had been doing and my daughter agreed that she could have just started with Wheelock's but she was glad that she had the previous experience. She felt she would have been pretty overwhelmed had that been her first introduction to Latin. This was backed up by the fact that a few kids in her class (we have been doing Latin online) who were new to Latin struggled for a while before settling into the class. My daughter didn't have the adjustment or struggle time. She has now finished Wheelock's and is doing her first year of all translation work.

 

Heather

[angela in ohio]

Did she just work through it, or did she master (memorize) the material?

 

I know the biggest benefit my dd brought to Wheelock's was the memorization of the conjugations and declensions she had done in earlier years. They were a huge advantage to her. She already knew the "grammar" of Latin, so she was able to focus on putting things together in Wheelock's.