Minimus Secundus

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We're using Prima Latina and Minimus for second grade. DD is doing well and likes them both, especially Minimus. And despite what I've heard from other people, she is learning a lot from both curricula. I think we will probably use Latina Christiana 1 next year, but I'm still trying to figure out what to add for the fun element. Minimus Secundus is one possibility, but we do all of the grammar exercises and I'm a little concerned that they might be too hard, since this level is meant for older kids. Does anyone have experience with this?

[Dmmetler]

My DD enjoyed Minimus Secundus, but it is definitely a step up from Minimus as far as difficulty. She's a whole-part kid, and has an easier time meeting concepts in immersion first and then having them pulled out, so Minimus and now, Cambridge Latin, have been more what she benefits from than the part-whole Latin for Children that we started with. The one thing I would suggest adding is that,if your child is doing diagramming or labeling for English sentences, apply this to Latin, because neither Minimus nor CL teach this explicitly, but by mid-way through CL I I was VERY glad I'd had DD do so for translation exercises as it makes it MUCH easier.

 

As far as doing it with a 7 yr old, DD was able to manage it at 6 without trouble, but I admit that I do most of the writing for translations and the like. I also sometimes, especially for CL, will copy and enlarge the page of the book so she can just mark on the page, rather than trying to copy to a different piece of paper.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Thanks to you both!

 

My DD enjoyed Minimus Secundus, but it is definitely a step up from Minimus as far as difficulty. She's a whole-part kid, and has an easier time meeting concepts in immersion first and then having them pulled out, so Minimus and now, Cambridge Latin, have been more what she benefits from than the part-whole Latin for Children that we started with. The one thing I would suggest adding is that,if your child is doing diagramming or labeling for English sentences, apply this to Latin, because neither Minimus nor CL teach this explicitly, but by mid-way through CL I I was VERY glad I'd had DD do so for translation exercises as it makes it MUCH easier.

 

As far as doing it with a 7 yr old, DD was able to manage it at 6 without trouble, but I admit that I do most of the writing for translations and the like. I also sometimes, especially for CL, will copy and enlarge the page of the book so she can just mark on the page, rather than trying to copy to a different piece of paper.

 

That was another concern that I had, where would we go in fourth grade? It's good to hear that your dd is doing well with CL. It is definitely on my list for the future but I was not sure she'd be ready for it in fourth grade. I think I'll probably buy Minimus Secundus and if, after looking at it, I feel she's not ready we'll just take a break from Minimus for a year and find something else.

[Ester Maria]

I have it and have never used it. It looks (to me, not to a child) easy and confusing at the same time. I am philosophically opposed to using programs which cannot be bothered to list the vocabulary *properly* (and which lists it the "fuzzy" way) and which sacrifices clarity for being "engaging". However, I can see why many children might like its general approach, there are a lot of cultural tidbits which one may appreciate, as well as lexical connections with English and basic grammar literacy, which are the pluses.

 

I think you can use it in second grade.