BabyFishDesigns Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I want to hear from those of you who are doing/have done Prima Latina with a 6 year old. I'm going to be ordering our first grade memoria press curriculum soon and Dh and I are trying to decide if we should wait till 2nd to start Prima Latina or if we should just jump in now. For what it's worth, DD won't be 6 until August. We'll probably start phonics earlier in the year (like whenever we finish the K one) but wait till the "normal" school year starts to start this IF we decide to do it. Advice? Opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosesinsummer Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Here are my two cents based on our experience. I didn't use Prima Latina with a 6 year old, but I did start a barely 6 year old in CLAA petty school for a little over a semester. Basically, it's a Latin course for the younger set. Anyway, Mr. Michael encouraged us to said to stop all English phonics and just do the Latin, as it gets confusing for the little ones. Petty school starts with Latin and then switches to English phonics later. For a variety of reasons, we decided CLAA wasn't for us and now we are back to English phonics. DD is reading on target level, but we are still working through all the English phonograms and OPGTR right now, and I won't add Latin until next year. My advice is choose one or the other right now. Doing both while she is still learning to read English may be a bit overwhelming or confusings unless she is extremely gifted and/or able to sit through long periods of LA type work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 My advice is choose one or the other right now. Doing both while she is still learning to read English may be a bit overwhelming or confusings unless she is extremely gifted and/or able to sit through long periods of LA type work. Last year, I started PL with a 7 & almost 9 yr old. The younger one was not a strong reader at the time and the grammar concepts (in PL) went right over her head. It is confusing to tell a child who is still learning to read how to pronounce vowels in Latin differently than English. (Since PL repeatedly teaches that I says /E/ and E says /A/, for example.) I'd wait on the Latin. The grammar is great review or reinforcement later on. PL went much better with my older child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I am having tons of fun with Song School Latin with my dd6 and ds4. I can understand wanting to jump into a serious program, but SSL introduces a good chunk of vocabulary, pronunciation, and a few basic grammar concepts (parts of speech, declensions), all taught with fun, quick songs. (the songs are not great art, but they're okay) The good news is that you could probably start SSL sooner and use it until you were ready for a "real" program. I think this is fantastic preparation for ANY language studies later on. Our adventures in Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I sort of did PL w/a 6 yr old first grader, emerging reader last year. I was actually doing the class w/my 3rd grader, but the 1st grader was along for the ride. I did not have her do any writing in the workbook. And she didn't grasp a lot of the grammar (there isn't much though..) But she was perfectly able to do vocabulary, learn the vowel sounds (and make up a poem of them to help memorize them, learn the songs and prayers, and do flashcards. One note though, I am actually going to redo PL with her in 3rd grade again, with the workbook. I do not want to try and jump her into doing Latina Christiana in 2nd or 3rd grade. I am doing it now w/my 4th grader and teaching it in a co-op class to mostly 5th and 6th graders. It would be too much for her as a 3rd grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I started it with my 3rd grader and it's going well. I know that's not your question but... PL assumes you know parts of speech. This week's lesson is on the verb ending that indicates a pronoun. Well, if you don't know verbs and pronouns..... Also, it has helped that my son is a good reader. So, I think that unless your first grader is precocious, I'd wait or use a program geared for that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I agree. In the case of my 1st grader, I still had her memorize the endings. She can chant the the personal verb endings and the 1st conjugation of amo, and the endings in the 1st declension, but she doesn't really get what they mean yet. We memorized them to the tune of B-I-N-G-O, a little tip I picked up at a convention workshop. I figure it will help her out when she gets further in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BabyFishDesigns Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 These are all awesome answers! Thanks so much!! We did Classical Conversations last year with her (as a 4 year old) and she has memorized all the things they did in cycle 2. I think I'll look into the Song School Latin as that seems more up our ally. Thanks again everyone!! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in the UP of MI Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I would definitely wait if she isn't reading yet. I'd even wait for SSL, unless you just want to listen to the cd. I did a little of SSL in the second half of dd's kindergarten year and we did the whole thing when she was in first grade, but she was fluently reading by the start of kindergarten. I'll be waiting much longer for ds, who isn't reading yet. I do disagree about needing to know grammar to start Prima Latina. We are using FLL 1/2 this year as well as Prima Latina and Minimus. All three curricula cover some or all of the parts of speech. She has been introduced to different parts of speech by each of the curricula and has understood it all well. Each of the curricula seems to expect it to be the student's introduction to the parts of speech. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I think you could use either song school Latin or prima Latina with a 6 year old but the song school Latin will be more fun. We did SSL then Prima Latina before starting Latin for Children. Neither program gets to deep in to grammar. In Prima Latina had more difficult vocabulary and includes derivatives. There are also references to parts of speech (for example the lesson intruction might say this week's words are nouns or verbs or prepositions) but it does not get in to complex grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladydusk Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Last year my now 7 yo did PL, but she had finished OPG and was almost finished with FLL1, so she had some idea what a noun and verb were. I've done the same with my son starting last week, he just turned 6, but has a good year or so of fluent reading (although we finished OPG in November) and is almost finished with FLL. Both of them think Latin is fun :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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