Jump to content

Menu

Latina Christiana DVDs.. useful resource or waste of time?


Entropymama
 Share

Recommended Posts

We're doing Prima Latina this year and I had assumed we'd go with Latina Christiana next year, making use of the DVDs for instruction time. Sadly, according to Amazon reviews, the teacher is boring and makes frequent mistakes and the video is poorly done. Can anyone weigh in on this?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I heard a lot of bad things about them. I don't like watching them myself. DS however enjoys them. They make Latin an independent subject which is good for me.

Day 1: Watches the lesson and then does as much as the workbook as he can from memory.

Day 2: He finishes the workbook with the DVD

Day 3: Flashcards and however he wants to review (read the workbook or watch the DVD)

Day 4: Quiz

 

He also alternates going through flashcards. I do them through each review. So day 1 he goes through lesson 1-5, day 2 lesson 6-10 etc...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crucial for me because when we were using them I did not know Latin, did not have time to learn Latin, and did not have time to teach it. If we had not had them, there would have been no foreign language study at all in our homeschool. I was working fulltime while homeschooling 8th grade, and it was really, really hard. We had tried Vocabulary Vine the year before or maybe the year before that, and it just never happened--too many other priorities. DD liked watching videos while doing needlepoint, and was not allowed to have social media at the time, so that's why she learned any Latin at all--I insisted on educational DVD's only, and assigned LC to her, and it worked out. In BM high school she took Spanish, and the Latin helped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you use the DVDs with Prima? It is the same teacher. In fact, I'd say she messes up LESS than in the PL videos.

 

My kids don't enjoy them, but she covers a LOT of stuff that, IMO, isn't in the teacher's manual. My kids didn't enjoy the PL videos either.

 

Having used PL last year, I found the first several (10?) chapters were full of review. We focused on the translation aspect & took it "a step up" (at least with my older; my younger has a tough time grasping grammar & taking that next step) with the supplemental worksheets that are available free on the Memoria Press's LC page.

 

I didn't use the DVD for the first five chapters.

 

I have found them useful & worth the $.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depending on the ages of your children, you may want to consider moving right to First Form Latin (also by Memoria Press). My DD11 used Prima Latina in 4th grade (no DVDs) but is using the First Form DVDs and loving them (that may be a little strong--but she does like them) in 5th grade. It does seem advanced so she may take a year and a half to get through it, but we are both happy with the program.

 

ETA: First Form has a different instructor than LC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We didn't have any problems with the videos. They weren't high entertainment, which is just fine, because the idea was to teach my kids Latin. Actually I loved that time with the DVD. I poured myself a cup of coffee, the older kids had their Latin books out and the younger kids did puzzles. It was the most restful part of my day :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you use the DVDs with Prima? It is the same teacher. In fact, I'd say she messes up LESS than in the PL videos.

 

My kids don't enjoy them, but she covers a LOT of stuff that, IMO, isn't in the teacher's manual. My kids didn't enjoy the PL videos either.

 

Having used PL last year, I found the first several (10?) chapters were full of review. We focused on the translation aspect & took it "a step up" (at least with my older; my younger has a tough time grasping grammar & taking that next step) with the supplemental worksheets that are available free on the Memoria Press's LC page.

 

I didn't use the DVD for the first five chapters.

 

I have found them useful & worth the $.

 

Can you post the link for the free worksheets. I am googling, but not finding! Thanks

 

Nevermind... I found it!

Edited by 2_girls_mommy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the southern accent? I found it mildly annoying in the Prima set (CDs), only because she often broke her own pronunciation 'rules'. Any thoughts?

 

The breaking of the pronunciation rules was one of the things I meant by "mistakes." I don't think her accent was as much the trouble as she just didn't pronounce things the way she said you were supposed to. (I'm not sure if she was using the "correct" pronunciation but the simple PL rules don't take into account the diacritical marks change things?) She definitely still has the accent in LC. I think the LC CDs were made before the PL ones, FWIW.

 

Can you post the link for the free worksheets. I am googling, but not finding! Thanks

 

Nevermind... I found it!

 

They've recently changed their website, but here are the worksheet pages for anyone else who doesn't want to search. The Key is a separate link. You have to go all the way down to the bottom of the LC page in the "Resources & Extras" section.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...