Ancient Greek for a 7th Grader?

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

Ok, my soon to be 7th grader has expressed a strong desire to learn Ancient Greek. For months, this is not a passing thing. This would be my hard to motivate child, so anything he shows a strong interest in learning about is something I pay attention to.

 

What would you recommend?

He has some mild memory issues, but they are less of an issue when he's highly motivated. He's highly visual. His only Greek experience is Greek Code Cracker. No Latin (we tried briefly when he was in 3rd grade with Prima Latina, but he hated it and didn't seem to be able to remember it---lack of ambition, again). He retains better with mastery and constant review. I know this will be hard for him, but I'm willing to slow things down if need be. I think I'm willing to learn it with him. Ha ha!

 

Share your wisdom, please?

[phathui5]

Classical Academic Press has Greek resources. We've been using them for Latin and like it.

 

http://classicalacademicpress.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8&zenid=8d23f0749037382a77b5b5fbee4b3b1f

[mumto2]

Ds12 is doing Elementary Greek--Koine for beginners. We like it.

[redsquirrel]

ok, I am going to screw this up, so please do more research about what I am going to say. There are different versions of ancient greek. This makes me laugh! It is SO ancient that there are different levels of ancient :lol:

 

Anyway, Koine is (I think) biblical greek. There is also homeric greek. I know this because my son wants to study homeric greek.

 

There is one resource for homeric greek, Athenaze. There are many others for koine greek.

[Diviya]

I don't know much either, but I think there is Koine Greek, Attic Greek, and Homeric Greek. Koine Greek is biblical, the other two are ancient. I thought Athenzae was Attic Greek, but I could be wrong. Galore Park sells a Greek for Beginners that may work for you.

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

My understanding is that there is:

 

 

• Homeric
  
• Attic
  
• Koine
  

 

Koine being the easiest? And at least Attic being necessary if you want to study ancient texts or anything beyond the New Testament. I think? This is what I got from my reading.

 

 

Most of the programs seem to be Koine. Is that correct? What are the options for Attic besides Athenaze? Or are there? And could my 12 year old really handle Athenaze without becoming totally overwhelmed and giving up?

 

 

 

I know you can't actually answer that because you don't know my 12-year-old.

 

 

Or would it be better to settle on Koine and go for Attic later? I know I'm asking for purely opinion. :D

[crazyforlatin]

I don't know much either, but I think there is Koine Greek, Attic Greek, and Homeric Greek. Koine Greek is biblical, the other two are ancient. I thought Athenzae was Attic Greek, but I could be wrong. Galore Park sells a Greek for Beginners that may work for you.

 

I like Elementary Greek and op's son could work through all three books within a year and decide if he wants to continue with Koine or Attic using Athenaze. I would consider using Athenaze with Lukeion.

 

I sure wish MP would hurry up and publish their First Form Greek, which appears to be a mix of Attic and Koine. I believe they have an online class and the students may be beta testing the books.

 

Homeric Greek: Have you read this thread about materials for this dialect?

[crazyforlatin]

My understanding is that there is:

 

• Homeric
  
• Attic
  
• Koine
  

Koine being the easiest? And at least Attic being necessary if you want to study ancient texts or anything beyond the New Testament. I think? This is what I got from my reading.

 

 

Most of the programs seem to be Koine. Is that correct? What are the options for Attic besides Athenaze? Or are there? And could my 12 year old really handle Athenaze without becoming totally overwhelmed and giving up?

 

 

 

I know you can't actually answer that because you don't know my 12-year-old.

 

 

Or would it be better to settle on Koine and go for Attic later? I know I'm asking for purely opinion. :D

 

I read here that it gets harder up the dialect chain, so from easiest to hardest, is Koine, Attic, Homeric.

 

I had to go with Koine first because I have a younger child that I didn't want to overwhelm, although looking at Athenaze, I believe it could be doable for her at a slower pace but she's also had several years of Latin, so there are grammar concepts I don't have to cover. If FFG were available, I would have switched already, given that it has Attic Greek, but Elementary Greek really fits us and I'm hoping to finish all the books soon.

 

There are middle schoolers here that use Athenaze. Have you considered an online class?

[Jyniffrec]

Classical Learning Resource Center offers online courses using Athenaze. My 7th grader just finished her first year. I don't regret the time or money spent one bit. We had an excellent experience with them. The teacher, Anne van Fossen, is a member on this board. We will be going on to Greek 2 with them next year.

 

(I have no idea why I have a thumbs down image at the top of my post but I can't seem to get it off.)

Edited May 15, 2012 by Jyniffrec

[Donna T.]

We use Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek. We are extremely happy with it. It is Koine Greek, so that may not be what you are looking for. Our goal is to be able to read the New Testament in the original Greek, so we are content with Koine. Going from Koine to another form of Greek is not difficult to do if a solid foundation has been laid. My advice for anyone starting Greek is to take it slow in the beginning. The kids love learning the alphabet. We took that first stage of learning very slowly and once the alphabet really "clicked" they were ready to go! We used the Code Cracker book to learn the alphabet but my youngest son needed to review it so he then went into level 1 of Hey Andrew! My older son was able to start with level 2 of Hey Andrew! I like Hey Andrew! because it is written to the student, the pages are not busy, it does move slowly in the first couple of levels, and it includes alot of drill and review (sometimes too much so we skip things as needed). I have found that it's simple to implement and my kids are able to feel successful with it since it's easy to know what to do next and includes frequent review.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Donna T.

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

I looked at online classes, but there's simply no way I can afford them.:tongue_smilie:

On the other hand, since this seems so important to him, I really want him to succeed. I'm thinking Elementary Greek may be the place to start and then move onto Athenaze, if he's still with it at that point. :D

 

Of course, he saw the description of Athenaze over my shoulder and was totally psyched about it. The method as described appeals to him in a way that the other texts don't really. He's very big-picture to small part---how does this all work together---as opposed to taking a bunch of little pieces and putting them together. Does that make sense?

 

But, he's not an ambitious individual, if ykwim? I don't for a minute think he'll complete all 3 levels of Elementary Greek in a year, for instance. He is bright, yes, but not an over-achiever. So, I also need to consider what's actual do-able for him.

 

I've not been able to find actual samples of Athenaze (Rainbow Resources "samples" are just the table of contents), and so I can't judge what the actual exercises look like. A little bit at a time with me beside him, could he even do it?

 

Naturally, if he had already studied some Koine, it would be easier, but what concerns me is that if the method used to teach the Koine doesn't click with him, he may just get turned off the whole thing.

 

So, pardon my thinking aloud. I've obviously thought too much about this.:001_rolleyes:

[materursa]

 

I've not been able to find actual samples of Athenaze (Rainbow Resources "samples" are just the table of contents), and so I can't judge what the actual exercises look like. A little bit at a time with me beside him, could he even do it?

 

You can see some of the pages in the book at this amazon link. :001_smile:

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

I did see that, actually, but the sample is from the Teacher's Handbook, not the actual text. I can't get a handle on what the pages he would be using would actually look like. :confused:

[crazyforlatin]

I did see that, actually, but the sample is from the Teacher's Handbook, not the actual text. I can't get a handle on what the pages he would be using would actually look like. :confused:

 

I can take a picture for you later since I'm away from home. I'm reluctant to use it with DD at this moment due to text size, but I would think that the font would be fine for your son.

[crazyforlatin]

I hope these show up. Only 5 attachments are allowed - these are pages from Chapter 1.

 

Actually, the font is generally fine except for just a few places.

[crazyforlatin]

Here's the last page of chapter 1.

[Dawn E]

I would go into Athenaze. There is no need to start with Koine if your plan is to learn Attic or Homeric. Make "slow and steady" the goal.

 

ETA: Just to clarify, the progression of Koine to Attic or Homeric is a logical one since most elementary materials are Koine. That is what we are doing since my dd is so young. With an older student interested in Attic, there is no need to go through Koine first.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Dawn E

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

CrazyforLatin---you are awesome! Thank you for doing this, it helps me a lot. :)

[crazyforlatin]

CrazyforLatin---you are awesome! Thank you for doing this, it helps me a lot. :)

 

You're very welcome!

[Mama Lynx]

We had the kids work through Elementary Greek (koine), and then move on to Athenaze (Attic).

[Embassy]

I'd go with Athenaze as well. Sometimes we have needed a little extra explanation for some things. This book (pdf file) has been helpful as a supplement.