Opinions on Classical Greek for Beginners?

[SophiaH]

Who has used Galore Park's Greek program, Classical Greek for Beginners, and what are your thoughts on it? Is it appropriate for a 5th grader?

 

I'm planning on gently starting dd10 on Greek in the fall. She wanted to start it this year for 4th but I wanted to wait in order to get another good year of Latin under her belt. I would like to eventually move her into Athenaze and our long-term goal is Attic rather than Koine (although facility with Koine would be a wonderful benefit) so I've been eyeing Galore Park's program, Classical Greek for Beginners.

 

I really like the look of Elementary Greek but I wonder how much of a problem it would be to use EG, a Koine program, for maybe two years and then move into Athenaze? Otherwise, I'm thinking we'll do Greek Code Cracker and CGfB this year and then start Athenaze slowly in 6th. Thoughts?

[Allearia]

We got and played around with Classical Greek for Beginners, but I didn't really think there was a lot there. It is much different from their Latin program. It is a good way to get your feet wet. Unfortunately there is not a lot out there for attic Greek prior to Athenaze. There are a lot of out of print books we plan to go through over the summer to review but I don't think that much we did before starting the lukeion class did much. If you have a background in the language I bet you would do better though.

[SophiaH]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, when I went back to the GP website I noticed the book was only like 56 pages or something. I think I'm going to go ahead and order the Athenaze materials and look through them over the summer. Maybe by then Memoria Press will have come out with their First Form Greek and I can take a peek at it before I decide. FFG is supposed to prepare students for reading both Koine and Classical I believe.

 

If Athenaze proves to look like more than what I'm willing for dd to try to tackle this year, I may just go with EG for a time. I was hoping to have a chance to take an online class that uses Athenaze myself before dd got into it too far anyway. Plus, upon thinking more about it, I think dd would really benefit from taking either the CLRC's online course for Athenaze in 7th, or Lukeion's (is the minimum age for Lukeion's for 7th or 9th graders?)

 

Allearia, what online books are you looking at? I tried searching for some on Google books the other day but couldn't find anything that looked appropriate.

[Allearia]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, when I went back to the GP website I noticed the book was only like 56 pages or something. I think I'm going to go ahead and order the Athenaze materials and look through them over the summer. Maybe by then Memoria Press will have come out with their First Form Greek and I can take a peek at it before I decide. FFG is supposed to prepare students for reading both Koine and Classical I believe.

 

If Athenaze proves to look like more than what I'm willing for dd to try to tackle this year, I may just go with EG for a time. I was hoping to have a chance to take an online class that uses Athenaze myself before dd got into it too far anyway. Plus, upon thinking more about it, I think dd would really benefit from taking either the CLRC's online course for Athenaze in 7th, or Lukeion's (is the minimum age for Lukeion's for 7th or 9th graders?)

 

Allearia, what online books are you looking at? I tried searching for some on Google books the other day but couldn't find anything that looked appropriate.

 

I downloaded a lot of the books from this link, but I have not looked over any of them yet. My son did the lukeion class with athenaze so we have different needs, you may want to research or ask on their message board about if any of the texts were used for younger children or would be especially good for self study.

 

Also, the stated age for Lukeion is 12 or high school level, but my son started a bit younger so you could discuss it with the instructor if you are not sure. However I would not try that lightly, if I had known how much work it was I would not have signed him up (I knew 8-10 hrs per week but it is an intense 8-10 hours). He loves it and will continue with Greek 2 however.

 

I ordered the athenaze teacher guide from Rainbow Resources, can't remember if I couldn't find it on amazon. I didn't end up needing it but would use it if we were doing it on our own.

[Laura Corin]

It's very light. It's not something commissioned by GP - they bought it in already written. They were planning on producing a more in-depth text, but it was laid aside and hasn't been picked up again.

 

I would use it with a 10yo, but treat it only as a fun introduction.

 

Another option: this. I had it recommended to me by the boys' Classics teacher. As far as I remember, there isn't an answer key (unless one was published recently) but apparently you can contact the author for a printout.

 

Laura

Edited May 23, 2012 by Laura Corin

[Hedgehog]

It's very light. It's not something commissioned by GP - they bought it in already written. They were planning on producing a more in-depth text, but it was laid aside and hasn't been picked up again.

 

I would use it with a 10yo, but treat it only as a fun introduction.

 

Another option: this. I had it recommended to me by the boys' Classics teacher. As far as I remember, there isn't an answer key (unless one was published recently) but apparently you can contact the author for a printout.

 

Laura

 

Is the Greek to GCSE book a beginner's text, Laura? Or would you need some basics before you began it?