Mississippi Mama Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Ok, I know the benefits of learning Latin and want my kids to learn it. But I will be honest: i just don't want to teach it b/c I get all tongue tied trying to pronounce the words. I tried a few years back with MP Prima Latina. It was just too dry for me and I just was no good at Latin. I'm not against going with another MP product. I've also looked at Latin's Not So Tough. I've also wondered about MP's online Latin classes. My 7th grader is begging to do it! Plus I have younger kids I want to try the fun little Sing Song Latin with. So what do I do? If I could teach it/learn it with my ds inorder for him to learn and progress plus get my confidence up in teaching it to my next 5 that would be great. We will do it one way or another. But I'd like some feedback. Plus another question: do I need to look into them learning Greek at some point? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaymom Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Have you looked at Latin for Children? This will be our first year in Latin, but a neighbor is using it and she loves it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Lively Latin is very easy for a student to use on his own. It was written specifically for homeschooling families. It is also fairly engaging. I started LL when my son was in 3rd grade, but it took us 2 years to get through it all. Then we did it all over again in 5th grade, omitting all the history lessons. Now he is finishing 6th grade and he is working through LL2 on his own. Again, it is going to take us a couple years to get through it all. I think a 7th grader would find LL1 engaging. He could work through it at a faster pace. You could consider skipping the history lessons, but they are fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I bought LL 2 years ago, but it got too difficult too quickly for Indy. He was only in 3rd grade at the time though. Your 7th grader might not have any problems. We are using LfC and I love it. It's concise and relatively easy to use. We have the CD and DVD's which are basic but pretty funny in their own way. The guy who presents the lessons is adorkable. He's geeky, but it's an endearing geekiness. I ♥ him for being the way he is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarreymere Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 We tried several programs, but they moved too quickly and didn't have enough practice and were hard for this non-latin comprehending mom to teach. Then we tried Latin Prep from Galore Park and it has been wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn E Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 We use Latin Prep and Visual Latin. I love both. We had been using MP, and though I love MP, we were just plodding through LC1. When I added in Visual Latin, my dd's eyes lit up about the subject again. The teacher presents it in a different way (more whole to parts than parts to whole), and the focus is on reading/translating. It helped her to see the big picture of Latin, and the teacher is so hilarious that the lessons are a lot of fun. I was very impressed with her progress. I dropped LC and focused on VL. When we finished VL 1 (Lessons 1-30) I started Latin Prep for some more focused grammar work. I love the way LP has them do a lot of translation work--English to Latin and Latin to English. That helps so much in cementing the concepts. Next school year I plan to continue both programs if possible. BTW--I am also in MS, in a little town that was a big part of the Civil War with a name beginning with "V." :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 But I will be honest: i just don't want to teach it b/c I get all tongue tied trying to pronounce the words. I just couldn't let this go, because Latin is so easy to pronounce, especially the restored Classical Latin pronunciation. There are no silent letters. There are trivial rules for where the emphasis is, with almost no exceptions. Every consonant makes only one sound. There's just a handful of dipthongs, and they are always dipthongs. Each vowels make one of two sounds, and in most texts all the vowels are marked as to which sound they make. It should just take one lesson to teach you everything you need to know about Latin pronunciation. I think you'd be hard pressed to find another language easier to pronounce. The reason I'm saying this is that kids pick up on what parents think, even when we don't verbalize it. Even if you don't think this now, it is useful to tell your kids how easy it is to pronounce Latin, especially compare to, say French or Chinese, where tone and inflection are subtle for non-native speakers to hear, but make a huge difference in the meaning of words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Gate Academy Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 For the 7th grader, I would consider looking at Latin Alive from Classical Academic Press with the DVDs. We used them this past year, and they are excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Mama Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 We use Latin Prep and Visual Latin. I love both. We had been using MP, and though I love MP, we were just plodding through LC1. When I added in Visual Latin, my dd's eyes lit up about the subject again. The teacher presents it in a different way (more whole to parts than parts to whole), and the focus is on reading/translating. It helped her to see the big picture of Latin, and the teacher is so hilarious that the lessons are a lot of fun. I was very impressed with her progress. I dropped LC and focused on VL. When we finished VL 1 (Lessons 1-30) I started Latin Prep for some more focused grammar work. I love the way LP has them do a lot of translation work--English to Latin and Latin to English. That helps so much in cementing the concepts. Next school year I plan to continue both programs if possible. BTW--I am also in MS, in a little town that was a big part of the Civil War with a name beginning with "V." :) Thanks for this info! I'm going to check into both of these. They sound doable for us. BTW, I am in a town north of you also with much civil war heritage:). Never been to your town but would love to someday. We are actually studying the civil war right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Mama Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks for the suggestions y'all ! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has searched for a funner Latin course:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Have you see the Galore Park materials? I am not sure how to order them but they look fun. Look at horrible Ray for ordering Latin Prep. My ds loves it. It is nice to hear him giggling while doing Latin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Have you see the Galore Park materials? I am not sure how to order them but they look fun. You can order them on Amazon. While *I* love LfC, Indy struggles with it because there are few visuals, so we're switching to SYRWTL Latin. We also have Minimus, which, now that I know some Latin, I feel comfortable teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanna1949 Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 And, seriously, how many Latins are you going to be talking with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classically Minded Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 I tried a few years back with MP Prima Latina. It was just too dry for me and I just was no good at Latin. Did you try the DVD for Prima Latina? That is what we will be using, I've already watched a lesson and so glad that I don't have to teach it, but just sit and learn along with my dd! :D They also have them for the next one, Latina Christiana and First Form Latin that comes later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Mama Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 I tried the DVD:( Just couldn't get into it. Has anyone used Ecce Romani? I would like some thoughts on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted July 4, 2012 Share Posted July 4, 2012 Have you see the Galore Park materials? I am not sure how to order them but they look fun. When we are done with the intro stuff we are doing (Getting Started in & I Speak ), we are moving to GP. Wish us luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi Mama Posted July 8, 2012 Author Share Posted July 8, 2012 I'm the op here....still can't decide:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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