Minimus #1 - How long should It Take?

[Guest suzyhomeschooler]

I just received my student and Teacher Editions of Minimus, and I love it. But I'm surprised by how short it is - only 12 chapters/lessons. Is this supposed to take a full school year or should I order Secundus for the 2nd half of the year? I read a post here awhile back that said Secundus really takes it up a notch in terms of rigor, though; not sure my younger one could do it.

I will be doing this with my 12yo ds (6th grader) and 8 1/2yo dd (3rd grader), who've not studied Latin except for Classical Conversations Cycle 3 Memory Work last year, which they both loved. I'm also wondering if I should add something more for my 12yo; we are pretty relaxed Classical/Charlotte Mason, so I wouldn't do anything too rigorous, probably Latin for Children. My kids are both very creative types, which is why I thought Minimus would be a good fit, b/c it's done in such a fun, creative way. . .

[Amy Jo]

Try this out - I hope the link works, otherwise Google: the examined life minimus

 

http://theexaminedlife.org/enrichment/downloads/2009-2010%20The%20Examined%20Life%20-%20Enrichment%20Curriculum%20and%20Weekly%20Assignments.pdf

 

They have a 36 week schedule, 1 week per chapter in Minimus, 2 wks a chapter in Secundus. I don't think they have you using the teacher edition - so you can probably stretch it out. (I've never seen the TE.)

 

We are just playing with Minumus for fun. We practice the dialogues, substitute our own names, do some copywork and draw a picture for it. If I wanted to be more rigorous we'd be memorizing the vocabulary with flashcards, as well as the grammar rules, and adding in some Latin grammar (sum, es, est, ...). It's not our main program, so we don't have a schedule for it or a particular time goal to complete - it's just to have fun.

 

Your kids are older, so I think it might be better to go faster. Have you thought of adding Getting Started with Latin for your oldest? It's very simple, and very gentle. And it's inexpensive.

[mathnmusic]

Similar boat here! The extent of our Latin exposure was Classical Conversations last cycle, cycle 3. This summer we've started doing Minimus book 1 in our small co-op with 3 children, ages 6, 8 and 8. This is our main Latin program, and we cover 1 chapter per week, going through all the dialogue, memorizing vocabulary, verb conjugations, quizzes. It's been a lot of work for the kids, I feel like their brains are getting stretched, in a good way. The thing is, they love it! I'm learning along with them, and while a chapter a week feels a bit fast paced to me, the kids seem to be absorbing it better than I am.

[craftyerin]

I did Minimus I in the fall and Secundus in the spring with a class of 3-6th graders at a University Model School, meeting 2x a week, and with only vocab study for "homework". It was fun!

[Momling]

We did one semester for each book, plus the worksheets and extra stuff online that I found.

[Cassy]

We did Minimus during our first year of homeschooling and I seem to remember that it took the whole school year, but maybe because we were a bit adrift that first year, having decided to homeschool as a result of a crisis with very little research or planning. We worked through Minimus Secundus at a much faster rate. I really enjoyed it, although DS11 didn't. I'm planning to try it out with DS5 and DS7 in September.

[Guest suzyhomeschooler]

Thanks for the responses; it looks like I better order Secundus, with the plan to complete it, if we can. I also looked extensively @ Getting Started w/Latin after the rec. from "mtcougar" and I love what all the reviews said, along with the sample pages on the website. I think I'll order it, as well, for my ds12, and see if can do a bit of both. Thanks to all!