Latin's Not So Tough Opinions

[4kids13971]

I am starting Latin with my boys, ages 11 and 9, this year and we have started using Latins Not So Tough. I like the look of the program, easy to use and has some games and flash cards with it. I would like some opinions from those that teach Latin on how beneficial this program will be. It goes up several levels but if I need to switch, I would like to do it now before we get too far into this program. Thanks!

[stm4him]

I am using LNST. We started it last year and did both books 1 and 2 in one year. My second child also did Song School Latin b/c he finished LNST earlier in the year and I already had that book at home. My oldest is going to do level 3 this year and I think my second one will too but not as fast of a pace unless he wants to. He would like to look at SSL2 when it comes out. Anyway, I really like it because it doesn't take long and they can do it independently. My kids will start Henle 1 in Challenge 1 in 7th grade, though so they will get a more thorough grounding in Latin in their post-elementary years of school.

 

Level 3 is where a lot of people have issues with the program. Sometimes it is because they started there and didn't feel it had as much review as needed (or moved too fast). If you have done the prior books it is the perfect amount of review in my book. So I think it is wise for families to start at the beginning and race through at a comfortable pace instead of starting level 3 feeling behind.

 

The other reason some people don't like it is because it does not explicitly explain the grammar to the student. The information is in the full answer key for the teacher if the teacher would rather explain it to them. I believe in book 4 it does begin to explain to the students why they are changing the endings, etc. I may play that by ear depending on if I feel it helps my child or frustrates him or her to explain the background. Each one may be different. I have been impressed with their retention of the material even when we have taken weeks off.

 

So I personally give it a thumbs up so far but we'll have to see how I feel about it after this year.

 

HTH!

[Nestof3]

We are halfway through Level 3 and like it.

[abbeyej]

It is by far my least favorite of the many elementary Latin programs currently available. Other than the fact that it's "easy to implement", I can't think of a positive.

[Nestof3]

Yes, for us, it is an introduction to Latin. The grammar complaints don't really bother me because we do a lot of English grammar using proper terms, so we use proper terms in Latin as well. The boys have learned, for example, nominative, accusative, genitive, etc. slowly without being tossed every possible term at once. That is just too overwhelming for us.

 

I took Latin in college, and we eased into it in similar fashion.

 

We started with Latin for Children, and I thought we were going to be smothered by so much information.

 

I am using LNST. We started it last year and did both books 1 and 2 in one year. My second child also did Song School Latin b/c he finished LNST earlier in the year and I already had that book at home. My oldest is going to do level 3 this year and I think my second one will too but not as fast of a pace unless he wants to. He would like to look at SSL2 when it comes out. Anyway, I really like it because it doesn't take long and they can do it independently. My kids will start Henle 1 in Challenge 1 in 7th grade, though so they will get a more thorough grounding in Latin in their post-elementary years of school.

 

Level 3 is where a lot of people have issues with the program. Sometimes it is because they started there and didn't feel it had as much review as needed (or moved too fast). If you have done the prior books it is the perfect amount of review in my book. So I think it is wise for families to start at the beginning and race through at a comfortable pace instead of starting level 3 feeling behind.

 

The other reason some people don't like it is because it does not explicitly explain the grammar to the student. The information is in the full answer key for the teacher if the teacher would rather explain it to them. I believe in book 4 it does begin to explain to the students why they are changing the endings, etc. I may play that by ear depending on if I feel it helps my child or frustrates him or her to explain the background. Each one may be different. I have been impressed with their retention of the material even when we have taken weeks off.

 

So I personally give it a thumbs up so far but we'll have to see how I feel about it after this year.

 

HTH!

[bethben]

I didn't like it because it didn't explain enough of the grammar. We started with level 3 and when they got to sentences, there was no explanation about why the sentences were in the particular order they were in. That prompted the change. I changed to first form latin and all of a sudden Latin made sense. My ds didn't have a problem with LNST, I did. I didn't feel like I was understanding anything. The First Form Latin series is considered an introduction to Henle, so I would switch if you want to give them a good introduction to Henle.

 

Beth

[4kids13971]

Thanks for the replies. I really want the "why" of grammar included in our Latin choice so it seems that I may need to switch. I am planning on using Henle in later grades and First Form Latin is a good starting off point?