What would you recommend for our last year of Latin study

[Excelsior! Academy]

My oldest children have done Latina Christiana 1 and 2, the bridge unit and DVDs for First Form 1, and Henle Units 1 & 2. My oldest is entering 11th and realistically she will only have room in her schedule for one more year. It has taken us a long time to get this far. Sloooow and steady. Her retention level has been fairly good but we have fizzled out on our study the last few months. I really want her to have one more year for SAT and her possibly entering the medical field. What would you suggest? The second 1/2 of Henle? Weelock's? Something else?

[G5052]

If Henle is working for you, I'd keep on with it. I teach locally with the second volume of Henle. I like it particularly for students who are just going to do a few years of Latin and stop without getting into extensive translation of Latin literature and poetry. Thus far all of my local students stop with Latin II. I've taught through all of Helne I and most of Henle II now, and it is a solid, complete curriculum.

 

If you go to Wheelock's, you're going to have to start over, and it can be a tough road for self-study unless you are really motivated. That said, If you want to go further beyond the textbook in Latin, I would say that is is overall better for that goal because of the variety of vocabulary and literature used. I would find it tougher to teach though. The explanations are more sketchy and their vocabularly lists are longer. I am OK with Henle (just an amateur Latin teacher), but I would turn down anyone who asked me to teach Wheelock's. I'm just not that level of teacher.

 

My oldest did half of Henle I then the second half of Wheelocks, and then is in Lukeion's Latin III class. That is extremely unusual from what I've been told, but he's a Latin guy.

[TammyS]

My oldest children have done Latina Christiana 1 and 2, the bridge unit and DVDs for First Form 1, and Henle Units 1 & 2. My oldest is entering 11th and realistically she will only have room in her schedule for one more year. It has taken us a long time to get this far. Sloooow and steady. Her retention level has been fairly good but we have fizzled out on our study the last few months. I really want her to have one more year for SAT and her possibly entering the medical field. What would you suggest? The second 1/2 of Henle? Weelock's? Something else?

 

 

If your goals are primarily for SAT and medical field and you aren't interested seriously in Latin, I would skip it and go heavy on roots studies. Gather all the sources you can and just bang away at it for the year. You would get more bang for the buck, for your goals, than spending time on Latin language.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I love you guys! I just had a huge sigh of relief! I think a combo of both your plans might be best. We will continue slowly through Henle I and focus on root studies.

[jhschool]

Ecce Romani.Simple, straightforward, can be finished in a year.

[Maureen]

I definitely agree with TammyS. I've taught Latin for the last four years and it is heavy on grammar. It needs to be if the eventual goal is reading original Latin. If you don't need the foreign language credit and really just want help on the SAT and with science vocab, I'd stick with root word studies and dump the Latin text. Just my two cents.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Ecce Romani.Simple, straightforward, can be finished in a year.

 

Which level? Could we do 2 books in one year or is that too ambitious?

[Excelsior! Academy]

I definitely agree with TammyS. I've taught Latin for the last four years and it is heavy on grammar. It needs to be if the eventual goal is reading original Latin. If you don't need the foreign language credit and really just want help on the SAT and with science vocab, I'd stick with root word studies and dump the Latin text. Just my two cents.

 

I do want her to read Latin. I just feel like I am running out of time. :(

 

It is good to hear from someone that is proficient in Latin. I am most decidedly not.

[mumto2]

Mother of Divine Grace makes a study guide that covers just the second half of Henle 1. Very similar to the MP guides.

[jhschool]

For the Ecce Romani suggestion, I meant Ecce Romani I.

You could do the first book in one year and call it good.

You could definitely do 2 in a year, but that would be working very, very hard. The first

one is pretty good for 1 year of high school. It is (much) easier than Wheelock, and it

has tons of good cultural material as well. Loads of vocabulary, and it is the most straightforward

and easy book I have seen which I would still count as a high school book done in 1 year.

 

If you wanted to work harder, Glencoe puts out Latin For Americans. Kind of like

Ecce Romani PLUS. Very good, simple, straightforward book, but definitely way more

work and content than Ecce Romani. (Although Ecce Romani has a few little things

presented earlier on).

 

Ecce Romani--I would see it as High School Latin Lite. You can award a credit when

your student finishes the book with no worries. It is not Wheelock, but if you wanted

Wheelock you would do that. Wheelock is the best but it is also the hardest, and it

is not straightforward.

[Excelsior! Academy]

Another question about Ecce Romani. Will we repeat much of the content of Henle units 1 & 2?

 

I am okay with a lighter book, but I hate to spend time repeating what has been learned.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

My oldest children have done Latina Christiana 1 and 2, the bridge unit and DVDs for First Form 1, and Henle Units 1 & 2. My oldest is entering 11th and realistically she will only have room in her schedule for one more year. It has taken us a long time to get this far. Sloooow and steady. Her retention level has been fairly good but we have fizzled out on our study the last few months. I really want her to have one more year for SAT and her possibly entering the medical field. What would you suggest? The second 1/2 of Henle? Weelock's? Something else?

 

Is this her only language? I would pick something that would give her two years of foreign language by graduation.

[Maureen]

My girls have also done Latina Christiana I and II, First Form, Second Form, and part of Third Form. I switched them over to Glencoe's Latin for Americans. They completed Level 1 and are now halfway in Level 2. I like the format better than Third Form because they are reading a lot of Latin. It is a huge time commitment to jump the hurdle to actually be able to "read" Latin. If your daughter is interested in getting that far, maybe you could check out Latin for Americans. I have the 8th edition and it was readily available on Amazon. You'd definitely need a teacher's edition as well so she could check her work.

 

I'm still not clear if you are wanting this for her language credit or not.

[Excelsior! Academy]

 

 

I'm still not clear if you are wanting this for her language credit or not.

 

 

Good question.

 

She is doing Rosetta Stone French and will potentially do a year of Greek, however I am unsure about giving a credit for French. I have read that Rosetta Stone is not really a good prep for CLEPs and college French. Obviously, it is better than doing no French, but still not a rigorous course.

 

Sooo...to answer your question, I don't yet know. If we backed off and focused on roots then there wouldn't be a credit for it. If we did another year of high school Latin, then there would. I am still considering her credit options.