Latin 3 without outsourcing?

[Kendall]

I am looking at options for Latin 3 next year. I am aware of the online options. There is a guy in town that is a possible resource. He teaches Latin at the Christian school and is a good teacher. I haven't talked to him.

 

Is it possible to do Latin readings at home? My son will be in 10th grade. He has done Henle Latin 1(the entire book) and Henle 2 (following the MODG syllabus which they call Latin 3) He will finish that in 3 weeks. Then we will have the rest of the year to get him ready to take an online Latin 3 or to start our own. He is a good student and doesn't want to quit Latin, though he does not aspire to the classics as a major. He probably will only take Latin one more year,leaving 2 years for Spanish. All that to say, probably not going to go on and take AP Latin, but I don't want to totally rule that out with our plan.

 

I worked through Henle 1 and 2 several years ago with my older two. That is the extent of my Latin background. I'm schooling 5 others so I can't be positive that I will be able to do all of the work with him, learning along with him.

 

Could he do this himself or maybe occasional sessions with the local guy if he is really stuck? I don't think I want to use Henle 3. I think I want more variety in the readings. Have any of you had a child do this successfully? I'd love to hear how you structured it and what you used.

 

Thanks,

Kendall

[Kathy in Richmond]

I've done Latin 3 at home with both of my kids.

 

After using Artes Latinae for Latin 1 & 2 (love it!), my son did Latin 3 at home using the Henle 3 book and answer key. We also used a Latin 3/4 grammar review text published by Amsco. Although I worked alongside him, he really could have done it on his own (with someone to keep him on schedule). Overall, it was meh...not the most engaging book, kwim? He prepped for the NLE level 3 at the same time using a variety of cultural, Roman history, and mythology books already on our shelves. That was the added fun element. Afterwards, he was ready for the old AP Latin Lit exam in the following year.

 

My daughter finished Henle 1 and 2 with the Berquist syllabus like your son. We followed that with a Legamus intermediate reader from Bolchazy (the Vergil edition) and some work from Bolchazy's Excelability grammar text. That took another two months, and then she was more than ready for AP Latin Vergil.

 

We loved the Legamus series! I think that you could fill out a lovely Latin 3 year using several of the Legamus author readers, and I would throw in the Excelability text once or twice a week to keep his grammar fresh. If he's not interested in continuing on to AP, then that would be the ideal spot to consider the SAT Latin subject exam. You could add in a review book to prep for that or the NLE in the second semester. He could do all of this mostly on his own, I think, with an occasional question or two directed to your local guy. Bolchazy's materials are on the pricier side, but are very much worth it. The teacher guides are excellent IMO.

[Kendall]

Thank you! I've located the Legamus readers on the Bolchazy site. There are so many books on that site! My son won't be reading the Aeneid until year after next. If I decide to go this route, do you think I should get a children's version so that he is familiar with the story before reading parts of it in Latin? Is the Vergil the only Legamus reader that you have used? What would you suggest after the Vergil one? Are you familiar with the Wheelock reader? I've only heard of it.

 

You have been very encouraging. Thanks for the grammar suggestion, also. I think he would prefer that to going back through the Henle Grammar and reviewing. But Excelability is pricy. Why would it be better than reviewing through Henle? Did you only use the grammar section or did you use more of Exelability?

 

Thank you!!

Kendall

[Kathy in Richmond]

If there is any chance that he might want to do the AP Latin someday, then yes, I'd recommend that he read the Aeneid in English beforehand. Having a grasp on the story line is important when you can only read 15 to 20 lines in Latin per day. You start seeing the trees and forgetting about the forest! A children's version would be fine imho because he'll get to appreciate the beauty of the original text in his AP year.

 

As for Legamus, we only had time for the Vergil. Again, with thoughts of a possible AP year in mind for him, I'd at least do Vergil and the new Caesar Legamus readers. They gradually transition the kids from reading highly adapted prose & poetry to being able to tackle the real thing. There are lots of grammar, structural, and literary aids in each one.

 

Excelability is pricey, yeah....but we felt it was worthwhile. Each of my students used it for two or three years. There's too much to really do justice to it all in one year, and I felt it would be best to mix it up with some reading. Excelability is primarily grammar review, but it uses a combination of drill exercises and authentic reading passages to illustrate the grammar. There's also some SAT and AP test prep built into it. I think it's perfect for a boy like yours who's already covered Latin grammar in Henle 1 and 2, but just needs to keep it fresh. It's amazing how all those grammar rules can exit the teenage mind otherwise!

 

We still kept Henle grammar on the shelf for reference. It's just that Excelability had the workbook portion to go with those grammar rules in Henle.

 

I just got the Wheelock reader for Christmas this year, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. It looks good, though! It might be a nice add-in along with the two Legamus readers.

Latin 3 gets a bit harder to teach without experience. In the first two years, there's lots of memorization, which is straightforward to teach. Years 3 and 4 should be more about translation of classical literature, which can be a big shock to those not used to the "random" word order, and trying to figure out why some word is dative. Or maybe ablative, or ...

 

One approach is to focus on a "reader", of which there are many. In the legamus series of readers, I might skip Virgil until later, and start with one of the easier authors, either Ovid or Caesar, maybe Cicero. If I were you, I'd also consider the newly released Latin for the New Millennium 3 textbook. This is essentially five or six readers all combined into one big textbook, and there is lots of online help with forums and websites for teachers, and you need not have studied books 1 and 2 to use #3.

[Kendall]

Thank you both so much for this discussion. I met the Latin teacher at the local school tonight. He loaned me a stack of books including several legamus readers. He uses the Latin for the New Millennium. He didn't have an extra one of those to loan me but I can look at it there if I want to. He also advised starting with Caesar or Cicero before trying Vergil.

 

But before that we are going to try Eutropius. The teacher gave good advice about first concentrating on what you know in the sentence and not what you don't know. Don't go straight for the dictionary at the first word you don't know.

 

I am definitely ordering the Excelability book. And thanks for mentioning the SAT Latin exam. I didn't know about it.

 

I'm encouraged that we can try this. We will start in a few weeks and then if it doesn't go well, we can reconsider in May and see if any online classes are still open,

[Jane in NC]

My son used the Ovid and Catullus Legamus readers. The hand holding was terrific, allowing for a transition to AP Latin (Vergil) and some work on Cicero.

 

My son also used Bolchazy materials in his AP Latin class. Take a look at their website for inspiration.