Latin Question

[Krista in LA]

I used LC1 last year with my then 4th grade ds and 7th grade dd. I went ahead and got LC2 to use this year with ds. My dd is doing Classical Conversations so she will be using Latin's not so Tough with that.

 

LC2 looks way too hard for my now 5th grade ds. Although he did fine with learning the conjugations and declensions last year, he had to work harder at the vocabulary and translations. I don't know how he will be able to learn it all in LC2. So, should we just go ahead and do LC2 since I have it and just go as slow as he needs, do LNST since dd will be using it, or get something entirely different? If we get something different, what do you like? I'm kind of leaning towards something else - I think I would rather have something he will enjoy rather than stressing him out with LC2.

[MeansvilleMom]

Hi, Krista, you don't have to move fast enough thru LC2 to finish it by the end of the year. Break it down into 2 or 3 week lessons. The goal is to get the grammar forms down cold. That way, when he moves into the higher studies, he won't need to refer to notes, etc, it will be ingrained. Take your time, plan your lessons in a way that stretches them out and get the forms down. Review the vocab daily. I split my vocab up like this:

 

verbs of each conjugation in separate groups

nouns of each declension in separate groups

adjectives of each declension . . .

 

you get the idea! That way they are being rotated and ds is always refreshing his memory of the vocab. Also, I go to the back of the LC book in the vocab list and pick one of each declension/conjugation and have ds decline/conjugate. For example, if I pick the verb AMO I will say, Conjugate the verb for "I love." This helps him both with vocab as well as forms. And if he doesn't know the word, no big deal, we review it and then we still decline/conjugate it.

 

We tried using LC1 with 1 lesson a week at first and that just didn't work. He wasn't able to retain it all. So, I broke it down into 2 week lessons, focusing on grammar and the exercises in the book the first week, then the second week we focused on derivatives and used Ludere Latine with that. All the while, constantly reviewing, 4 days per week as I described above.

 

Don't fret about being behind your Scope and Sequence schedule. Take the time necessary at first and the speed will come as his confidence and retention builds!

 

Hope this gives you some ideas!

 

b

[Jugglin'5]

You might try Lively Latin. A lot of the same grammatical concepts will be covered, but the vocabulary is somewhat different, with different types of exercises. My son is in the same position...LCI as a 4th and now going into 5th. I look at it as a sneaky way to review without him knowing it is review. Plus it just looks more fun. Otherwise I probably would have just slowed down and taken 2 years to cover LCII, which is another option for you, really working on memorizing the vocabulary, etc.

[Susie in SWVA]

My son will be in 5th grade this fall and will be 10 in August. We are on Lesson 12 in LCII. We go slow and do a lesson in 1 1/2 weeks. He is doing fine. We work at it together since I am learning Latin along with him. Fun!

 

Susie in SWVA

[Colleen in NS]

Hi, Krista, you don't have to move fast enough thru LC2 to finish it by the end of the year. Break it down into 2 or 3 week lessons. The goal is to get the grammar forms down cold. That way, when he moves into the higher studies, he won't need to refer to notes, etc, it will be ingrained. Take your time, plan your lessons in a way that stretches them out and get the forms down. Review the vocab daily. I split my vocab up like this:

 

verbs of each conjugation in separate groups

nouns of each declension in separate groups

adjectives of each declension . . .

 

you get the idea! That way they are being rotated and ds is always refreshing his memory of the vocab. Also, I go to the back of the LC book in the vocab list and pick one of each declension/conjugation and have ds decline/conjugate. For example, if I pick the verb AMO I will say, Conjugate the verb for "I love." This helps him both with vocab as well as forms. And if he doesn't know the word, no big deal, we review it and then we still decline/conjugate it.

 

We tried using LC1 with 1 lesson a week at first and that just didn't work. He wasn't able to retain it all. So, I broke it down into 2 week lessons, focusing on grammar and the exercises in the book the first week, then the second week we focused on derivatives and used Ludere Latine with that. All the while, constantly reviewing, 4 days per week as I described above.

 

Don't fret about being behind your Scope and Sequence schedule. Take the time necessary at first and the speed will come as his confidence and retention builds!

 

Hope this gives you some ideas!

 

b

 

We do pretty much most of this, too! I posted a few months ago about how freaked out I was to tackle LC2, but now that we are into it, it's not so bad. The other thing to know is that the first 5 lessons, plus the review, are ALL on previously learned vocab., sayings, grammar forms. You get lots and lots of practice and review if you drill these every day during these first lessons. The only new things introduced in the beginning lessons are some simple grammar concepts.

 

I also just finished, the other day, a plan to stretch LC2 over about 38 or so weeks, instead of 30 - working 4 days a week instead of 5, and not trying to complete a lesson per week. Now I don't feel so pressured.

 

The thing I try to remember is that the TM says to focus on getting the vocab and grammar forms memorized (doing vocab flashcards from Latin to English, and English to Latin REALLY helps). It also says that applying the grammar concepts is the hard work of LC2, and not to worry if kids make many mistakes here (as long as they can figure out how to correct it) - BUT that the application is made much easier if the vocab and grammar forms are memorized, so they don't have the frustration of having to keep looking up a word or ending.

 

hth