Which homeschool Latin programs prepare for Wheelocks?

[LNC]

My rising 9th grade daughter tested into Lukeion Latin 1 after First and Second Form Latin. I'm fine with that, bc Wheelocks moves quickly and is classical instead of medieval Latin, different vocab etc.

 

BUT, I feel like my son will waste time continuing on with the Form series in middle school. Is there something he can use with Wheelocks that has a workbook, answer keys, teachers manual, dvds etc. like MP?

 

What about:

Latin Alive 1, 7th

Latin Alive 2, 8th

Test into Lukeion, 9th

[jhschool]

I recommend Glencoe's Latin for Americans.

There is a textbook, a teacher book, a workbook, etc. No DVDs I don't think.

It is an excellent program.

 

Also Ecce Romani--everything in that book is easy

and straightforward. I recommend that book too.

[profmom]

It's my understanding that the Latin Alive series was based on Wheelocks.

[G5052]

It's my understanding that the Latin Alive series was based on Wheelocks.

 

 

Mmm. I would disagree with that as an overall statement. It is very similar to Wheelock's in terms of the approach, depth, and order of the material, but it takes two (soon three) books to cover what Wheelock's covers in one. In some ways though they are very different.

 

If your goal is to be ready for Wheelock's in 9th, you can indeed do Latin Alive for two years before that. As you know, the Lukeion placement test addresses English grammar only. Familiarity with Latin will indeed help, but it isn't required. Mine did Henle before Wheelock's because I'm comfortable with it, and they've done beautifully (all A's). So I would go with something that you're comfortable with first, and not worry too much about the content. And pronounciation is a minor issue unless you want to switch while you're at this crossroads.

[Julie in MN]

Just for one idea, my son took college Latin I with Wheelocks, and since he felt his classmates with previous Latin were better prepared, I'll tell you what that professor uses for high school.

 

Intro: The Phenomenon of Language

Year 1: Ecce Romani IA and 1B

Year 2: Ecce Romani 2A and 2B

Advanced (Year 3+): "...readings of ancient Latin authors in non-adapted text."

Previous Advanced texts (He now uses these for college level 1, instead of high school.)

- Wheelock's Latin 6th Edition

- Workbook for Wheelock's Latin Third Edition Revised

- Vergil's Aeneid by Clyde Pharr

[LNC]

My daughter's took the Latin 1b exam to see what class would be a good fit, she made a 60, because she hasn't learned passive voice yet, and the vocabulary was completely different. I was under the impression that the difference between classical and ecclesiastical programs was pronounciation. Apparently the vocabulary is different as well.

[MicheleinMN]

http://www.lulu.com/...t-20918226.html

 

 

Latina Ponti

By Elisabeth Harvey

 

A pre-Wheelock's Latin book written by a cyber friend! I'm looking forward to working through it myself. There is also an answer key available.

[profmom]

I think the author wrote Latin Alive to cover Wheelock's at a middle school to early high school level and then have the kids move to translation work after completing the series. It's been a few years since I discussed it with her, though.

 

There's an online class that takes Wheelock's at a middle school pace as preparation for going faster (starting from the beginning) in 9th grade. It's Introduction to Latin at Artesian Wells. My oldest took this class and did well with it, but I would have preferred to have her continue at that pace for 2 years. (They didn't offer a second one, and my dd ended up not keeping up well enough during 2nd semester of the faster pace class, when all the material was new.)

 

I think Latin Alive would have been ideal, but it was the teacher's (my) fault that it didn't work for us! I had trouble staying enough ahead of her to teach it well & could have definitely used the DVDs, but they weren't available yet.

What is your goal? To test into Latin 2?

[LNC]

What is your goal? To test into Latin 2?

 

To at least make the rigorous workload of Lukeion a smooth transition. I think 3 levels of Latin Alive would be necessary to test into Latin 2.

[Candid]

Ummm, it might be okay to use whatever. We had used A Child's Latin (or whatever that series is called) but it had been several years since my oldest had used it and he was able to take Lukeion's Latin I with no problems. He is a bright, hard working guy, but I suspect other diligent students could take the class without Latin background.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

To at least make the rigorous workload of Lukeion a smooth transition. I think 3 levels of Latin Alive would be necessary to test into Latin 2.

 

It might be less a matter of which book you use to prepare and more what habits you ingrain.

 

Areas where my kids are having to master new skills for Lukeion:

 

Quick mastery of vocabulary through prompt making of flashcards and frequent review until the words are learned. Each chapter of Wheelocks has 20-30 new words, some of which have principle parts or irregular forms to learn. So you could use something like Henle or Ecce Romani and have part of the point be to learn new vocabulary quickly.

 

Complete mastery of declensions and conjugations. It isn't enough to just recognize that a word must be a pronoun. They have to also understand which case it is in if they are going to correctly translate. For my kids, this has meant needing to learn several dozen tables of noun, adjective and pronoun declensions. Often more than one a week.

 

English grammar. My older kids are having to learn terms like predicate nominative and indirect object as they learn Latin. These are terms they were exposed to once upon a time, but I didn't stress grammar in the years right before we started with Lukeion. There are often questions where a Latin word must be matched to its proper grammatical identification (ex in English - "myself" reflexive pronoun, "my" reflexive or possessive adjective)

 

Sentence diagraming. It bugs my eldest to no end that I can look at a Latin sentence, knowing very little Latin, and say that there must be something in accusative because the verb takes a direct object. Some of this is just because I've studied languages for a lot of years. But the ability to diagram a sentence really helps with the translation. I find that it is especially an asset with English to Latin, because it makes it easier to assign case to adjectives and nouns.

[shanvan]

 

It might be less a matter of which book you use to prepare and more what habits you ingrain.

 

Areas where my kids are having to master new skills for Lukeion:

 

Quick mastery of vocabulary through prompt making of flashcards and frequent review until the words are learned. Each chapter of Wheelocks has 20-30 new words, some of which have principle parts or irregular forms to learn. So you could use something like Henle or Ecce Romani and have part of the point be to learn new vocabulary quickly.

 

Complete mastery of declensions and conjugations. It isn't enough to just recognize that a word must be a pronoun. They have to also understand which case it is in if they are going to correctly translate. For my kids, this has meant needing to learn several dozen tables of noun, adjective and pronoun declensions. Often more than one a week.

 

English grammar. My older kids are having to learn terms like predicate nominative and indirect object as they learn Latin. These are terms they were exposed to once upon a time, but I didn't stress grammar in the years right before we started with Lukeion. There are often questions where a Latin word must be matched to its proper grammatical identification (ex in English - "myself" reflexive pronoun, "my" reflexive or possessive adjective)

 

Sentence diagraming. It bugs my eldest to no end that I can look at a Latin sentence, knowing very little Latin, and say that there must be something in accusative because the verb takes a direct object. Some of this is just because I've studied languages for a lot of years. But the ability to diagram a sentence really helps with the translation. I find that it is especially an asset with English to Latin, because it makes it easier to assign case to adjectives and nouns.

 

:iagree: And I'll add a strange prerequisite that has nothing to do with Latin. Make sure their typing skills are solid. When they get further into Lukeion they need to be able to type fast in order to finish the quizzes on time and answer questions during class.

[crazyforlatin]

 

 

:iagree: And I'll add a strange prerequisite that has nothing to do with Latin. Make sure their typing skills are solid. When they get further into Lukeion they need to be able to type fast in order to finish the quizzes on time and answer questions during class.

 

 

Oops. I better start teaching DD to type. She's still young but I was thinking of finishing up Henle 1 and then enrolling her within 2 years.

[lauracolumbus]

My dd got halfway through FF before starting Lukeion's Latin 1. She disliked FF, but really likes Lukeion's classes. She'd had LCI before FF.

 

Quick mastery of vocabulary through prompt making of flashcards and frequent review until the words are learned. Each chapter of Wheelocks has 20-30 new words, some of which have principle parts or irregular forms to learn. So you could use something like Henle or Ecce Romani and have part of the point be to learn new vocabulary quickly.

 

Complete mastery of declensions and conjugations. It isn't enough to just recognize that a word must be a pronoun. They have to also understand which case it is in if they are going to correctly translate. For my kids, this has meant needing to learn several dozen tables of noun, adjective and pronoun declensions. Often more than one a week.

 

 

All the above is great stuff, but I would add that it would help a lot for your son to learn how to learn these kinds of things. Some people work best with flashcards, or the nifty online flashcard systems with the spaced repetition. Others do better by copywork. Others need songs or mnemonic aids, and get good at coming up with ones.

[Rebecca VA]

Amy Barr of Lukeion has said that the best preparation for Latin is a solid foundation in English grammar. She likes Rod and Staff English, because it's rigorous and diagramming-intense.

[1Togo]

Dd is currently taking Lukeion Latin I and doing very well. She had no previous Latin background because we never had time for Latin, but she does have a solid foundation in English grammar, including lots of diagramming. In fact, we still work on grammar as part of English. I do think some Latin background might have reduced the amount of time that dd spends each day on Latin, but a student who follows Amy Barr's study suggestions will succeed. It's been good for dd to tackle a challenging course without previous background, and she loves the course. Lukeion is one of our top ten best homeschool decisions.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

 

All the above is great stuff, but I would add that it would help a lot for your son to learn how to learn these kinds of things. Some people work best with flashcards, or the nifty online flashcard systems with the spaced repetition. Others do better by copywork. Others need songs or mnemonic aids, and get good at coming up with ones.

That is my point. In the midst of a demanding and fast paced class isn't the best time to try to determine best learning approaches.

 

I'm thinking that mastering a method of memorizing charts or vocabulary is just as important as the actual declensions and vocab sets. Thus the specific book used is less important than what you do with it.

 

Just as an example it was a painful lesson for him to realize that he needed to be able to read the handwriting on the flashcards. (And not to leave them at a swim meet.) and while there are some slick online flashcard sites like Quizlet, I also want to tap into the kinesthetic benefits of writing, sorting and color coding as well as the mental drill of thinking through what actually goes on the cards.

[LNC]

Amy Barr of Lukeion has said that the best preparation for Latin is a solid foundation in English grammar. She likes Rod and Staff English, because it's rigorous and diagramming-intense.

 

We have that covered with CLE la 2nd-8th!

[LNC]

This is all very helpful. Thanks!