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Latin versus Italian.

 

We were watching the installation of Pope Francis and Melissa kept asking "What are they saying??" and then she said, "I wish I could understand that language!"

 

We are going to embark on the Latin journey...Ora pro nobis!!

 

Now to figure out which program is the best for a fifth grader with a Mom who had one year of Latin and remembers barely nothing but my prayers. LOL

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Ora et labora...and have fun!

 

When my girlie was that age, she loved to be able to rattle off her prayers in Latin. The Latina Christiana materials have a pretty good dose of Catholic vocab & prayers, and they have all sorts of supplemental materials now like Lingua Angelicum. It's a nice, gentle start to Latin and prepares them well for future study in Henle (lots of the vocab overlaps). :001_smile:

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Latina Christiana is pretty dry, but it has some prayers in it. First Form would be ok for her next year, but it goes VERY quickly. (I just started FFL on my own to prep for dd#1 starting it in the fall. I'm glad I followed along in LC because I'd be lost otherwise.)

 

We're use Memoria Press materials because they do add in the prayers. I have a friend who started with Classical Academic Press (Latin for Children A & B) & then moved onto Henle (online through Memoria Press). Her daughter loves doing Henle through the online class. ($$$) Good luck!

 

Editing to add that before I opened your post, I thought your decision was going to be Italian because Pope Francis speaks Italian & is of Italian ancestry. :gnorsi:

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We tried Latina Christiana and my son just could not get into it. We switched at 5th grade to Latin Prep. It is a much meatier course, and some people say 5th grade is to early, but we are just going slowly. We are about at the halfway point now.

 

The layout and style of Latin Prep appealed to my son. The teacher support was more in Latina Christiana, but all the teacher support in the world did not help when the student just was not into it.

 

One thing I had to get MY head around with Latin Prep is the way they present the material. Instead of learning 10 words at a time and just working on that vocab, they give passages with a lot of vocab. Some will be the vocab, some is not, and you have never come across it before. You will come across it, but right from the start they want the students to look at Latin as a whole language, not a list of 10 words a week. It amazed me how much ds could just figure out and get the gist of a passage.

 

The workbook is what you use to test knowledge. Each test is pretty hefty and the first one took 90 minutes for him to complete. I was really bummed when he only got 70%. Then I read ahead in the test book. After chapter 5 (halfway point) is says that by now your student should be getting at least 80%. So, they expect a low score to start. So, for me this was very different.

 

They have a teacher's key, flashcards, cd of the passages, and a computer game that we are looking at giving a try after we finish chapter 5.

 

Laura can tell you more if she is lurking around. We are very happy with it (as are a lot of people around here), but it does take a shift for mom to get used to it.

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We've done Classical Academic Press here. It's a challenge for Rebecca (she's in LFC B, did A last year). I think we're going to skip C and do Latin Alive next year. If you go with CAP, I'd put her in LFC A; she wouldn't be "behind" at all.

 

 

Our girlies are a lot the same - what would you recommend to start with?

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Latin For Children A. Song School Latin 2 is supposed to be out soon and might be a fun option for a light intro over the summer. I was going to get it for Sylvia and Rebecca begged for a book too!

 

 

Would Song SChool Latin 1 be too young for her? We're starting from SCRATCH, and I mean SCRATCH.

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Susan, I don't think it would be. Go to their website and look at some of the samples, listen to the songs, see if Melissa likes them. Sylvia went through it as a first grader and Rebecca as a K'er. But the tunes are catchy and the book is a fun intro, IMO. You could even go through both SSL books over the summer; start 1 now and do 2 when it comes out.

 

http://classicalacademicpress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6_12&products_id=5

 

Looks like 2 is on the website and due out in a WEEK!!! At last!!!

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Susan, I don't think it would be. Go to their website and look at some of the samples, listen to the songs, see if Melissa likes them. Sylvia went through it as a first grader and Rebecca as a K'er. But the tunes are catchy and the book is a fun intro, IMO. You could even go through both SSL books over the summer; start 1 now and do 2 when it comes out.

 

http://classicalacad...2&products_id=5

 

Looks like 2 is on the website and due out in a WEEK!!! At last!!!

 

Messaged you at FB HiC...

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Another option for getting into Latin would be Getting Started with Latin. We were doing Latin for Children A and will go back to it in the fall, but it was getting too intense at the time. So we switched to GSwL and it has been a great experience. There is only one new word each lesson and then sentences to translate with the new vocabulary as well as review vocabulary. It is also gentle in teaching the declensions and conjugations. Latin for Children A will be much easier after our year with GSwL, at least think it will be. ;)

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Another option for getting into Latin would be Getting Started with Latin. We were doing Latin for Children A and will go back to it in the fall, but it was getting too intense at the time. So we switched to GSwL and it has been a great experience. There is only one new word each lesson and then sentences to translate with the new vocabulary as well as review vocabulary. It is also gentle in teaching the declensions and conjugations. Latin for Children A will be much easier after our year with GSwL, at least think it will be. ;)

 

Completely agree! We are using GSWL and the kids are doing great! It is easy to teach too:) My only concern is finding something as good after we are done with it!

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I made the switch from Latin Prep (my older kids are using it) to Artes Latinae for my current 5th grader. She absolutely loves it. I regret the Latin decisions I made with my older kids b/c I didn't push them through LP at fast enough of a pace (though they have loved LP ;) )

 

I think AL is more aligned with the NLE approach and Artes Latinae will also make transitioning into something like Wheelock's and reading translations more straight-forward then with my older kids and LP.

 

AL has a computer "speaker" and interactive program. http://www.bolchazy.com/index.php?cat=al&sub=main

Homeschoolbuyerscoop has group purchases on AL so you don't have to purchase it at full price. Just contact them and ask when they might have another group buy or simply watch for one.

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With just 2 years of watered down Latin, I did well with my 10 year old with Henle. Not any of the new supports, just the purple text, the grammar and the answer key. Over time I acquired other things and I honestly think they slowed things down instead of helping.

 

Before we started Henle, when he was still in PS, I used a library copy of Latin Made simple and we just played around with writing some stories using 1st declension words.

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Latin versus Italian.

We were watching the installation of Pope Francis and Melissa kept asking "What are they saying??" and then she said, "I wish I could understand that language!"

We are going to embark on the Latin journey...Ora pro nobis!!

 

But Pope Francis himself gave his speech in Italian instead of Latin.

 

(running and ducking...)

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But Pope Francis himself gave his speech in Italian instead of Latin.

 

(running and ducking...)

 

 

True.

 

Susan, has your daughter expressed any desire to join a religious order and live in a foreign country? If she has, you may want to think about adding Italian eventually. :D

 

But even if she does, Latin would still be very helpful, so....there's that.

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True.

 

Susan, has your daughter expressed any desire to join a religious order and live in a foreign country? If she has, you may want to think about adding Italian eventually. :D

 

But even if she does, Latin would still be very helpful, so....there's that.

 

Actually, all joking aside, she has expressed a desire to serve the Lord in a religious order as long as it's not cloistered...so I will keep this in mind! ;)

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I made the switch from Latin Prep (my older kids are using it) to Artes Latinae for my current 5th grader. She absolutely loves it. I regret the Latin decisions I made with my older kids b/c I didn't push them through LP at fast enough of a pace (though they have loved LP ;) )

 

I think AL is more aligned with the NLE approach and Artes Latinae will also make transitioning into something like Wheelock's and reading translations more straight-forward then with my older kids and LP.

 

AL has a computer "speaker" and interactive program. http://www.bolchazy....cat=al&sub=main

Homeschoolbuyerscoop has group purchases on AL so you don't have to purchase it at full price. Just contact them and ask when they might have another group buy or simply watch for one.

 

Yikes!!! The price is way cost prohibitive for us, but it looks great!

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Yikes!!! The price is way cost prohibitive for us, but it looks great!

 

Yeah, to just buy straight from their site is extremely pricey. I bought mine through a homeschoolbuyercoop group buy and I think it was something like $130 including shipping. (can't remember exactly, but it was no where near the original price.)

 

FWIW, I saw your other post about PL. I would not use it with a 5th grader. It is way below 5th grade level.

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Yeah, to just buy straight from their site is extremely pricey. I bought mine through a homeschoolbuyercoop group buy and I think it was something like $130 including shipping. (can't remember exactly, but it was no where near the original price.)

 

FWIW, I saw your other post about PL. I would not use it with a 5th grader. It is way below 5th grade level.

 

 

Even the 130 is cost prohibitive right now. My husband is unemployed. :( We're hopeful, but right now that kind of money just can't work for us.

 

I'm leaning to Lively Latin (although it's pretty expensive too - but I like it's holistic approach) and Latina Christina right now.

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Even the 130 is cost prohibitive right now. My husband is unemployed. :( We're hopeful, but right now that kind of money just can't work for us.

 

I'm leaning to Lively Latin (although it's pretty expensive too - but I like it's holistic approach) and Latina Christina right now.

 

 

Oh I'm glad you mentioned your situation. I already wrote this in the other thread, but I strongly suggest GSWL, and not PL or even LC.

 

 

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Oh I'm glad you mentioned your situation. I already wrote this in the other thread, but I strongly suggest GSWL, and not PL or even LC.

 

 

I will delve more deeply into GSWL and I have a chance of getting the PL set to borrow from a friend (zero dollars out), so I will check that out as well.

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Another vote for Getting Started here. Our sequence has been: Latin's Not so Tough, level 3 (or 2?), which is basically a few dozen simple vocabulary words. Then we do Minimus, and part of Minimus secundus, the GSWL in 4th-5th grade. Ds started Latin Prep 1 midway through 5th grade, finished it in one year, and we started Latin Prep 2 in the last third of sixth grade. LP is great, it's rigorous but lighthearted. Just right.

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We are also using GSWL and have to agree it is a great starting place. It is the only Latin we have been able to stick with after trying MP and LFC (although we still use the LFC clash cards to add in more vocab words).

 

Since the Catholic faith is influencing your choice... have you seen Kolbe Academy's language program? They start Latin in fifth grade using New Missal Latin which is what I'm considering for next year after we finish GSWL. It teaches Latin based on the Latin Mass. I haven't seen it in person though (I asked for samples and they said they didn't have any pdfs to share but gave me the email for their Latin teacher and encouraged me to ask questions... I haven't done that yet). It is $50 for the text book, teacher guide, test book and cd... so not too bad especially since you use it for a couple of years. Kolbe adds in Greek in Jr High and then Italian as their Modern Language in high school. I just thought that their sequence might be of interest to you. I would also love to hear if anyone has had experience with New Missal Latin. :bigear:

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Getting Started with Latin is $19.99 on Amazon. ;) It is pretty cheap for basically a full-year curriculum and I really cannot sing its praises enough to help us ease into the grammar of Latin one toe-dip at a time.

 

And the ebook version is only $10. :D

 

Isn't Henle free on Google Books? Though I don't know if there is an answer key there...

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Google has a preview feature of Henle, http://books.google.com/books?id=FSAeb6bNqesC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false, and I just noticed that for $10, en e-book version is available. I wonder if it's compatible with Kindle (not keen on DD reading on MY iPad).

 

There is an excellent answer key for $5 from Seton, http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=S-L1HS-12.

 

Susan, if you want to start out with an easy vintage text, I can search in my files to see what I have. There wouldn't be an answer key, but if you learn along with your DD, you will figure it out. Also, there is the free Latin Without Tears, http://books.google.com/books?id=gZACAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false. There are direct translations next to each sentence. It starts out easy, but you can see there is a steady progression.

 

ETA: I can't link properly on the iPad, not sure what happened to the hyperlink button.

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We also are loving Getting Started With Latin. My DS12 is going to start Lingua Latina Part 1 when we are finished. GSWL was perfect and when looking at what to follow it up with, we saw that Lingua Latina was one of the links on the GSWL website. My son loved the samples of it and could translate it easily. We like the approach better than lots of memorizing and chants.

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