Song School Latin for 1st and 3rd. Fun or waste of time?

[staceyobu]

I would like to start Latin with my 3rd grader this year. I figure that I could start her alone in Latin with something like Prima Latina, or I could start my two oldest with Song School Latin. This past year I did everything separately for my oldest two kids and it just seemed like overkill. I would like to combine as much as possible this coming year and see how that works instead. But, I'm not sure if Latin is one of the subjects we should try combining.

 

Song School Latin reviews that I am reading are mixed. Some say that it is way too young for a 3rd grader. Others say it's fun. I don't think my 3rd grader would mind something easy... however, I don't want to waste her time either.

[SarahW]

I think if you skip the tracing letters bit, and ax the coloring sheets, a 3rd grader could learn enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe while the younger is tracing the words the older can write the words on a different piece of paper? And instead of matching words or pictures, drawing the pictures and writing the matching word underneath? The amount the older learns would be less than with another program, but whether that's a con in your book depends on how much Latin study you foresee.

[texasmama]

I am doing it this summer with my rising 2nd grader. It is a very light intro, but she loves it so far. I did it with my boys several years ago. IMO, it is a fun, gentle into to Latin for younger kids. In my experience with my own kids, that has been a positive. I plan to use SSL2 with my 2nd grader next year and then move on to Prima in 3rd grade. Since you want to combine your dd's, and I notice you have some littles, I think it might work well to combine the two olders in SSL.

[staceyobu]

The amount the older learns would be less than with another program, but whether that's a con in your book depends on how much Latin study you foresee.

 

I don't really know how to guess how much Latin I'd like them to have! I mean, I'd like for them to get a good foundation, but I'm not sure that I feel like they should absolutely have it every year from now until graduation.

 

If I start my 3rd grader with SSL, can I advance her later if we decide we want to seriously study it? How hard will it be to catch up later?

[Samiam]

I don't think it's about "catching up" as the fact that she has ANY Latin will be a bonus to her over those that don't. I always take the grade levels for these programs with a grain of salt, at least until high school level. She could do SSL1 this year, SSL2 next year, and then start Prima Latina as a 5th grader. I used PL with my 5th grader, and then he moved right into First Form Latin 1 as 6th, and FF2 over 7th/8th. High School Latin doesn't necessarily assume a child has prior experience...so the fact that she would have some, bonus again. Yes, PL for my 5th grader was rather easy...but there's nothing wrong with a child thinking Latin is easy, is there, lol? But it was a nice gentle intro before jumping into FFL.

[lmrich]

It is fun. My dd still remembers a lot of the vocabulary from it and even some songs. She finished first form Latin in fifth grade.

[wapiti]

You might consider GSWL for your third grader. It's a great, substantial introduction.

[Dmmetler]

FWIW, my DD did the Exploratory Latin Exam last year, after doing SSL, 2 levels of LfC, and a book and a half of CL (plus most of Mango Latin), plus I have Wheelock's on the shelf.

 

The single resource that covered almost all of the ELE syllabus? SSL (and looking at SSL2, I think it would hit the rest). The others, for the most part, didn't cover the specific vocabulary the test wanted, because the ELE is vocab-heavy, not grammar-heavy. So I'm guessing that SSL is actually very close to what is taught in elementary level Latin classes in schools that regularly teach Latin.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Fun for the 1st grader and bordering on waste of time with 3rd. I *think* a 3rd grader can still have fun if you do like SarahW suggested and have your child write the vocab words and whatnot. But it's a really gentle program and some 3rd graders would probably lose interest. Some might roll with it! It really comes down to your child.

[Sara in AZ]

Depends on the kids. It took us a while to get through it. I think we started in 1st and 4th and finished up this last year when they were in 2nd and 5th. My 2nd grader was totally done with it. He hated the silly songs. But my 5th grader really liked it still at almost 10.