Latin II, not Wheelock's. Suggestions?

[FlockOfSillies]

I'm considering a different text for Latin II. Classical pronunciation preferred.

[G5052]

What are you coming from? That will make a big difference on the recommendation. Unfortunately, like math, switching textbooks between Latin 1 and Latin 2 can be tricky.

What don't you like about Wheelock?

[FlockOfSillies]

DD did fine in Latin I using the first half of Wheelock's. Latin II, also using Wheelock's, was a disaster, and she needs to repeat the course or choose a different foreign language. Before I ask her to decide, I'd like to have some options to give her. I'm wondering if she'll have an easier go of it the second time around and with a text that explains things in a slightly different way.

[Candid]

Why exactly was the second half a disaster? Are you doing this on your own or with a class or???

[Corraleno]

If you are open to an online class, check out Lone Pine Classical; they use Lingua Latina, so their approach is pretty much the polar opposite of Wheelock. Otherwise, I would try either Cambridge Latin or Oxford Latin, and move very quickly through volume 2, then start working through 3. They are lighter than Wheelock's but include more reading, so there would probably be a fair amount of grammar & vocab review to begin with, but in a context which might improve her retention. Plus the texts are designed for high schoolers, not college students, so they are generally more engaging. There are a lot of websites and extras for both series, and you can get the books (and TEs) used on Amazon pretty inexpensively.

 

My DS has done really well with Wheelock's (through Lukeion), and he likes the grammar-intensive approach, but he prefers the amount of reading in Athenaze and feels that the reading helps him a LOT with vocabulary (which he struggles to memorize out of context). I bought some of the Oxford Latin volumes (which are written by one of the authors of Athenaze) so he can have more reading practice. My DD will try Lukeion's Latin 1 in 7th, but if that doesn't work out, I'll switch her to Oxford Latin.

 

Jackie

[Musicmom]

We had good success using Oxford Latin--even jumping in at the 2nd year. My ds had been using a grammar intensive Latin I program in 8th grade (not Wheelock's, but something else--blanking on the name), and had gotten totally bogged down with it, to the point where he just hated Latin. I really wanted him to get through Latin II though, before dropping it entirely, and Oxford looked appealing. So I switched to Oxford, which uses a more inductive approach, and started ds with the Latin II book. There was a bit of a learning curve, and an adjustment to the very different presentation, but he really enjoyed it. It was colorful, he enjoyed the stories, he enjoyed the glossing of the texts (so different than the texts he had been struggling with in the previous program), and he enjoyed the extra sections (written in English) on Roman history.

 

After that positive experience, ds was willing to go on and do Latin III (and finally the Reader). Just as a heads up if you try Oxford and decide to go on, I will tell you that Latin III is longer, and harder (covers ALL of Latin grammar), but it is just as interesting, which is probably what kept ds going. Also, while the material in each chapter and the exercises seemed very hard, the parts that you actually score (end of chapter questions and tests) were much more straightforward. Ds (and even dd who struggled mightily with Latin) always aced those, and that success probably helped as well. So if you do Latin III, don't faint--it will all work out! :)

 

 

[FlockOfSillies]

It was an online class. She got stuck on certain concepts (e.g., passive periphrastic and gerundives) and it really impaired her translation ability. She did OK memorizing vocab and such. She almost passed the class, but a couple of big translation assignments killed her.

 

I didn't take Latin, so she needs a teacher. I'd prefer a RL one, but I'm afraid the only options I have are online.

[Julie of KY]

We are enjoying Cambridge Latin at my home. It is very different from Wheelock's.

[FlockOfSillies]

Do you think Cambridge is sufficient as a stand-alone program? She used Cambridge as a supplement to Wheelock's in her online classes.

[G5052]

Cambridge would be a good choice. I own the first three, and understand that the local high school use it for Latin 1-4.

[Candid]

It was an online class. She got stuck on certain concepts (e.g., passive periphrastic and gerundives) and it really impaired her translation ability. She did OK memorizing vocab and such. She almost passed the class, but a couple of big translation assignments killed her.

 

I didn't take Latin, so she needs a teacher. I'd prefer a RL one, but I'm afraid the only options I have are online.

 

Was it a totally mechanized course or was their a teacher? Did she try to work with the teacher or did you consider adding a tutor to help her work through this point? It sounds like she might not have to redo all of Latin 2 so much as focus on this one area. If she can conqueror, maybe she can go ahead and move onto Latin 3?

[FlockOfSillies]

This was a live class. She got bogged down early in the year and didn't catch up. There was a teacher change mid-year also. I was really distracted this year, so I didn't get her a tutor.

 

Her workload is going to be pretty heavy next year, because she'll be doing The Inklings through Biola's Torrey Academy (like three classes in one). I was hoping we could take a year off from foreign language, or even consider ourselves done, but that's not an option now. I'm looking into some self-paced Latin options for her, so that even if she takes two years to get through Latin II, she can go more slowly and not feel overwhelmed with her schedule.