Some questions about Visual Latin (and Lingua Latina)

[Amy Jo]

I'm leaning strongly towards Visual Latin for my almost-11yo (slow reader, excellent student), and maybe my 9yo (good reader, intuitive with language, but likes to do things his own way). I'd want to use Lingua Latina with it starting as scheduled in VL lesson 17, probably slowing down LL or taking extra review time.

 

My eldest is almost done with unit 2 of First Form Latin. It's going fine, he's learning, but it's kind of a drudgery. I don't want him to dread Latin, and I think he's starting to. I plan to finish it, but at a slower pace (probably 20-30 min. a day). I love the chants and worksheets, but I think I've seen enough of FF to do something similar on the whiteboard.

 

I've read up to cap. 21 of LL, and I'm pretty comfortable with the first 10-15 capitula. Thanks to First Form and other Latin texts I've looked at, I'm fairly comfortable with Latin grammar -- I can explain things or find the answer, and Latin doesn't intimidate me. I plan to get Henle I for myself, and study more of "English Grammar for Students of Latin" so that I can grasp/explain the grammar.

 

* So who's used VL+LL - what ages and how did it work out? Any pitfalls or advice?

 

* My older sons are close (19 mos) in age, but vary wildly in styles, personality and abilities. Is it advisable to combine them still for Latin? It seems learning together would be more interesting for them, but harder for me. If DS9 doesn't start VL, I'll have him finish GSWL.

 

* If I let my 7yo watch the videos (small house, it'll be hard to keep him away), will I still be able to use the program "properly" when he's older? (I'm assuming yes, since I've read a few bloggers who went back and re-watched videos.)

[Mom0012]

We are using LL on its own with the exercise book. I had never taken Latin, so we are taking a class together. My dd took the first part of it as a 10/11 yo last year and there were kids who were younger than her in the class. The school we are taking this at does both LL book 1 & 2 over 3 years with their younger students and that is considered Latin 1. They have other classes with kids who are starting at 12 and up and they take 2 years to go through the material. I really like the books and think it's a great way to learn Latin.

[Amy Jo]

So then 3 years for LL at their ages is hopefully a good pace. I just traded for two more copies of LL at the used book store, and now I'm trying to decide if we should start VL in September, or wait until January.

 

An other users? Or experience combining kids in Latin who have such different abilities?

We are using LL on its own with the exercise book. I had never taken Latin, so we are taking a class together. My dd took the first part of it as a 10/11 yo last year and there were kids who were younger than her in the class. The school we are taking this at does both LL book 1 & 2 over 3 years with their younger students and that is considered Latin 1. They have other classes with kids who are starting at 12 and up and they take 2 years to go through the material. I really like the books and think it's a great way to learn Latin.

 

Is this the Lingua Latina, per se Illustrata, pars I and pars II, by Hans Orberg?  I would say that pars I and II together are way more than Latin I, proably more like Latin 1,2 and 3.  By the end of pars II, it is pretty unabridged original authors, which is usually well beyond Latin 2.

[Mom0012]

Is this the Lingua Latina, per se Illustrata, pars I and pars II, by Hans Orberg? I would say that pars I and II together are way more than Latin I, proably more like Latin 1,2 and 3. By the end of pars II, it is pretty unabridged original authors, which is usually well beyond Latin 2.

Yes, it is. I pulled my book out (I only have the first one at this point) and it has 20 chapters, so I realize now what I said earlier was incorrect. The class that is broken in 2 parts does 12 chapters a year, so they will cover all of book 1 and the first 4 chapters of book 2 as Latin 1. Thanks for catching me on this.