Latin Prep users, I have a question on memorization

[LanaTron]

I am using Latin Prep with my elder two dc, aged 11 and nearly 13. The 13 yo is in chapter 5. The 11 yo is taking a break after chapter 4, and working through workbook A to solidify what she has learned.

 

So far, we have not done any memorization, but now I'm seeing more of a need for that, both with vocabulary and with grammar forms.

 

Can you share with me how you do your memory work with Latin Prep? I tried to make flashcards, but I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing.

 

Thanks.

[SheilaZ]

I'd like to see everyone's answers for this also.

My 12 YO son just started this year. He's making color-coded flash cards to go over each day but I don't have any idea other than that.

[abbeyej]

Absolutely you have to memorize! For the vocabulary, focus on the 20 words listed on the last page of each chapter. There are a few words that are used with great frequency and are not included in the vocab lists, but for the most part, they'll be used often enough that you won't even have to consciously "memorize" them.

 

For grammar, you'll need to memorize all of the endings (noun case endings, verb endings, etc) -- pretty much everything that is introduced, you're expected to *learn*.

 

I have my students create a "grammar reference" as we go, so that every time they learn a new form, they copy it out in their reference so they can look it up quickly and easily. The reference is divided by part of speech (I believe LP1 only needs sections for nouns, verbs, and adjectives -- oh, I think there may be some partial pronoun sections as well), and filled in as they go.

 

Gotta run, but yes, you *must* memorize!

[Patricia in WA]

Absolutely agree with Abbey! Memorization is key. For the most part my kids acquire the vocabulary from the frequency of use in the exercises. We do go over the vocabulary but only to check the ones we don't know yet.

As for the grammar forms my dd uses flashcards she makes herself. It helps her remember them better that way. She doesn't write an entire chart on each card but rather each word with its meaning on the back. She spends a few minutes before each day's lesson going over her cards. Once she masters them solidly she stops reviewing everything everyday. EVery couple of chapters I quiz her.

 

Me: What is the word for tables?

DD: mensae nominative plural feminine

Me: mensarum?

DD plural genitive feminine of the tables

 

Etc. etc. etc.

 

My ds on the other hand doesn't like flashcards (he is an auditory learner) so he just chants them before every lesson. I quiz him in a similiar manner as dd. I want him to know the words not the chants.

 

HTHs,

[Laura Corin]

I have Calvin memorise each new form and set of vocab as we go along, then I test him in the next lesson. Once we were about half a book in, I also started to set him to review past grammar vocab each week. He's an auditory learner, so no flash cards here.

 

Laura

[LanaTron]

I have Calvin memorise each new form and set of vocab as we go along

 

He's an auditory learner, so no flash cards here.

 

Laura

 

Can you explain what he does to memorize the forms and vocab? Just read over them every day? Chant them?

 

Sorry to be so dense about this.

[LanaTron]

As for the grammar forms my dd uses flashcards she makes herself. It helps her remember them better that way. She doesn't write an entire chart on each card but rather each word with its meaning on the back. She spends a few minutes before each day's lesson going over her cards. Once she masters them solidly she stops reviewing everything everyday. EVery couple of chapters I quiz her.

 

Me: What is the word for tables?

DD: mensae nominative plural feminine

Me: mensarum?

DD plural genitive feminine of the tables

 

Etc. etc. etc.

 

HTHs,

 

This sounds like a great idea for my dd. But does she do six cards for every noun she learns? Or just for the noun that is listed in the table?

 

Thanks,

[LanaTron]

As for the grammar forms my dd uses flashcards she makes herself. It helps her remember them better that way. She doesn't write an entire chart on each card but rather each word with its meaning on the back. She spends a few minutes before each day's lesson going over her cards. Once she masters them solidly she stops reviewing everything everyday. EVery couple of chapters I quiz her.

 

Me: What is the word for tables?

DD: mensae nominative plural feminine

Me: mensarum?

DD plural genitive feminine of the tables

 

Etc. etc. etc.

 

HTHs,

 

This sounds like a great idea for my dd.

 

But does she make six cards for every noun she learns? So, cards for femina, feminae, etc.; then cards for poeta, poetae, etc? (Those two words woud be 12 cards.)

 

Or does she just make the cards for the word in the box, the word used to teach the form?

 

Thanks for your help.

[LanaTron]

Oops! I recieved an error message, so posted again, but I guess the first one went through.

[LanaTron]

need to memorize all of the endings (noun case endings, verb endings, etc) -- pretty much everything that is introduced, you're expected to *learn*.

 

I have my students create a "grammar reference" as we go, so that every time they learn a new form, they copy it out in their reference so they can look it up quickly and easily. The reference is divided by part of speech (I believe LP1 only needs sections for nouns, verbs, and adjectives -- oh, I think there may be some partial pronoun sections as well), and filled in as they go.

 

 

 

And your students use this to do their memory work? They chant it to learn it?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Patricia in WA]

Depends! If she is having a hard time for a particular word then she will make cards for it. Yes, 12 cards per word. We buy index cards by the truck load for her! :D Staples has them on sale for .33 cents each this week.

 

HTHs,

[Penny]

We memorized the declensions and wrote out those every day before beginining the lessons. For example, we would quickly make a table of N, V, A, Gen, D, and Abl and fill in Singular and Plural example nouns. (Not every noun.) Example nouns are puella, dominus, bellum. Other nouns we memorized and wrote out daily until thoroughly memorized were puer, magister, and deus. For noun vocabulary, I make cards and remember to put the dictionary form on the card and memorize the gender. We chant these and meanings. I have a memory box system to keep us from having to chant everything every day.

 

We chant verbs every day while I show a flash card. The flash card contains the Four Principle Parts of the verb at the top. YOU MUST LEARN THESE!! Then, we identify the conjugation (so far we've learned 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, and 4th.) Also on the verb card FOR THE Example VERBS ONLY are the 3 verb tenses we have learned (present, imperfect, and perfect). Chant the six verb forms for each tense daily. Example:

 

Moneo, monere (needs a long sign over the first e), monui, monitum

 

Present

moneo

mones

monet

monemus

monetis

monent

 

Imperfect

monebam

monebas

monebat

monebamus

monebatis

monebant

 

Perfect

monui

monuisti

monuit

monuimus

monuistis

monuerunt

 

Chanting is a must.

 

ALSO, PAY ATTENTION TO THE PRONUNCIATION AND PUT THE MACRONS (LONG SIGNS) OVER THE APPROPRIATE VOWELS. The reason will become clear later. If you can say the verbs correctly, then it is possible to identify the conjugation and the verb tense. Some verb tenses for a few verbs are identified only by differences in pronunciation.

 

If you take short cuts in the beginning, problems will accumulate and you'll have to go back and learn it later.

 

Blessings,

 

Penny

[Colleen]

I realize my perspective isn't popular among this Latin purist crowd, but I'll toss it out there just to mix things up a bit.;) Memorization isn't important for us and I disagree with those who imply it's a "must". I believe it depends upon one's purpose in studying Latin. In our case, Latin isn't something we are ever going to use without the aid of study helps anyway. My goal is not that we (my boys or myself) read Latin works in the original or take tests in Latin. While my son (oldest, who has spent the most time with the language) has memorized some basic endings, he still relies on notecards (principle parts, for example) when translating and it doesn't bother me in the least. There are far more important things for my guys to memorize and far more meaningful ways for them to spend their time than chanting Latin endings.:)

[abbeyej]

I realize my perspective isn't popular among this Latin purist crowd, but I'll toss it out there just to mix things up a bit.;) Memorization isn't important for us and I disagree with those who imply it's a "must". I believe it depends upon one's purpose in studying Latin. In our case, Latin isn't something we are ever going to use without the aid of study helps anyway. My goal is not that we (my boys or myself) read Latin works in the original or take tests in Latin. While my son (oldest, who has spent the most time with the language) has memorized some basic endings, he still relies on notecards (principle parts, for example) when translating and it doesn't bother me in the least. There are far more important things for my guys to memorize and far more meaningful ways for them to spend their time than chanting Latin endings.:)[/color][/font]

 

My problem with this is that it becomes completely impossible quite quickly. Certainly, one can use reference materials for aid in translation for a very long time (even forever), but if one doesn't make an effort to memorize the basics, it becomes utterly impossible (even with the aid of reference materials) very, very quickly. It's like trying to learn algebra without knowing the multiplication tables or even how to skip count, or even having a calculator. And imagine if there were 4-5 different multiplication tables to work from and that one had to look up the information with every problem. Tedious doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

I'm afraid if one isn't going to make the effort to learn the material (and there are certainly myriad options for *how* one chooses to do that -- it needn't be "chanting"), reading through a Latin text falls barely short of a complete waste of time.

[Colleen]

My problem with this is that it becomes completely impossible quite quickly. Certainly, one can use reference materials for aid in translation for a very long time (even forever), but if one doesn't make an effort to memorize the basics, it becomes utterly impossible (even with the aid of reference materials) very, very quickly. It's like trying to learn algebra without knowing the multiplication tables or even how to skip count, or even having a calculator. And imagine if there were 4-5 different multiplication tables to work from and that one had to look up the information with every problem. Tedious doesn't even begin to describe it.

 

I'm afraid if one isn't going to make the effort to learn the material (and there are certainly myriad options for *how* one chooses to do that -- it needn't be "chanting"), reading through a Latin text falls barely short of a complete waste of time.

 

Suffice it to say I disagree. As I said, my son has memorized basic endings, primarily through repeated usage. When he needs to refer to notes, he does that. No great shakes, not impossible nor tedious. I realize, as I said in my original post, that what satisfies us is seen as lesser-than by many on this board, but it works for us and the fact that you consider our efforts a waste of time is neither here nor there with me.:)

[Laura Corin]

Can you explain what he does to memorize the forms and vocab? Just read over them every day? Chant them?

 

Sorry to be so dense about this.

 

I try to get him to use the look-cover method, but he doesn't always. You read the form, then cover the page and try to remember, look again to check that you have it right, then cover again.... until you are sure you have it straight.

 

Laura

[LanaTron]

Thanks, Laura. That seems simple enough, and may work for my dd, who is very visual.

[LanaTron]

Thanks, again, Patricia.

[LanaTron]

Thank you so much for the detailed response! That gives me some ideas as to what exactly to put on the silly flashcards.

[LanaTron]

I agree with Colleen that repeated usage goes a long way. I know there was someone else on this board (maybe Peela?) that said that they don't do memorization with LP, because for them, there is enough usage to learn the material.

 

This is similar to the math facts debate on memorization or learning through usage. We have done some math drill in the past, and may do some in the future, but it is not a huge part of our school. Most of their learning of math facts comes from usage in their math programs.

 

That said, I think we could continue on in LP in the manner that we are, and things would be fine. But, I think that a little memory work, at least a couple of days a week, would help it go smoother.

 

So, I guess I fall somewhere in between what each of you has expressed. :)

 

Thanks again for the help. I always appreciate what each of you has to offer to the discussions on these boards!

[LanaTron]

he still relies on notecards (principle parts, for example) when translating and it doesn't bother me in the least.

 

 

Can you tell me what other things your ds puts on his notecards?

 

Thanks for the help!

[Peela]

I agree with Colleen that repeated usage goes a long way. I know there was someone else on this board (maybe Peela?) that said that they don't do memorization with LP, because for them, there is enough usage to learn the material.

 

 

We didn't do memory work with Cambridge, but we are doing a moderate amount- similar to what you are thinking of doing, Lana- with LP. My daughter did get bogged down at a certain point with Cambridge because she didn't know the endings well enough- Cambridge has a vast amount of translations and it is very difficult if you have to look everything up! Both kids have picked up a lot of vocabulary with Cambridge though, without muchmemorisation.

 

Now that we are all doing LP, we are going over the charts at the beginning of every lesson. We chant them. But we don't work and work at them till they are solid, we just go over them before every lesson and what goes in, goes in.

Time will tell whether it is sufficient- I don't dispute that with Latin, memorisation helps a lot. But my style doesn't easily lend itself to strict and rigid memory work, so we kind of go with the flow about it, a little more relaxed than may be perfect, but so far, it's ok.

[LanaTron]

Thanks for clarifying! And thanks for sharing how you are doing your memorization.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I have the Latin Grammer songs cd that has chants and songs for the endings.

catchy is helpful. :)

We also make flashcards for each chapter and drill daily.

[Heather in WI]

I know this thread is old, but I wanted to thank the previous posters. I found it very helpful. :thumbup: