Latina Christiana vs Latin For Children

[TXMary2]

I am trying to decide what to use next when my ds finishes Prima Latina. I am pretty sure I am going to go with  Latina Christiana with the instructional DVD, but I would like to hear experiences/opinions from those who are familiar with both curriculums.  I understand the approaches may be different, but I don't know how they are different.

[mjbucks1]

I am no Latin expert, but I will give you my 2 cents :001_smile: .  My oldest ds started with Prima Latina in 3rd, Latina Christaina I in 4th, Latina Christiana II in 5th, and Henle online middle school course in 6th (through Memoria Press).  I then chatted with a former homeschooled student on these boards who was a classics major.  She recommended we switch to Wheelock's Latin for high school as she felt it better prepared the student for reading the older Latin authors.  So we switched to Wheeleock's Latin and did the first year at home (about 15 chapters) in 7th grade.  I then enrolled ds in Latin II with Regina Coeli for 8th grade.  It was a fine course, but they then changed the direction of their program and were no longer going to offer AP Latin.  We switched to Lukeion for Latin III (9th grade), and he is now enrolled in Lukeion's AP Latin. 

 

This is a long way of explaining why I chose to have my daughter do the Latin for Children series.  We completed LFC A and B before she started Lukeion Latin I this year.  I knew I wanted her to start off taking Latin I with Lukeion, and I also discovered that LFC closely followed Wheelock's sequence and vocabulary.  This made the trasition to Lukeion Latin I much easier, as she already knew a great deal of the vocabulary and grammar (at least for the first semester). 

 

The biggest difference I see between the two programs is that Latina Christiana does not present the four princial parts of the verb to memorized when the verb is introduced to the student.  LFC does, and encourages the child to memorize all four parts (trust me, this makes life easier when learning the perfect tense).  I also like the bits of history presented in LFC. 

 

I think both programs are fine programs.  What you may want to consider is if your child will continue on with Latin in high school, and if you will want to outsource that part of their education.  If you think you might want to switch to a program that utilizes Wheelock's Latin, I think it would be more efficient to use LFC ( your child will have memorized a good deal of the vocabulary in the form in which Wheelock's presents it).  If you want to use Henle, Latina Christiana may be better.  BUT, all high school programs assume no previous knowlege of Latin. 

 

I should add that my dd really disliked the Latina Christiana videos (I liked them, though).  I think the LFC videos are ok.  They are not quite as formal, and some silly "stories" at the end.  I found both programs easy to implement. 

 

Hope this helps!  Blessings,

 

Michelle

[Guest]

MJ, that was a great review. I had the same question as the OP and your response was so helpful to me.

[skimomma]

I'll chime in and agree with MJ.  We are finishing up LFC C right now.  I had my doubts from the beginning.  But now finishing up the third year, the way things were memorized has been a huge benefit.  My dd is registered for Lukeion I next fall and I feel she is very well prepared.  I checked out Wheelock's from our library (which will be used for her class next year) and the content lines up so well that the transition should be smooth.  That said, I do not have any experience with other programs so I cannot say for certain that other would not be a good or even better fit.

[RootAnn]

One of my friends started out her kids with Prima, then moved to the LFC series. Eventually, she had her daughter enroll in MP's Henle online middle school class. She didn't have any trouble transitioning and has liked the classes.

 

My oldest went through Prima, LC1, and is now doing First Form. The Form series does have the kids learn all four principle parts, but the transition is really good from LC1 and the Form series goes right into Henle, from what I understand.

 

How long you are going to do Latin, what your goals are, and how much help you need (i.e., are you going to switch to an online class at some point and what does that class use) are all important things to keep in mind. MP's products (Prima, LC) are more dry than CAP's (LFC). They both present a grammar-first orientation, but I think LFC has more translation from the very beginning than LC.