National Mythology and Latin exams - why/benefits?

[matrips]

I never heard of these until recently when I saw all the threads with everyone posting their ribbons won. I checked out the website and it looks like they sell a lot of materials to help prep for these exams, which they also run. Since it looks expensive, I wanted to ask about the costs and benefits by doing this. What are your children getting out of this, or what do you see as the benefit to them? And are the same study materials used each year? Or do they sell new ones each year that you must buy? Are some of the materials more necessary than others? Thanks. Pondering it for next year.

[G5052]

In my house it's a motivation for study in an area that I believe has academic merit.  I list their awards on their transcripts.  I actually found out about them because the local prep schools always publish their results in the local paper.  My kids do just as well if not better than those students  :001_rolleyes: without paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for those schools. 

 

And FWIW, we keep it cheap.  Strictly library and/or used books, and the tests aren't that expensive compared to the SAT/ACT or APs.  This year, my student that took the Latin IV exam read through D'Aulaire's Myths (a used book we bought years ago), and reviewed my homemade flash cards on Roman history and culture.  My younger one did the same, and we went over one area that was a little thin in the Latin I class she was taking.  We already owned all but one of the mythology books, and it was easy enough to get the one we needed from the library.  Once they have their materials, I help them come up with a study schedule, and that's it.

 

[Guest]

I never bought support materials for the NLE.  The reason we did them was to have "outside eyes" to show that the Latin accomplishments were more than just "momma says."  

 

I never heard of these until recently when I saw all the threads with everyone posting their ribbons won. I checked out the website and it looks like they sell a lot of materials to help prep for these exams, which they also run. Since it looks expensive, I wanted to ask about the costs and benefits by doing this. What are your children getting out of this, or what do you see as the benefit to them? And are the same study materials used each year? Or do they sell new ones each year that you must buy? Are some of the materials more necessary than others? Thanks. Pondering it for next year.

 

For what it is, I find it very reasonably priced.  I forget the exact cost off hand, but I believe it was $10.  I've never purchased prep material from them, but many (all?) of the old exams (with answers) were posted and available for free, so you know exactly what to expect.

 

I love the NLE.  There's almost no downside.  They can be used to validate "Mommy grades", they make it easy for homeschoolers to take, I don't have to "teach to the test", and it doesn't take long to administer.  What's not to love?

[Mrs Mungo]

In the higher levels, they offer grants or scholarships.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Yep to all of these.  I don't buy their prep materials since so much is free on the website.  I save those $$$ for the outside classes for things that I don't feel competent to teach (like Latin or upper level lab science) or for subjects where my kids need someone other than me to save our relationship (writing). 

[Amy in NH]

We did the mythology exam one year.  It was a stupid waste of time.  DS had read unabridged translations of Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid, and the test had stupid questions like "In part IV of the Aeneid, which of the following events happened?"  Of course he knew the stories very well, but to answer such a question with no chronology or context, and to require someone to memorize the section numbers - just dumb.