I really don't know what to do about Latin

[Runningmom80]

Ds finished Minimus about a month ago. I haven't bought Secondus, because we went through minimus in 4 months, and the price is pretty high for 4 months! I don't know what to buy instead. Lively latin looks fun, but I'm reading it's parts to whole? Ds is vsl as far as I can tell. Cambridge Latin is supposed to be a good fit, but I don't know latin! I bought the first chapter on iTunes, and had no idea what to do with it. I think I could give him a superficial understanding with Cambridge, but obviously I want more than superficial!

 

Any advice?

[chiguirre]

Here's a link to TuTubus Latinus which uses Cambridge Latin:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if4XZVFTK5A&list=PLD4BE5CA16DE94D07

 

If you want an easier to use program that concentrates on grammar, check out First Form Latin. It's got a dvd and complete teacher notes and solutions.

 

Actually, using Cambridge and FFL together would give your dc a good foundation in Latin because they teach it so differently.

[Runningmom80]

Thank you! I think we could work with Cambridge along with the YouTube videos!

 

 

I will look at FFL as well.

[Dmmetler]

One thing about CLC-It's written to middle/high schoolers. In stage 1, a character gets drunk and thinks a mosaic of a lion is a real lion, and a poet tells dirty jokes and makes a barber cut a client. A lot of this went over my DD's head at 7-8, although she "got" more of it when she went back to review the earlier stages this part year before taking the ELE. CLC has been a good fit for her overall, but you do need to be aware that the content has been created (as a teacher friend of mine puts it) to keep Jr. high boys from falling asleep in Latin class.

 

You can get an online subscription for around $20 USD (it fluctuates, but it's never been more than that) which adds games and cultural links, from the Cambridge School Classics Program. It can be used on an iPad with an internet connection. I would not let your child go online until after they've done the translations using the book, though-it's just too easy to click on the words instead of puzzling it out.

[EKS]

Lively Latin is really good for the age of your child (and Minimus Secondus is really bad, IMO).  Agreeing with the PP about the appropriateness of Cambridge for the under middle school crowd, though I did use it with a 9yo for a while.

 

One thing you could do is alternate LL with Cambridge.  The thing about whole to parts is that it can go along pretty well until the whole gets so complicated that it no longer makes sense  without the parts.

[Runningmom80]

Lively Latin is really good for the age of your child (and Minimus Secondus is really bad, IMO).  Agreeing with the PP about the appropriateness of Cambridge for the under middle school crowd, though I did use it with a 9yo for a while.

 

One thing you could do is alternate LL with Cambridge.  The thing about whole to parts is that it can go along pretty well until the whole gets so complicated that it no longer makes sense  without the parts.

 

Cambridge scares me in this way!

 

I like the look of LL, I will probably just go with that.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

After using GSWL and Minimus this year we will be using Visual Latin and Lingua Latina next year.  Visual Latin has a schedule that starts Lingua Latina halfway through VL 1.

[Runningmom80]

I've never heard of visual latin, I need to look into this!

[sunnyday]

I've never heard of visual latin, I need to look into this!

 

This is where I first heard of Visual Latin: http://epsiloncamp.org/ParentResources/PResource.11.php

[Uff Da!]

nm 

 

[Greenmama2]

I'm stuck too. DD has done SSL and Munimus. She needs something straightforward & work booky but I need hand holding. Video/online based is no good for her atm. Also, she isn't a history buff in the slightest. She would rather study the language without all that boring (to her) extraneous cultural context.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm stuck too. DD has done SSL and Munimus. She needs something straightforward & work booky but I need hand holding. Video/online based is no good for her atm. Also, she isn't a history buff in the slightest. She would rather study the language without all that boring (to her) extraneous cultural context.

 

Have you looked at Getting Started With Latin?  It is very straightforward, adding one new word or concept per lesson.  I made worksheets for dd, including a review sheet once a week which included copywork and translating from English to Latin.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We are doing GSWL and Minimus too.  I'm also looking at Learning Latin through Mythology and Fairytales in Latin as a way to stall before we jump into something more serious.

 

And I've been oogling Latin for the New Millennium and Lingua Latina.

 

We have Learning Latin Through Mythology hanging around, too.  I'll use it along with the other things we are doing at some point.  DD loves mythology.  I've been eyeing Latin for the New Millennium.  I thought VL and LL would be a better next step for us.  

[Runningmom80]

I read a review that talked about the guy in visual latin speaking about his "young earth" beliefs.  Is there a lot of this?  We are secular homeschoolers, but Christian, so I don't mind mentions of religion, however we are not YE, and I do not want to have to "go there" with my kid because of Latin.

[Uff Da!]

We have Learning Latin Through Mythology hanging around, too.  I'll use it along with the other things we are doing at some point.  DD loves mythology.  I've been eyeing Latin for the New Millennium.  I thought VL and LL would be a better next step for us.  

I've been thinking Latin for the New Millennium followed by LL with something else would work for us.  LL would be when they are ready to wean somewhat from mom hand holding.

 

I second GSWL for Greenmama2.

[raptor_dad]

One thing about CLC-It's written to middle/high schoolers. In stage 1, a character gets drunk and thinks a mosaic of a lion is a real lion, and a poet tells dirty jokes and makes a barber cut a client. A lot of this went over my DD's head at 7-8, although she "got" more of it when she went back to review the earlier stages this part year before taking the ELE. CLC has been a good fit for her overall, but you do need to be aware that the content has been created (as a teacher friend of mine puts it) to keep Jr. high boys from falling asleep in Latin class.

 

 

When DS was 4 we did Lenski's "Strawberry Girl" as a read aloud. The Alcoholic Crackers weren't an issue. By contrast, the rape scene in "Julie of the Wolves" was :) ...

 

For our family, violence and substance abuse isn't an issue. DS7 is currently reading "Sea of Trolls" which has violence and substance abuse as issues...

 

I feel I can explain the Greeks or the Northmen. Growing up in the South, I understand the "Live on your feet vs. Die on your knees" ethos. The stoic suicide cult is more alien to me. Likewise, the casual acceptance of imperialism does not lay easily... For me the Illiad is alien yet sympathetic while the Aenedid is not.

 

 

 

[Greenmama2]

I had a look at GSWL. "Y'all", really? Some other things in the sample were a bit USA-centric for us. Maybe I'm best just to play around informally until DD is mature enough for Cambridge's content.

[Dmmetler]

You may want to look at Oxford Latin. I just saw the books this week, and it looks similar to Cambridge, only with color pictures. We're far enough into Cambridge that I didn't buy them, so I haven't read them for content, but it may be that they'd be a better fit for a younger child. The edition I saw looked more child friendly-it was paper bound and a little larger, compared to the fairly small, dense hardbacks of CLC. Both have a historic focus, and tend to focus on the daily lives of people at the time period.

 

I haven't encountered anything more sexual in CLC than teen boys commenting that female slaves are pretty. Slavery is a recurring theme-several of the family members are house slaves, and talk about their former lives, and one recurring character is a slave merchant (not a particularly sympathetic one). The historical content puts this into context.

 

There's also an awesome Romans vs Greeks debate where the Roman boys are shut down quite cleanly by their Greek tutor.

 

Be aware that the history links, which are, I feel, the best part of the series, especially with the online supplement where they're directly linked vs having to look them up, are not whitewashed much if at all-they're BBC documentaries, links to the British Museum and collections at Cambridge, etc. DD loves them.

 

For DD, we did SSL, then Minimus and Secundus, and then LFC A and B. I went to Cambridge at the suggestion of a Latin teacher friend because DD retained Minimus and Secundus (and the songs from SSL), but LFC just didn't "stick". She could do it right then, but without a context, she couldn't retain it. With CLC she can, and I pulled in LFC vocab and grammar at first, and am now pulling in Wheelock's. She just plain does better whole-part, and since she's on target to finish the entire series before she's 12, I figure we have time for her to do a much more focused Latin class later.

 

I kind of wish I could find something similar for Greek. Athenaze has just been too much of a learning curve, and lacks the humor of Cambridge, and the other Greek programs we've tried have the same problem LFC did-not enough context.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I had a look at GSWL. "Y'all", really? Some other things in the sample were a bit USA-centric for us. Maybe I'm best just to play around informally until DD is mature enough for Cambridge's content.

 

We're from the US and Y'all is strange for us, too.  It is helpful, though, in order to tell the singular you apart from the plural you.  What else bothered you about it?

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I read a review that talked about the guy in visual latin speaking about his "young earth" beliefs.  Is there a lot of this?  We are secular homeschoolers, but Christian, so I don't mind mentions of religion, however we are not YE, and I do not want to have to "go there" with my kid because of Latin.

 

No idea, as we haven't started yet.  We are not young earth believers either, but I won't have a problem explaining that we believe something else if it comes up.  There are other things I would much rather avoid my kids being exposed to.

[boscopup]

We liked the y'all in GSWL, as it made it very clear whether it was singular or plural you. We're in the south though, so I use y'all regularly. ;)

 

I often joke that I can say, "Y'all ain't farmers," in Latin. :lol: (don't worry - he doesn't use the word ain't!)

[Greenmama2]

Lol!

[cmb6]

I started DS with Latin Prep just shy of 8--I didn't choose it, but we were planning to move quickly and catch up to friends in a local study group who were already using it--and found it good for the age. It's funny and clear, without being overwhelming in details. DS still remembers a cartoon of a man dropping a giant E on his foot to show the letter E dropping out of a word. It seemed pretty reasonable price-wise, too.

[Pronghorn]

My daughter says he does not talk about young earth beliefs, at least not in the first twenty or so lessons she has done. He does, however, read Bible stories in Latin. But you could look at those as mythology or culture.

[Momof3littles]

We just say "you plural" in lieu of y'all when using GSWL.  I lived in NC for several years, but I guess am a yankee at heart because I never managed to adapt to using y'all.