Greek

[swellmomma]

My dd15 has asked me repeatedly if she can study greek next year in 10th grade to which I have of course answered yes.  But now I need to figure out which program to use.  She can not get credits for it because our province does not accept greek as a foreign language in high school.  She is taking latin for credits again.  Last year she earned credits for latin 10 using lingua latina.  For grade 11 she is continueing with lingua latina but also starting henle 1 since she did not really get grammar instruction, she can read latin okay due to LL but not do much else.  So she will be focusing most of her foreign language study on that.  She will also be using Mission Monde as an intro to french, but unless she finishes multiple levels of it this year she won't even earn french 10 credits (MM is said to cover from grade 6-10, but if she does the first 3 levels she will have the grade 10 requirements-sort of like how LL can be used as early as 6th but still meets the requirements of grade 10 latin).  Anyway, we are using it just to have a basic understanding of french since it is a national language and all.  

Bringing it back to my question.  So she will already be mostly focused on latin and a little on french and now wants to add greek.  We have hey andrew levels 1 and 2 here that we never got started on years ago.  Would that be okay to use for a non credited, intro level greek? Or is there something better suited to high school level student who is motivated to learn this?  Although she won't be getting credits, we will be adding it to her portfolio if she does well enough (as there are 2 universities who like to see a portfolio from homeschooled students to see what they have studied in high school rather than only expecting a transcript from the gov't).  

Suggestions?

[kiana]

What does she want to read? The Bible? Homer? Later classical authors? I assume not Modern Greek but that's an option as well. The curriculum will depend on what kind of Greek she wants to learn.

[SarahW]

If she wants to learn Classical the two main programs that can be started in high school is Athenaze and Reading Greek (by JACT). Reading Greek is written for an independent learner. Athenaze is a bit more difficult to use for self-learning, but it can be done, especially if one already has a basis in Latin.

 

Since you have Hey, Andrew! you could start there as an intro, but from what I can tell the first two books don't cover very much, and it wouldn't really be worth putting in a portfolio.

[brehon]

I wouldn't use the Hey, Andrew! books as part of her portfolio of high school work; though, of course, she can probably race through them for an very, very basic intro. What is her goal learning Greek and which Greek does she want to learn? That will influence everyone's answers.

[Embassy]

Hey Andrew 1 and 2 would be very basic for someone your daughter's age.  If you wanted to use Hey Andrew, I would start with book 3.  But I recommend something like Athenaze instead.

[swellmomma]

*eyeroll* teenagers, sheesh.  So I asked her what her goals were, she wants to read the bible in ancient greek and other writings but also travel to greece and speak fluent modern greek and seems to think she should be learning them both at the same time.  I have said no way to that.  So she is deciding between them and isn't really sure.  She likes learning latin by reading it and figuring out what it means in English and thinks it would be "cool" to be able to do the same with greek so she doesn't have to rely on others translations, but also thinks it would be very "cool" to speak greek fluently.  So I guess ideas for classical have been mentioned, what about modern if she goes that way?  

Athenaze is the one that Lukeion uses for its online classes right? So if used as a self taught learner would it be really intense? Since she likes learning latin by reading it would the reading greek course be a better fit? That is if she goes with classical.

[kiana]

Classical is different from Koine, which is what she wants if she wants to read the Bible.

 

I haven't looked into Koine for HS, but one of the commonly used texts is Mounce -- here's his website, and there's a free online class following his book, it looks like -- http://www.teknia.com/greek

[In The Great White North]

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/83103-comparison-of-the-us-and-italian-editions-of-athenaze/

[swellmomma]

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/83103-comparison-of-the-us-and-italian-editions-of-athenaze/

hmmm, too bad I don't know any italian I guess I will be looking more closely at the US edition on athenaze 

 

Time to look into Koine as well

 

 

Jeepers why couldn't it just be one option of the language instead of so many haha

[Space station]

Our local classics professor recommended "From Alpha to Omega". There is a recent thread called "help learning Ancient Greek" thread on the logic stage challenges board.

[kiana]

hmmm, too bad I don't know any italian I guess I will be looking more closely at the US edition on athenaze 

 

Time to look into Koine as well

 

 

Jeepers why couldn't it just be one option of the language instead of so many haha

 

Well, that's the problem with a language that has had so much great literature written in it :D

 

It'd be sort of like if English were a minor language 1000 years in the future, and someone wanted to learn English. He'd hear "Well, what do you want to read? Chaucer? Beowulf? Shakespeare? Vonnegut? Or Modern English (which might have changed by then)"

[swellmomma]

Our local classics professor recommended "From Alpha to Omega". There is a recent thread called "help learning Ancient Greek" thread on the logic stage challenges board.

Off to check out that thread.

[EndOfOrdinary]

If you go with Athenaze, there are some really good YouTube videos going through the book chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise where they translate, pronounce, and read it. There are also a multitude of online "games" (I use that word lightly, more like activities) to help students. Again they are organized chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise.

 

This next year my son is continuing Latin and Spanish, but starting Ancient Greek. He wants to speak modern as well, and to travel to Greece when he is older. He also wants to major in the Classics and read Herodotus, Homer, and all they other guys. We were told by a Classicist at the Harvey Center that learning Classical first then learning Modern was the way to go. The other direction is apparently much more difficult.

 

Personally, I am just as clueless about it, other than starting Athenaze so I can try to help. YouTube and online activities have saved my old brain!

[Emerald Stoker]

Another useful thread, maybe: forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/503269-elementary-greek-or-athenaze/

 

Hmmm...can't make that clickable. It's Amy Jo's thread from February 2 on the Logic board, in any case.

 

[Gratia271]

My dd15 has asked me repeatedly if she can study greek next year in 10th grade to which I have of course answered yes.  But now I need to figure out which program to use.  She can not get credits for it because our province does not accept greek as a foreign language in high school.  She is taking latin for credits again.  Last year she earned credits for latin 10 using lingua latina.  For grade 11 she is continueing with lingua latina but also starting henle 1 since she did not really get grammar instruction, she can read latin okay due to LL but not do much else.  So she will be focusing most of her foreign language study on that.  She will also be using Mission Monde as an intro to french, but unless she finishes multiple levels of it this year she won't even earn french 10 credits (MM is said to cover from grade 6-10, but if she does the first 3 levels she will have the grade 10 requirements-sort of like how LL can be used as early as 6th but still meets the requirements of grade 10 latin).  Anyway, we are using it just to have a basic understanding of french since it is a national language and all.  

 

Bringing it back to my question.  So she will already be mostly focused on latin and a little on french and now wants to add greek.  We have hey andrew levels 1 and 2 here that we never got started on years ago.  Would that be okay to use for a non credited, intro level greek? Or is there something better suited to high school level student who is motivated to learn this?  Although she won't be getting credits, we will be adding it to her portfolio if she does well enough (as there are 2 universities who like to see a portfolio from homeschooled students to see what they have studied in high school rather than only expecting a transcript from the gov't).  

 

Suggestions?

 

My daughter has completed four years of Attic Greek, the first two spent using Athenaze. She would highly recommend it to a motivated student.  She also self-studies NT Biblical Greek (Septuagint is on the horizon :) ).   If your daughter would like a fellow student's perspective from someone who loves Greek, I am sure my daughter would answer any questions she has.

 

[flyingiguana]

My impression was that Athenaze was actually more of a reading course than Reading Greek. But I've only looked at the first chapter or so of both. Any other opinions?

[JDoe]

Suggest you have a look at https://www.galorepark.co.uk/Product?Product=9781905735884

[Beth in Mint Hill]

This is what we are using here at the Harvey Center: Introduction to Greek: A Literary Approach

http://books.google.com/books/about/An_Introduction_to_Ancient_Greek_A_Liter.html?id=aKULU8vaD_IC