Greek for a high schooler interested in learning it (not for high school credit)

[RootAnn]

So, my eldest, if I don't send her to a brick-n-mortar high school next year (as she's driving all of us crazy), wants to add Greek to her list of languages.

She will NOT have the time for a full on high school level Greek course & I'm not interested in outsourcing to an online class at this time (again, lack of time).

 

What are your recommendations for a kid who will only have time to spend 15 minutes a day learning Greek as a fun (!?!) addition to her day?

She's already doing Latin & Spanish. We're adding either French or Italian starting this summer, completely at her request (and with me protesting the whole way).

I have NO background in Greek - so I'm completely lost on the Koine vs. Attic vs. Modern Greek debate. So, let me know what makes sense.

Reading stuff in their original language is not a goal of hers (at least at this point), but if she wants to continue her study in college, I should probably start her with something that will be useful.

 

Does it make sense to start with something like Elementary Greek or Greek for Children? Could she do Athenaze on her own? Something else? Help!

[mims]

Koine Greek is Biblical Greek.  If that is her goal I would highly recommend Elementary Greek.  Easy to self teach and go at own pace.

[freesia]

Koine Greek is Biblical Greek. If that is her goal I would highly recommend Elementary Greek. Easy to self teach and go at own pace.

Yes, I agree. This has worked well for dd and probably takes 15-20 min a day (although she should do more vocabulary review).

[EndOfOrdinary]

Ds attempted Attic Greek at one point and it was a total fail. After much research, lots of consulting, and many emails, just about everyone came back with him starting Elementary Greek as long as we could handle the Biblucal nature of some of it. They all agreed that the materials for the first two years did not much matter - basics were basics and coukd easily be amended in complexity later.

[Loesje22000]

I agree that Elementary Greek is totally doable for a motivated highschool student.

It is based on Biblical Greek of Mounce, so that might be an option too?

Athenaze is hard to do on your own.

Athenaze is heavily translation based from lesson 1.

But I have to say it we are doing it after Elementary Greek 1.

Dd considered EG toooooooooo slow, and she likes the translation style of Athenaze above the grammar style of EG.

Greek is not a core subject of her track, but we like to give her a solid base in it.

 

HTH

[KrissiK]

I add my rec for Elementary Greek. I'm learning right along with the kids. It is solid, yet gentle. We're almost to the end of year 1 and I think we've all learned a lot. Although, I will add this.... we did CAP's Codecrackers, and while I didn't really like the book too much (too gimmicky), it did solidify the alphabet in our heads more. You really need to have the alphabet under your belt. Also, we've all had Latin, and that helped us understand the grammatical structure of Greek. The whole idea of conjugating the verbs, declining the nouns, etc.

 

If you go with that program, make sure you get the CD. Really helps with pronunciation .

Edited February 17, 2016 by KrissiK

[Kathryn]

I add my rec for Elementary Greek. I'm learning right along with the kids. It is solid, yet gentle. We're almost to the end of year 1 and I think we've all learned a lot. Although, I will add this.... we did CAP's Codecrackers, and while I didn't really like the book too much (too gimmicky), it did solidify the alphabet in our heads more. You really need to have the alphabet under your belt. Also, we've all had Latin, and that helped us understand the grammatical structure of Greek. The whole idea of conjugating the verbs, declining the nouns, etc.

 

If you go with that program, make sure you get the CD. Really helps with pronunciation .

This is what we did also, CAP's Greek Alphabet Code Cracker followed by Elementary Greek.

[RootAnn]

Thanks, everyone. She has the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker as that's the first thing I got her after she expressed interest. She's doing Latin, so I think we'll be good from that perspective. She likes & goes better with the grammar-first programs vs. translation-first stuff. Thanks for the info on Athenaze being heavy on translations from the get-go.

 

I'll get her EG & let her go at whatever pace she wants then. Thanks for the recommendation for the CD. She hates 'extras', but I'll make sure she adds that in when necessary.

 

Appreciate it!!