Greek Alphabet for ages 7 - 11?

[Flowergirl159]

Okay so I am looking at delving into the world of Greek.

 

I have learned that we need to begin with the alphabet.

 

So I have three children and thought we could all begin this together. It doesn't matter if the girls separate in levels of Greek at a later stage. For now, we can all learn the alphabet together.

 

My children are aged 11, 9 and 7. I know that my oldest could potentially take off faster, and my youngest has more years to learn the language.

 

I plan on spending about 15 - 20 mins each day on Greek.

 

A few programs I have looked at are:

 

CAPs Greek Alphabet Code Cracker

MP Greek Alphabet 

Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek

 

What would you use, in my situation?

Would you use more than one to help learn the Alphabet?

Would it work to spend 15-20 mins daily, on Greek, the whole way through a program? Say if we learnt the alphabet, then continued with whichever program after, could it work with the ages of my girls, to stay together in Greek?

[Ethel Mertz]

DS loved Code Cracker. It's great fun and I think your daughters would have fun with it. You can also print out extra alphabet sheets for practice.

[samba]

My dd loved Code Cracker as well.  Great for the ages you're considering.  We moved on to Elementary Greek after that, working just a little each day.

[SilverMoon]

Not to be broken record, but Code Cracker was a big hit in this house too.

Edited April 16, 2016 by SilverMoon

[KrissiK]

We started with Codecracker, too, and then continued on with Elementary Greek. Codecracker is fun, has fun chants and songs to help remember the alphabet. And 15-20 minutes a day is perfect. We do both Latin and Greek and I'm finding that to learn the language, it's better to do small chunks and do a lot of repetition and recitation to cement that knowledge in the kids' heads. It can be tedious, so we don't spend a lot of time each day, we recite the grammar every day and vocabulary every day. And with the Greek it's always fun in the middle of the sermon at church, when Pastor may make a reference to ,"...in the original Greek", dd will lean over and say, "hey, that was one of our vocabulary words."

Edited April 16, 2016 by KrissiK

[Flowergirl159]

Thanks for the replies :)

 

Please bear with me as I have a few more questions.

 

I see that Code Cracker is well liked. A part of me, being a box checker, really likes the look of Hey Andrew. Are there enough practice pages for writing the alphabet in the Code Cracker? Also, can I purchase one book and copy the pages or do I need to purchase three books?

 

Another thought, if we use Code Cracker and finished it this year, would Elementary Greek work okay with my current 7 old? Especially if I were to work through EG with all of us together? Hey Andrew looks okay for beginning with a second grader, but to me, Elementary Greek looks a little more challenging?

 

Oh and another question, would it be redundant if we used Hey Andrew and Code Cracker simultaneously, or consecutively?

[KrissiK]

Don't bother copying. I don't think the books are that expensive and personally, I think it's a wash when it comes to cost. Printer ink is expensive, especially colored ink. I don't have experience with "Hey Andrew", but I think it looks good, too.

 

Regarding your 7 year old.... well, I will compare it to teaching Latin to a younger child. We start Latin in 3rd grade with Prima Latina. Prima Latina is just basic memorizing - vocabulary, prayers and the beginnings of the Latin grammar. They assume the child knows a bit of Grammar, like nouns and verbs, but that's it. Then, in 4th grade, doing Latina Christiana 1, there's more vocabulary, more grammar, but very little translation work. Finally, after all that foundational work for 2 years, in First Form Latin they start doing very basic sentence translation. In Elementary a Greek, now granted we are at the end of book 1, they do translations of basic sentence, using not only the nominative case, but the genitive (possessive) case and prepositional phrases. But this is still just book one. My 4th grader and 6th grader are going through this and we are working together. They both have had Latin so they get the whole idea of an inflected language, but it's not easy. I think we do have a pretty good grasp of the alphabet, but it's a lot to manage. And I don't feel like they've had as good a foundation in Greek as they had in Latin. Though having the Latin has definitely helped learn the Greek. Honestly, I wish Memoria Press would do an equivalent in Greek to their Latin Program. Their Latin program, in my opinion, is outstanding. In my family, my 7 year old would really struggle with the Greek. I'm planning on starting her with Latin as a 3rd grader and then Greek as a 4th grader.

Edited April 16, 2016 by KrissiK

[RootAnn]

 Honestly, I wish Memoria Press would do an equivalent in Greek to their Latin Program. 

 

Did you see that MP has just published a First Form Greek? 

[SilverMoon]

We didn't use Greek Code Cracker as a consumable. They read it and practiced the letters on printer paper. Frankly they got more writing practice this way, because they couldn't resist playing around with it and going beyond the lesson.

[KrissiK]

Did you see that MP has just published a First Form Greek?

I did not know this! How could I have not know this?

[Flowergirl159]

Did you see that MP has just published a First Form Greek? 

 

Can you send a link to this? I am unable to find it.

[RootAnn]

I did not know this! How could I have not know this?

 

Can you send a link to this? I am unable to find it.

 

I looked for a link last night to include in my post, but can't find it on the website. It is definitely in their newest magalog (Spring 2016) and there has been talk on their forums for awhile. Check out page 24 of the Spring 2016 magalog for details. (If the link above doesn't work, try this one.)

 

Ahh! I missed these words:  "Pre-Order" and "arriving Summer 2016." So, change that "just published" to "just about to publish" or "just announced." That must be why it isn't on their site yet?

 

They recommend Greek alphabet book & at least two years of Latin (through Second Form) under your belt before attempting their First Form Greek book. It looks like they are saying you can jump into FFG after any amount of Elementary Greek, if you want. 

[KrissiK]

I got their spring catalog today! I can't wait to peruse First Form a Greek. I already ordered Elementary Greek 2 for next year, so I will probably have to wait another year. But I am very excited.

[Kathleen.]

Greek Codecracker is really fun. I think Elementary Greek for a 7yo would be too much. We started with Hey, Andrew. It has lots of repetition and lots of space for writing. It goes slowly which is nice since we also do Latin. We have EG, but my younger daughter wants to do more Hey, Andrew before moving on to a more serious book.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Kathleen.

[Flowergirl159]

Does First Form Greek come after Elementary Greek?

 

Thanks Kathleen :)

 

I am thinking Hey Andrew would be fun for my 7 year old and great for her to start there as she could potentially progress right through that program. However, my oldest may be better with Code Cracker and then Elementary Greek, she is studying Latin and French and would be able to move a little quicker being four years older. Not sure about my DD9 though.

 

Because they are all at different stages and ages, they may be better off with their own program so they can move at their own pace?!

 

In saying all that though, I would rather purchase one curriculum for them all to use, instead of having two or three curriculums to teach the one thing.

 

What to do, what to do...

[Terabith]

I would do Code Cracker with all of them. Afterwards, I would do School Song Greek with the youngest and Elementary Greek with the oldest. Not sure about middle.

[Flowergirl159]

Thanks Terabith! 

 

I ordered Code Cracker today. Once we work through that I will look into the options suggested here.

 

Thanks again everyone :)