7 year old wants to learn Greek... Advice needed

[CanadianAlison+3boys]

My 7 year old asked me yesterday if he could please learn Greek. We talked about the differences between Greek and English and his reasons for wanting to learn and I'd like to give him some exposure so he can decide if it fits for him or not.

 

Ideas for Greek curriculum for a grade 2 student who loves learning and tends to pick things up fairly quickly?. His Dad or I would be learning alongside him as neither of us have any prior Greek experience.

[SarahW]

I would first start with the very first Hey Andrew book, the one that teaches the Greek alphabet. After that I would do Song School Greek. Song School Greek comes with a pretty good teacher-training DVD, so you could start watching that yourself to get comfortable with it.

[Loesje22000]

Elementary Greek might be a nice option too.

It is currently sold by Memory Press.

It has the same system as Latina Christiana.

[arliemaria]

My son went to Greek school at our local Greek Orthodox Church last year.  Once a week for 1.5 hours.  It was good for him to hear native speakers.  The first year was mostly learning the alphabet (sounds, names, and how to write them), counting, and some vocabulary.  I have our Memoria Press Greek Alphabet poster hanging over his desk in our learning room.  I have Greek Alphabet Code Cracker in our Amazon cart waiting to buy it.  This is what I plan to use to practice the alphabet during the summer.  He will go back to class in the fall and I hope to do more this upcoming year.  Also Duolingo is about to release Greek as a language option.  I think it was supposed to be ready May 31st, but I haven't seen it yet.

[pocjets]

If you have no experience with Greek, I'd start with Hey Andrew as well. It is super easy to go at your own pace and the first 2 levels really just teach the alphabet and sounds which are critical because they are so different from English. You could either stick with Hey Andrew or move to Elementary Greek after 2 or 3 levels of Hey Andrew. That's what I've done with my kids and it's been great. 

[Thia7278]

We started with Code Cracker.  The kids love it.  Then we moved onto Elementary Greek, which we all really like too.  The problem with it is that there are concepts that younger children might not be familiar with, related to grammar.  So we had to slow down a bit so I could explain what different parts of speech are, for example.  But really, it is a great program.

[Milknhoney]

My son was 7.5 (grade 3) when he started Greek Alphabet Code Cracker followed by Elementary Greek. I highly recommend both. This fall I'll be starting dd7 on Code Cracker and then Song School Greek. Whatever you end up using, I'd recommend starting with Code Cracker. It is the best, most painless, most fun way to learn the alphabet. My son actually snatched up the book and did it on his own over the summer before we had formally started the school year. He loved it. I did it too and it was a fun little contest between us to see who could solve the mystery first. I had no prior learning in Greek.

[DoubleTime]

I second the Code Cracker suggestion.  My 7 year old voiced an interested in Greek last winter also and that's what we used to get her feet wet-- she loved it and I thought it was a good way to get her familiar with the alphabet (and low-cost as an initial step to gauge how much interest there really is).  My DD wanted to learn several ancient languages (so she could translate myths from the original) and eventually, after I exposed her to a few through introductory texts like Code Cracker, she chose a different ancient language to pursue -- at that point we found an online tutor for her through Carmenta (link below)-- it's been wonderful.  I didn't feel confident that I could teach her Greek or any of the other ancient languages she was interested in, so a one-on-one tutoring session was a good solution for us.  

 

http://www.carmentalatin.com

 

ETA: Make that THIRD the suggestion!  :)

Edited June 16, 2016 by DoubleTime

[profmom]

We loved this one -- Elementary Greek by Open Texture!  We did all three levels -- such a great program!  http://www.opentexture.com/products/greek/yearone/

 

For 2nd grade, though, we used the Bluedorns Greek Alphabet book:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933228016/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687602&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0974361690&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=SADNSY5MWX7FY4N8H8BE

 

This was before CAP had any Greek products though, so I can't compare. 

 

Have fun!

[arliemaria]

We loved this one -- Elementary Greek by Open Texture!  We did all three levels -- such a great program!  http://www.opentexture.com/products/greek/yearone/

 

For 2nd grade, though, we used the Bluedorns Greek Alphabet book:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933228016/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687602&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0974361690&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=SADNSY5MWX7FY4N8H8BE

 

This was before CAP had any Greek products though, so I can't compare. 

 

Have fun!

 

Reading a bit about the Bluedorn book it mentions learning pronunciations.  Is this modern or ancient Greek?  Robby is learning modern.  I don't know much about the language or if this would even make a big difference, but wanted to ask anyways.  I haven't purchased Code Cracker yet, but assumed it was just using the alphabet and not about pronunciation at all.

[profmom]

Reading a bit about the Bluedorn book it mentions learning pronunciations.  Is this modern or ancient Greek?  Robby is learning modern.  I don't know much about the language or if this would even make a big difference, but wanted to ask anyways.  I haven't purchased Code Cracker yet, but assumed it was just using the alphabet and not about pronunciation at all.

 

 

These are both ancient Greek.  The Bluedorn book may still be helpful.  (I'm not familiar with Code Cracker, but i generally really like CAP products.)  The Bluedorn book has lots of writing practice & teaches the (ancient) letter sounds. 

[Kathryn]

At seven, DS did Greek Alphabet Code Cracker to learn letters and sounds. He then moved into Elementary Greek. He was doing it at the same time as First Language Lessons 3 and MCT Island (so for grammar previously, he'd done FLL 1 and 2). He had no problems with grammar. He did year 2 concurrently with FLL4 and MCT Town. He did fine that year, but asked to switch to Latin after that, so we didn't do year 3 last year. I'd definitely recommend the programs we used.

Edited June 18, 2016 by Kathryn

[arliemaria]

How much of Code Cracker is about the sounds?  Robby is learning modern Greek and I don't want to confuse him too much, but want to practice letters this summer before Greek Schools starts again in the fall.

[...................]

I you're talking about Koine Greek, we started with Hey Andrew.  My son loved it and learned all his letters, all their sounds, and did the next book as well, learning whole words.  He loved it and I loved it.

 

Then a well educated person convinced me that we were teaching it the "wrong" way and recommended to get a tutor, who then used Elementary Greek.  Then, even though the tutor was gentle, fun, and my son loved him as a person (he was also a dear friend of ours)....the love really fizzled.  The program moves very fast, and is very serious....and keeping up with it, even at half pace was a LOT of work....

 

We much preferred Hey Andrew, and that's ONE of the times (of many) before I learned my lesson "Don't fix what ain't broke."  

 

Hey Andrew is really fun, and affordable and will get you very very far for the money and investment.

[Peplophoros]

It seems like this topic could be better served if we distinguished between the THREE types of Greek being learned out there:

 

1. ancient (classical) Greek

2. "Koine" Greek.  Similar to ancient Greek, with a lot of differences in vocabulary.  This the Greek of the New Testament, sometimes called "Biblical Greek."

3. Modern Greek (commonly taught in Greek Orthodox churches today)  which is very different from ancient Greek and Koine.  Modern Greek (while so much fun!  I am a student myself) will not allow you to read the classics or much of the New Testament.  If this is your goal, better to follow ancient Greek or Koine programs. 

 

I would guess that many of us here (in the context of Classical education) would want our children to learn ancient Greek--the Greek of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle, although there seem to be more Koine programs out there due to Christian character of much of classical education these days.

 

Some programs in ANCIENT Greek are:

 

1. Galore Park's An Introduction to Classical Greek

2. Athenaze

3. Memoria Press' Elementary Greek

4. Classical Academic Press' Greek for Children

 

Hey Andrew seems to teach Biblical Greek, but at that early level, it probably wouldn't hurt (though I'm not sure) to switch from Biblical to ancient Greek, although you wouldn't want to do it much later (to avoid confusion in your student).

Edited June 19, 2016 by Peplophoros