Former Latin Lukeion 4 students

[crazyforlatin]

From Latin 2 to Latin 3, there has been a noticeable jump in work and difficulty. Vulgate was not bad, Caesar was hard, Pliny seems easier than Caesar, but overall it's been more work than last year, and I know it's going to be become more difficult as we get towards the end of the semester. DD has had to work on Latin 5 days at 45-60 minutes each day in order to finish the work. For Latin 2 it used to be 2-3 days for about an hour each time.

 

Is Latin 4 the same thing, another jump in difficulty with even more work than this year?

Edited October 10, 2016 by crazyforlatin

[Gratia271]

Latin 4/AP Latin is definitely a step up due to the increased # of lines to translate and the analytical essay writing.  Amy endeavors to help smooth the path for her AP Latin students by gradually increasing the length and difficulty of translation assignments as well as by introducing analytical writing assignments in Latin 3.  Translation speed and analytical writing ability varies so widely across students that it's hard to give an average for students in terms of time commitment.   

[yvonne]

My boys found that it was a very big step up from Latin 2 to 3, largely because of the word studies in Latin 3. My dd is finding it to be the same big step up.  

 

The boys didn't think that it was as big a jump from 3 to 4 as it was from 2 to 3. No more word studies in Latin 4, but, as Gratia mentioned, there are analytical essays to write. Unlike the word studies in Latin 3, the analytical essays usually had some time limit like 40 minutes or an hour. My boys said Latin 4 was "probably a bit more work" than Latin 3, but they sure seemed calmer about Latin 4 last year than they did about Latin 3 the previous year. Latin 3 was kind of a shock and took a while to get used to. :)

[crazyforlatin]

Thanks, Gratia and Yvonne, of course it's not going to just level off, not sure what I was thinking there. I just want to make sure we don't take on too many things next year. I don't think taking a year off after Latin 3 would be a good idea. I was thinking of taking Latin 4 somewhere else not as rigorous and time consuming and then going back to Lukeion Latin 4. DD would never go along with any of my ideas about Latin anyway. She's quite devoted to Mrs. Barr. I already made a mistake switching Greek teachers on her. She's on the younger side, so I was thinking she would do better taking AP in 8th grade rather than in 7th grade.

[G5052]

Yes, Latin 4 with Lukeion is a bear.

 

My oldest is a sophomore in college (business major), and he says that was the hardest class he's ever taken. He's slow on the language side, so take that into account, but I've watched him do a week of college accounting assignments in a few hours. He did get a "5."

 

My younger one went to Classical Academic Press for Latin 4 and then decided that she didn't want to do AP Latin, which is fine because she has other AP credits. The teacher there is WONDERFUL. It's an entirely different approach and style, but she did beautifully and got a gold medal on National Latin Exam Latin 4 Lit test. So a good alternative.

[skimomma]

Thanks, Gratia and Yvonne, of course it's not going to just level off, not sure what I was thinking there. I just want to make sure we don't take on too many things next year. I don't think taking a year off after Latin 3 would be a good idea. I was thinking of taking Latin 4 somewhere else not as rigorous and time consuming and then going back to Lukeion Latin 4. DD would never go along with any of my ideas about Latin anyway. She's quite devoted to Mrs. Barr. I already made a mistake switching Greek teachers on her. She's on the younger side, so I was thinking she would do better taking AP in 8th grade rather than in 7th grade.

 

My dd is also on the younger side and is spending more like 2 hours, 6 days a week in Latin 3, so I too am concerned about the next step.  She currently wants to take AP next year but if it indeed will take even more time, I'm not sure we will be able to fit it in.  I am still hoping that the time spent will come down once she gets her groove but so far there has been no relief. 

[Gratia271]

One thing to consider is the level of analytical essay writing required of AP level students and the time constraints imposed on that writing.  Some students are naturals at this, but it is a huge jump for many students to write thoughtful, analytical essays (much less given strict time constraints).  Of the many students and Latin teachers I have spoken with, this is a significant concern and stumbling block for students at advanced levels of course work.

Edited October 11, 2016 by Gratia271