henle

[bnwhitaker]

Does anyone recommend doing latin before they begin Henle in 7th or 8th grade?  

 

Or is in not necessary?

[2_girls_mommy]

I don't know if it's necessary, but my kids have done years of Latin before my odd started Henle in 8th. We did easy/fun Prima Latina. That is not necessary. Then moved through LCI and the Form Series of MP for lots of grammar and songs and prayers and history before moving into Henle. And my 9th grader, who got a perfect score on the level one of the NLEs last year in 8th grade, still can have a tough time using Henle I. We have used it with Fourth Form over the last two years. So I wouldn't want to jump into Henle without some grammar before. I think it has helped immensely. All that we did was probably not necessary, but it didn't hurt. That's for sure. 

[KrissiK]

I am an adult Latin learner. I started out learning along side my kids when they started Prima Latina. Now, my oldest one still at home is starting Third Form. I started Henle independently a year ago using MP's study guides. All that to say, I am very glad I had the background with the Form series before I started with Henle. Yes, Henle does start at the beginning, but there's a lot of translation work and I'm glad I'd gotten the hang of how Latin works before I started Henle.

[Pistachio mom]

We used Henle with my oldest student after Prima, Latina Chr 1 and 2, First Form and the beginning of 2nd Form. Since the form series made my daughter feel like she was translating baby sentences, we switched to BJ Press Latin - which we did not like the organization of the grammar. It was so chaotic. At a convention, I talked with a very kind man in the Memoria booth about all this. He recommended Henle for a student at my daughter's level. We loved  it! We much preferred studying Christian Latin rather than the Classical. The BJ is classical.

 

I have also know of people who go through Latina Christiana 1 and 2, and then straight on to Henle. Some people start with Henle and use it for a few years straight. They start from the beginning every year and just go faster and cover more every year.

 

It starts very basic and builds. Many of the sentences are about Caesar,war, Rome,Theology, and Catholic Church tradition related content.  The guides from Memoria are so well laid out. We really enjoyed studying from them. It was challenging, but the grammar was in a logical order. I would highly recommend using the guides. If I had known how the Form series would frustrate my daughter, and especially how BJ Latin was just so much not a good fit for us - we would have started Henle in 7th grade.

 

In my  opinion, doing a year or just a semester of something on the level of First Form Latin or Latina Christiana 1 would be plenty of prep to make the most of Henle.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by Pistachio mom