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AFthfulJrney
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I'm trying to decide on a Latin curriculum for my 10 year old. I was recommended Memoria Press, Visual Latin, and Getting Started with Latin. Obviously, out of the three, GSL is the cheapest option, but I'm looking for opinions on it, as well as the other two. This will be her first year studying Latin. Thank you!

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I have a 15 year-old using Visual Latin.  She loves it.  I'm not sure if VL would be too much for a 10 year-old...   :confused:   I guess if you were working on it with her, it would probably be fine.  Mine is working through the program independently.  You don't have to buy the whole program.  They have a subscription option on their website.  It's 7 bucks a month, so you could actually buy a one-month subscription and try it.  The paper portion (worksheets, quizzes, etc) of the course is free as a download on their website.

 

The only thing I think might be overwhelming is the reader.  They add in the Lingua Latina reader at one point in VL1.  That reader was even overwhelming my teenager.  I had to tell her to put it away for a few weeks until she had more vocab under her belt.

 

I also have her memorizing all of the Latin roots (I think there's 100 total for Greek and Latin) that are in the English from the Roots Up program - and she said that's really helped out.  She said she sees the roots in her reading.

 

There is a lot of grammar in VL (from what I've seen grading her worksheets).

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I'm not familiar with the other two, but Memoria Press is a good program. First Form Latin is where you would place a 10y.o. The thing about the MP program is that it is designed to teach grammar before translation skills. So by the end of First Form your kiddo will know and be able to recite lots of grammar information, but will only be translating some sentences from the workbook. There are no big chunks of translation work or stories to translate. This is by design since MP believes that understanding the grammar before learning to translate is really important, but it can make kids who expected to be able to "really read Latin" feel a little frustrated if you don't make sure they understand the approach MP takes.

 

As to the materials themselves, the books are well done and present the information very clearly. If you haven't looked at the samples online you really should. You can get them here: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/first-form-latin/

I suggest having your kiddo sit down and study the student book sample and then try some of the workbook sample to see what she thinks of it. If she, or you, hates workbooks then MP might not be the best choice.

 

I also encourage you to take a good long look at the teachers manual. If you think you could teach the class from the book then you could order the basic set without the DVDs which would bring the price down quite a bit. You can see the basic set here: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/first-form-latin-set/

 

To give you an idea of what using this program is like I'll run you through a day with it.

 

To start the lesson you have a student recite a paradigm of grammar information (noun or verb endings), decline a previously learned noun, or conjugate a verb. Suggestions for what to have them do are in the TM.

 

Next you either teach a new lesson (on Mondays) or review the lesson in progress. Answer any questions and then assign the workbook pages for the day. You can also use this time to review vocabulary.

 

Lastly the student does the assigned WB pages and does more vocab review as needed.

 

The lessons are meant to be completed 1/week with a quiz on Friday and tests every 6 weeks or so. The daily amount of work is very reasonable and, if used as written, will teach students the entire Latin grammar in 4 years, at which point they will be ready to learn to work with translating authors such as Caesar.

 

I hope this helps you decide.

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We are happy with GSWL. It's very incremental and easy to understand. The way it's written makes it easy to slow down or speed up. But you will need to do memorization on your own, through Anki or flashcards or whatever, those aren't included. I don't remember if they specifically instruct you to memorize declensions, etc., but make sure you do that too.

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I would put a 10 year old into Latina Christiana I or First Form from Memoria Press, depending on the type of student you have (one that gets overwhelmed, might need another year before daily assignments like in FF are required,) and how serious you want to take it this year. If you want to enjoy it, go a bit more slowly, and not focus a lot of your week together on it, then LC would be a gently intro. If you are ready to help with Latin daily then I would go into FF. Your choice.  With either, I would make sure you are doing some Roman history and culture from something like Famous Men of Rome.

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I'm not familiar with the other two, but Memoria Press is a good program. First Form Latin is where you would place a 10y.o. The thing about the MP program is that it is designed to teach grammar before translation skills. So by the end of First Form your kiddo will know and be able to recite lots of grammar information, but will only be translating some sentences from the workbook. There are no big chunks of translation work or stories to translate. This is by design since MP believes that understanding the grammar before learning to translate is really important, but it can make kids who expected to be able to "really read Latin" feel a little frustrated if you don't make sure they understand the approach MP takes.

 

As to the materials themselves, the books are well done and present the information very clearly. If you haven't looked at the samples online you really should. You can get them here: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/first-form-latin/

I suggest having your kiddo sit down and study the student book sample and then try some of the workbook sample to see what she thinks of it. If she, or you, hates workbooks then MP might not be the best choice.

 

I also encourage you to take a good long look at the teachers manual. If you think you could teach the class from the book then you could order the basic set without the DVDs which would bring the price down quite a bit. You can see the basic set here: https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/first-form-latin-set/

 

To give you an idea of what using this program is like I'll run you through a day with it.

 

To start the lesson you have a student recite a paradigm of grammar information (noun or verb endings), decline a previously learned noun, or conjugate a verb. Suggestions for what to have them do are in the TM.

 

Next you either teach a new lesson (on Mondays) or review the lesson in progress. Answer any questions and then assign the workbook pages for the day. You can also use this time to review vocabulary.

 

Lastly the student does the assigned WB pages and does more vocab review as needed.

 

The lessons are meant to be completed 1/week with a quiz on Friday and tests every 6 weeks or so. The daily amount of work is very reasonable and, if used as written, will teach students the entire Latin grammar in 4 years, at which point they will be ready to learn to work with translating authors such as Caesar.

 

I hope this helps you decide.

 

Thank you so much for this detailed reply. It has been very helpful. 

 

I will do as you suggest and have my daughter look over the samples and then go from there. I hadn't  realized there was a less expensive package. That is one reason I kinda turned away from this particular curriculum...the price. Thanks for letting me know there is a less expensive option. 

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I would put a 10 year old into Latina Christiana I or First Form from Memoria Press, depending on the type of student you have (one that gets overwhelmed, might need another year before daily assignments like in FF are required,) and how serious you want to take it this year. If you want to enjoy it, go a bit more slowly, and not focus a lot of your week together on it, then LC would be a gently intro. If you are ready to help with Latin daily then I would go into FF. Your choice.  With either, I would make sure you are doing some Roman history and culture from something like Famous Men of Rome.

 

She is currently reading Famous Men of Greece and Story of the Greeks. Would that mess her up too much? 

I'd like to take it a bit slower since we haven't done any latin in the past. She has been working on Grammar though, so that won't be too foreign for her. Would you still recommend LC, or would FF be a better fit? 

 

Thank you so much for your help! 

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GSWL is a great place to start a 10 year old. There are clear explanations, one idea at a time, and plenty of practice for each day. It would take 5-20 minutes depending on the lesson, and it gives you a great base to feel comfortable starting a Latin I text and not feeling overwhelmed. I highly recommend it. It was what all of my kids started with, but my DS at 10 years old especially liked it as it gave him confidence, and therefore a desire to continue in Latin.

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I had considered FF but ended up going with Camridge Latin Course because it was recommended by the local Latin teacher and was much more appealing to my students.  I think we would have burnt out on FF because it is dry and there isn't much translating.  Cambridge has stories from the get go, and includes history and culture.  Used copies are cheap on amazon! But you do need some level of comfort teaching languages I would say.

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