Vocabulary, Latin, Greek

[gracefamilydoc]

DD loves words.  However, I started her early in Michael Clay Thompson and she is 11 and using Word within the Word, which is just ... too dry, too much.  She's learning but she's not enjoying it.  I'm thinking to stop at some point soon and come back to it later.  However, she does love words!  I think she would enjoy doing something vocabulary/grammar wise, just not MCT.  I was thinking Latin/Greek might be good for her but I don't have the energy to learn a second foreign language (our first is Chinese and I only know enough Koine Greek to be dangerous) plus teach AOPS.  She's just 11, but she might, if she's interested (and she said she was a couple of years ago), teach herself.  Suggestions?

Edited March 22, 2019 by gracefamilydoc
She's 11, not 10. They grow up too fast!

[daijobu]

I'm cringing as I write this, but have you already used Caesar's English by MCT?  It's quite different from WWW.  In fact, I went from CE to WWW and was sorely disappointed in WWW and we stopped about one volume and never returned.  CE on the other hand is such a joy and so much fun.  He quotes extensively from literature to show how great writers used the words that he teaches.  

The MCT books are expensive, but see if you can't look at a sample just to see how different they are.  

[mathnerd]

How about letting her self-teach Classical Latin or Ancient Greek (or both!)? My son is a lousy writer though he always had excellent vocabulary and love for words. He has been doing Latin for a while and this year, he started taking high school level latin and his word acquisition and his understanding of roots has increased exponentially. He also participates in several latin exams, certamen etc and his exposure to words is way more than what he would have acquired just reading books. The language also captures his imagination making it a good fit for a word lover. I think that learning the classical languages is a wonderful choice for a word nerd. There are gentle introductory books for Latin like Song School Latin and Getting Started With Latin which are great for self-teaching. For more advanced levels, there are online classes and perhaps local resources in your area as well. Good luck.

Edited March 22, 2019 by mathnerd

[ttt]

I just learned about https://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.  They describe themselves as a competition  "Using Analogies to Master Vocabulary".  Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[gracefamilydoc]

19 hours ago, daijobu said:

I'm cringing as I write this, but have you already used Caesar's English by MCT?  It's quite different from WWW.  In fact, I went from CE to WWW and was sorely disappointed in WWW and we stopped about one volume and never returned.  CE on the other hand is such a joy and so much fun.  He quotes extensively from literature to show how great writers used the words that he teaches.  

The MCT books are expensive, but see if you can't look at a sample just to see how different they are.  

  

We've done both levels of Caesar's English already.  

[gracefamilydoc]

17 hours ago, mathnerd said:

How about letting her self-teach Classical Latin or Ancient Greek (or both!)? My son is a lousy writer though he always had excellent vocabulary and love for words. He has been doing Latin for a while and this year, he started taking high school level latin and his word acquisition and his understanding of roots has increased exponentially. He also participates in several latin exams, certamen etc and his exposure to words is way more than what he would have acquired just reading books. The language also captures his imagination making it a good fit for a word lover. I think that learning the classical languages is a wonderful choice for a word nerd. There are gentle introductory books for Latin like Song School Latin and Getting Started With Latin which are great for self-teaching. For more advanced levels, there are online classes and perhaps local resources in your area as well. Good luck.

This is what I am thinking, just trying to figure out which Latin/Greek curricula are good for self teaching at that age and if people find that going directly to Greek is harder than doing Latin and then Greek.    

[Porridge]

Another vote for self teaching using Getting Started with Latin. DD10 has been able to work through it on her own and has really enjoyed Latin.

[mathnerd]

We used the Greek Code Cracker book for a fun introduction to Greek alphabet. Then moved on to “An introduction to Classical Greek” book. My son started this book after 2 years of Latin. 

[daijobu]

2 hours ago, gracefamilydoc said:

  

We've done both levels of Caesar's English already.  

Got it.  I can see your disappointment then.  Why didn't they continue with the good thing they already had going?  

[Ausmumof3]

22 hours ago, gracefamilydoc said:

DD loves words.  However, I started her early in Michael Clay Thompson and she is 11 and using Word within the Word, which is just ... too dry, too much.  She's learning but she's not enjoying it.  I'm thinking to stop at some point soon and come back to it later.  However, she does love words!  I think she would enjoy doing something vocabulary/grammar wise, just not MCT.  I was thinking Latin/Greek might be good for her but I don't have the energy to learn a second foreign language (our first is Chinese and I only know enough Koine Greek to be dangerous) plus teach AOPS.  She's just 11, but she might, if she's interested (and she said she was a couple of years ago), teach herself.  Suggestions?

My dd is loving the online Picta Dicta Latin. It’s not hugely in depth no grammar or anything but just common words and information and stories to go along with them.  It’s fun to recognise where the words are similar to something we’ve learned in Italian etc.  it has been absolutely no work for me and because she enjoys it there’s no arguing or anything.  It may not be deep enough for what you want though.

edited to add that it’s from Roman Roads Media and I checked their site and they do have more advanced vocab levels as well.

we bought our subscription through home school buyers coop at a reasonable discount so might be worth looking out for that again.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Ausmumof3

[gracefamilydoc]

We're going to try Getting Started with Latin.  She's excited!  Thank you for your help!

[Lawyer&Mom]

Cambridge Latin is pretty accessible because it’s a reading program aimed at middle schoolers.  I think it would work well as a student led activity after GSWL.  He might hit a wall eventually, but it would keep him busy for awhile. 

[mathnerd]

25 minutes ago, Lawyer&Mom said:

Cambridge Latin is pretty accessible because it’s a reading program aimed at middle schoolers.  I think it would work well as a student led activity after GSWL.  He might hit a wall eventually, but it would keep him busy for awhile. 

Yes. We used Minimus from Cambridge University Press  (which are a lot of fun) after GSWL and then moved on to their higher level books. 

[Guest]

Ellen McHenry has Excavating English, which is an Etymology study aimed at middle school that is a lot of fun. I used it along with Word Up! (Video program by the Visual Latin folks-slight Christian content)for a club.  There is also an excellent Etymology (and a vocabulary) course at Athena's Academy-my DD loved them so much that she did them first as a student and then as a TA.

 

My DD did the National Classical Etymology Exam for several years and quite enjoyed it.

 

[ttt]

On 3/22/2019 at 8:38 PM, Ausmumof3 said:

My dd is loving the online Picta Dicta Latin. It’s not hugely in depth no grammar or anything but just common words and information and stories to go along with them.  It’s fun to recognise where the words are similar to something we’ve learned in Italian etc.  it has been absolutely no work for me and because she enjoys it there’s no arguing or anything.  It may not be deep enough for what you want though.

edited to add that it’s from Roman Roads Media and I checked their site and they do have more advanced vocab levels as well.

we bought our subscription through home school buyers coop at a reasonable discount so might be worth looking out for that again.

Is Picta Dicta Latin secular?  If it is religious, in what way?  Did you buy it recently, because I'm not finding the discounted buy.  Thanks!

[Ausmumof3]

8 hours ago, ttt said:

Is Picta Dicta Latin secular?  If it is religious, in what way?  Did you buy it recently, because I'm not finding the discounted buy.  Thanks!

We haven’t come across anything religious yet but we’re only part way in.  The discount was through the home buyers coop around last July.  You probably could keep and eye on their sales for it as most of their discounts seem to recur every so often.  

[ttt]

Super, Thanks!