CAP Latin

[Coco_Clark]

My middle schoolers are currently in CAP's Latin for Children B and I'm looking ahead.

After Latin for Children did you go on to Latin Alive?  It looks like it "starts over".  Is this true?  Does that make it to easy for students that have done all three levels of Latin for Children?  Or does the background just make it a bit easier while the program moves faster and deeper?  Do you suggest a different program for High School?  I'll admit I just kind of fell into Latin for Children, because it came after Song School, which we loved.  We don't necessarily love LFC, the chants leave a lot to be desired- but neither do we hate it, it gets the job done.    

[cintinative]

14 minutes ago, Coco_Clark said:

My middle schoolers are currently in CAP's Latin for Children B and I'm looking ahead.

After Latin for Children did you go on to Latin Alive?  It looks like it "starts over".  Is this true?  Does that make it to easy for students that have done all three levels of Latin for Children?  Or does the background just make it a bit easier while the program moves faster and deeper?  Do you suggest a different program for High School?  I'll admit I just kind of fell into Latin for Children, because it came after Song School, which we loved.  We don't necessarily love LFC, the chants leave a lot to be desired- but neither do we hate it, it gets the job done.    

 

I feel uniquely able to handle this question as we were right where you are a couple of years ago. 😃

My oldest (now 14) did Song School 1 and 2, LFC-A and LFC-B and then did Latin Alive 1 and is now doing LA2

My youngest (now 12) did Song School 1 and 2, LFC-A , LFC-B and LFC-C and now is doing LA 1

LA1 does indeed "start over" but the pacing is a LOT faster than the LFC series. If you have not been doing the Libellus de Historia, the regular translation work will also be new.  

I do think it helped my kids a lot to have LFC A and B  under their belts before going into LA1.  I honestly can't imagine jumping into LA1 without any prior Latin without feeling totally overwhelmed.  

I was told that if the child had done LFC-C they can skip LA1 but after doing LA1 with my oldest, I just can't imagine doing that. There are some concepts (like the various uses for the genitive, accusative, and ablative case) that are not covered in LFC and the translation work is more difficult. 

All of this Latin (listed above) is my first Latin as well as theirs, so I have had to learn along with them.

We thought that LFC was frustrating at times (especially B, since we had the really old videos which were awful). Honestly, though, I have been a bit more frustrated with LA.  My boys (neither of them) like the teacher on the videos. My oldest flat out refuses to watch. This really, really hurts us. I have watched them all myself, and I have also taken time to find videos on Udemy (for Wheelocks) covering the same concepts so that we *can* use those if necessary.  YMMV--I actually like the teacher on the videos a lot.

From a time perspective, LA does "feel" like high school. We do Latin five days a week for about an hour.  I would be happy to share the schedule that we used--I modify it to reflect reality as we go along.  This curriculum lacks the layers of review that LFC had, so I felt it was necessary to add extra in. So I am using quizzes mainly for review before we do the chapter tests.  Also they use Quizlet every day to review the vocabulary and some grammar.  

Some of my pet peeves:

• errors in the curriculum that are not published. We found some problems in the LA2 test packet.  Their response: there were "so many" errors in the LA2 test packet they didn't publish errata. I had no idea it had been updated. So I had to download the updated version and reprint all 140+ pages. Groan.
• getting questions answered is slow. We have not taken advantage of their new tiered assistance from CAP. That might have made a difference (especially with LA2) but we started LA2 in June and that program did not start until September.
• Some of the glossaries for the readings are not complete.  This is the sort of thing that drives my oldest son absolutely crazy.  

My kids' major complaints:

• the errors
• the time
• they have done Latin "forever and ever."  They definitely are at the Latin burnout stage. I had not considered that they would be just plain tired of Latin by the time we got here.

All this said, they have never really liked Latin (they did like Song School). 

My current plan is finish LA2 with my oldest and LA1 with my youngest and move on to Spanish next year. 

 

I hope this helps. If you have other questions, I would be happy to answer them.  

 

 

 

[Coco_Clark]

That helps a lot, thanks so much!

First, I'd love to see your schedule.

Second, Do you think its best to do LFC3 before doing LA1?  Or would it work out to do LFC 1 then 2, then go right to LA?  I ask because my children both plan on leaving latin in the 10th grade when they go to running start.  There is a chance we wont fit all 6 books in within that time limit.  

All being said, hearing your experience I may just go ahead and look at other high school latin programs.  My kids arent burnt out (yet) but do not enjoy LFC nearly as much as song school.  Maybe thats inevitable but surely someone out there is making latin fun (ish).  The dvds were a swing and a miss here, we dont use them at all.  It means a lot of side learning for me, but so far I'm keeping up!

[cintinative]

2 hours ago, Coco_Clark said:

That helps a lot, thanks so much!

First, I'd love to see your schedule.

Second, Do you think its best to do LFC3 before doing LA1?  Or would it work out to do LFC 1 then 2, then go right to LA?  I ask because my children both plan on leaving latin in the 10th grade when they go to running start.  There is a chance we wont fit all 6 books in within that time limit.  

All being said, hearing your experience I may just go ahead and look at other high school latin programs.  My kids arent burnt out (yet) but do not enjoy LFC nearly as much as song school.  Maybe thats inevitable but surely someone out there is making latin fun (ish).  The dvds were a swing and a miss here, we dont use them at all.  It means a lot of side learning for me, but so far I'm keeping up!

 

I made my youngest do LFC-C because I didn't think he was ready for the rigor/workload of LA1 and he was only in 6th. He has mild ADD inattentive type and he's my kid I have to sit next to for some Latin lessons to keep him focused and working.  I really thought doing LFC-C in 6th would make LA1  in 7th much easier for him because it promised to be a lot of review. At first it really was easier. Now that we are in chapter 14 or so, it's getting more intense and he is struggling.

I would not put a child below 7th in LA1 unless they were a really diligent persevering sort of student OR if I was planning to do it over two years instead of one.  

The burnout is real. I wished that I had asked on here because I found out (after the fact) that this has happened to other moms as well.  

When you say six books, do you mean SS1, SS2, LFC-A, LFC-B, LA1, LA2, LA3 or what combo are you talking about?  

I think if I had this to do over I would have considered jumping ship after LFC (knowing there might be some vocabulary gaps) and moved to something with more built in review.  

I would really consider borrowing the LA videos or trying to watch sections online with your kids. Although my one son's take is that she just reads from the book, this is not entirely accurate. She also goes over at least one from every exercise and takes the time to explain each concept. So I do think they are both missing out to not watch it. Of course, it does save them time to not watch it, and possibly if they were watching the whole thing my schedule would be much different.

That is something I neglected to mention before. Unlike LFC where you watch the whole video and then do the workbook, these videos are set up as: watch the video then do Exercise 1; watch the video and then do Exercise 2, etc. Sometimes the video section prior to the exercise is short. Sometimes it is longer.  It is really impossible to plan out each day so that the video length will always be the same, if that makes sense.  

You do have the option of the tiered assistance from CAP which they are offering. I think Tier I is review of vocab and quizzes, Tier II includes online support weekly plus a bunch of other things and Tier III includes all of that plus a monthly live Q&A in the evening.  https://classicalacademicpress.com/product/latin-alive-book-1-online-module/

BTW, you will definitely need a Latin dictionary. Sometimes words are not glossed at all.  It might be the version of the text we are using. I think they are moving towards a consumable workbook. Ours are non-consumable. 

I felt like LA2 was a steep learning curve for me. It covers participles and passive voice, etc. and some of it is just tricky.  So far we have mostly done okay, but there have been a couple of times when I could not help my oldest with a question. 

I have quizzes for all of LA1 that were mostly from the yahoo group. Most of them do not have answer keys, but you are welcome to them.

I created quizzes for LA2 that you are also welcome to--they are not fabulous and there is no answer key.  😃 I really created them as a sort of test of retention, not for grading. Anything he is not sure of when he is done he can fill out using the book.  Sometimes there are more than 20 vocabulary words/verbs, etc. for each chapter and it's hard to remember them all. This helps us to identify where more study is needed prior to the test.  

I will PM you the LA1 schedule. Just keep in mind we are not doing the videos.  😃

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by cintinative

[cintinative]

@ScoutTN it might possibly be helpful to share why you switched from LA to the Latin you are doing with CLRC

[Coco_Clark]

I meant by 6 years the 3 LFC and 3 Latin Alive.

My oldest 3 kids did both Song School books in elementary slowly over 3 years.

Latin for Children A in 5/6th/6th grade

Latin for Children B in 6th/7th/7th grade

Then I'm projecting :

Latin for Children C in 7th/8th/8th

Latin Alive 1 in 8th/9th/9th

Latin Alive 2 in 9th/10th/10th

But then my oldest two will start at the community college and drop Latin.  If I skipped C I could fit in 3.  But the more I look the more I wonder if I'll do a different Latin course all together for high school.  

I've wondered about burn out too.  My oldest two love Latin.  My younger one in this group, not so much.

My current 4th grader JUST started Song School with my second graders.  I used to regret that he didn't join the olders (he is a struggling reader and had bigger fish to fry) but now I wonder if he's not better off than his Latin hating older brother.

[cintinative]

I think LFC-C is going to seem young for an 8th or 9th grader. I would probably do though B and then move to LA1. If you move to LA1 in 7th and it's too fast, you could just do it over two years.

Or, consider jumping ship after LFC-B or C.