Latin recommendations

[Lulu]

My daughter is interested in Latin for next school year. She is a rising 7th grader. What Latin classes or curriculum do you recommend?

[chiguirre]

For a seventh grader, I really like First Form Latin from Memoria Press.

[MamaSprout]

Big Book of Lively Latin (with the videos) worked really well here. We also liked the Forms, but dd still retains what she learned in BBLL in 4th grade.

[frankincense]

I second First Form Latin. It's very straightforward and as you progress through the Forms series (First Form, Second Form, Third Form, Fourth Form) your students develop a high level of proficiency with the Latin grammar.

The series is really well done. There are optional teaching videos as well that accompany each level - the teacher talks directly to the student. We've used the texts and videos for First-Third Form so far and I've been very impressed with them.

[RubyPenn]

I third First Form Latin.  It's well paced, logical, and gives ample practice. 

[fourisenough]

If you’re interested in a live, online class, I suggest taking a look at Classical Learning Resource Center. 

[Bonnie]

I would consider studying Henle I over 7th and 8th grades. You could use Memoria Press resources. If she does the Forms over the next 4 years, she would not read authentic Latin literature until 11th grade. If she were younger, I would recommend the Forms.

Bonnie

[chiguirre]

If you do First and Second Forms in middle school, you can take the Latin II class at Memoria Press Online Academy that covers the second half of Henle 1 in 9th, Henle II: Caesar with excerpts from the Gallic War in 10th, Henle III: Cicero in 11th and AP Latin in 12th. They offer self study options too, but by this point you'll need a teacher if you don't know Latin. 

This is more or less what dd did although she did now defunct Landry Academy classes in middle school.

[Steven]

Consider using Familia Romana by Hans Ørberg. Rather than putting a focus on translation or using Latin to teach English grammar or root words, Familia Romana puts the emphasis on reading and understanding Latin as we do when we learn other foreign languages. The book has only Latin text in it. Each chapter builds incrementally on the previous chapters so that the student, aided by pictures that illustrate new vocabulary, and grammatical examples, can work through the next chapter. There are supplemental books that are also useful, some by Ørberg and some by other followers of his method. 

I learned Latin along with my daughter and so taught her myself, but there are online resources. Here is one from the publisher: https://www.hackettpublishing.com/familia-romana-online. The book has about 36 chapters. Nine or ten chapters a year would be adequate through 7, 8, and 9th grade. There is a follow-on book, Roma Aeterna, but you might want to spend a year reading other easier texts before moving on to it. It is quite demanding. 

Also, you should consider taking the National Latin Exam, regardless of what text you choose. There is a level for beginning students which would be useful to take when starting with Familia Romana, in part because Familia Romana teaches the grammar in a different order than most textbooks and by the end of chapter 9, you may not have all the grammar that would be needed for the Level 1 exam. My daughter complained that there were never any prizes for the things she was good in, so we were delighted to find the NLE. She has now earned 6 gold medals. 

[Corraleno]

For live classes, Lukeion is amazing. They use the Wheelock text and it's definitely an intense class, but it's extremely well organized and students are very well prepared for the National Greek and Latin Exams as well as the Latin AP test. DS took 2 years of Latin and 4 years of Greek with them (gold medals on all exams and perfect scores on several). Their literature and mythology classes are also extremely good.

[Innisfree]

On 5/6/2021 at 8:42 PM, Corraleno said:

For live classes, Lukeion is amazing. They use the Wheelock text and it's definitely an intense class, but it's extremely well organized and students are very well prepared for the National Greek and Latin Exams as well as the Latin AP test. DS took 2 years of Latin and 4 years of Greek with them (gold medals on all exams and perfect scores on several). Their literature and mythology classes are also extremely good.

I'm late to this thread, but had to chime in and say that some of my dd's best memories of her homeschool years are from her Lukeion classes. They became a really important part of her education. She's majoring in Classics, and still compares her classes to the Lukeion standard of excellence, partly because of the quality of teaching, but also because of the level of engagement and camaraderie of the other students. Intense is an appropriate description. Students need to be academically capable. But the rewards are significant.