Favorite Multisensory Latin Curriculums for elementary/young middle schoolers?

[Ting Tang]

My 3rd grader is doing Prima Latina through Memoria Press.  It's ok.  It is "light" enough for him.

My 4th grader is doing First Form Latin through Memoria Press.  I admit. We are not doing it the right way at all because we are not memorizing thoroughly. There are so many pieces to keep track of with the curriculum in general, this year has been a bomb.  We're basically doing the work without memorizing it.  And it's boring.  I see how it is efficient.  I love how it has a separate textbook and each lesson is just two pages long in the text.  The worksheets are pretty heavy, and I know it doesn't get any better.  I think it's probably great for a certain type of motivated, academically-driven student.

As bright as my son is, that does not describe him.  I think learning a language should be purposeful (and I know the benefits of Latin and really want him to be able to directly read the great works), but it should also be enjoyable.  The curriculum is so bland.  It's not even fun for me.  I don't have the time to make it "fun" and play the drill games to help him memorize it with four kids.  The teaching DVDs are better suited for college students than children IMO.  I learned French, and I enjoyed that, granted I started in the 7th grade.  But even my public school textbooks were more "vibrant."  

I've looked at Latin for Children and have ready various opinions on it.  I've looked at the Latin from Royal Fireworks Press, Storybook Latin, Latin Primer, Krakken, etc. Even one Catholic Latin program. 

I'm not too keen on student worktexts for a curriculum where he'd have to flip back and forth in the same book.  

Are there any you've enjoyed using?  He enjoys the outdoors, drawing/coloring, etc.  

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by KrisTom

[desertflower]

I'm liking Song School Latin from Classical Academic Press.  There are songs (some are cute) that we use along with the book.  There are probably other items too, but we don't use them. 

 

ETA: It is an elementary aged program. 

Edited January 26, 2022 by desertflower

[Ting Tang]

15 hours ago, desertflower said:

I'm liking Song School Latin from Classical Academic Press.  There are songs (some are cute) that we use along with the book.  There are probably other items too, but we don't use them. 

 

ETA: It is an elementary aged program. 

Thank you very much. I haven't looked too closed at this level because I thought it would be too young, but maybe not!  I'm not sure he is ready for the seriousness of FFL. Maybe when he is 50, LOL

[desertflower]

😂
 

I’m not in a big hurry. My 3rd and 6th graders are using it. I’m not having them memorize everything either. 

[Ting Tang]

13 minutes ago, desertflower said:

😂
 

I’m not in a big hurry. My 3rd and 6th graders are using it. I’m not having them memorize everything either. 

Well, if it works for a 6th grader, maybe that would be okay for us then!  I just don't know what we will do.  I'm honestly wondering if his next language should be keyboarding.  lol  

[HomeAgain]

You might prefer Minimus.  It's expensive (at least the teacher's manual is) but it may fit the bill.  We've gone through a couple of different Latin programs over the years, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Latin's Not So Tough: Workbook based, but we did many pages in non-writing ways.  Things like orally matching, or using math tokens to match multiple items together.  It's slow, and that's fine, but we wanted something meatier after that.  We jumped into Getting Started With Latin because it didn't require writing.  He flew through.

First Form - Ds picked this after running through GSWL.  He thought he would like it after looking at the samples.  He likes order and rhythm.  Turns out, it was not a good fit by around February.  He was completely bored.  What he did, stuck, but we moved into Cambridge to finish off the year. 

Cambridge Latin - this is FUN.  It's a high school text, with Minimus being for younger kids. DS loved the format: picture story, paragraph stories, grammar, historical overview.  Downside, no workbook.  Because he was going to work with another kid the next year, I moved them both to Latin For Children

LFC A - hard pass.  It was...fine.  The errata is not clearly listed on their site, you have to dig around to find it.  DS gained nothing from it except how to spot the mistakes.

Ecce Romani - Here's where we ended up.  It has the translation-based approach he loved in Cambridge, the grammar exercises like in First Form (but toned down!) and a continual story like in LFC. He's been here for two years and will continue with it in the public school. 

 

In ALL of these, we used what was available to make it multisensory.  There are vocab reviews on Quizlet, video lessons on Youtube, and extras like MagisterCraft and Legonium to keep it fun.  We played games from Ellen McHenry's Basement (Nolo, Volo was a favorite) and let Latin be a way to skip doing the writing in English for vocab study.

[Ting Tang]

Thank you so much for sharing these resources!  I've looked at Minimus and thought that looked interesting.  I am going to look at Cambridge!  I read that about LFC--the errors.  Not sure I want to go that route, though I like CAPs Writing and Rhetoric for my 3rd grader (which we do orally and adaptively). I will check our Ecce Romani.  I may have looked at it. It is hard to keep track.  I was scouring websites around October but decided to keep what we'd purchased.  Now I am done.  LOL

[HomeAgain]

2 minutes ago, KrisTom said:

Thank you so much for sharing these resources!  I've looked at Minimus and thought that looked interesting.  I am going to look at Cambridge!  I read that about LFC--the errors.  Not sure I want to go that route, though I like CAPs Writing and Rhetoric for my 3rd grader (which we do orally and adaptively). I will check our Ecce Romani.  I may have looked at it. It is hard to keep track.  I was scouring websites around October but decided to keep what we'd purchased.  Now I am done.  LOL

If you end up wanting something like Cambridge, Abe Books sells older copies pretty cheap, especially if you do the exercises from the book on notebook paper.  If anything else, it's a $6 investment for extra readings.

I'll say this for First Form - while we may have stopped the program, the charts for First and Second Form have gotten heavy use here, especially this year as ds is working more with tenses.  I slipped them in page protectors and they're out front and center almost every day.

[Ting Tang]

3 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

If you end up wanting something like Cambridge, Abe Books sells older copies pretty cheap, especially if you do the exercises from the book on notebook paper.  If anything else, it's a $6 investment for extra readings.

I'll say this for First Form - while we may have stopped the program, the charts for First and Second Form have gotten heavy use here, especially this year as ds is working more with tenses.  I slipped them in page protectors and they're out front and center almost every day.

Oh thank you!  Do you know approximately how long each unit would take for Cambridge?  I was thinking maybe I could just buy one to try out?  But would it be too much for a 10 year old?  I see the Minimus duo says it is good through age 13 and Cambridge is good for Middle School. But you are right about the cost of those! Oh, and we have those charts---they are great!

Edited January 26, 2022 by KrisTom

[HomeAgain]

3 minutes ago, KrisTom said:

Oh thank you!  Do you know approximately how long each unit would take for Cambridge?  I was thinking maybe I could just buy one to try out?  But would it be too much for a 10 year old?  I see the Minimus duo says it is good through age 13 and Cambridge is good for Middle School. But you are right about the cost of those! Oh, and we have those charts---they are great!

A high school will usually pair Unit 1 and Unit 2 for a year of Latin 1. Each book is about 200 pages long, with about 12 "stages" (chapters) in each.  A year for a younger kid would be only one Unit book.  What it looked like in our house was this:

Day 1: read the picture story

Day 2: vocab study - words from the pictures as well as the next exercise

Day 3: read the paragraph story, using the vocab translation as needed

Day 4 - 6: grammar exercises, vocab study

Day 7-8: historical readings, vocab review

Then would be the next stage, and the format would vary depending on how many different paragraph stories or little translations there were (3 became the norm as we went on, including some scripts).  It was very relaxed, but you can see how it can absolutely be condensed to a weekly format for an older kid.

[Ting Tang]

13 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

A high school will usually pair Unit 1 and Unit 2 for a year of Latin 1. Each book is about 200 pages long, with about 12 "stages" (chapters) in each.  A year for a younger kid would be only one Unit book.  What it looked like in our house was this:

Day 1: read the picture story

Day 2: vocab study - words from the pictures as well as the next exercise

Day 3: read the paragraph story, using the vocab translation as needed

Day 4 - 6: grammar exercises, vocab study

Day 7-8: historical readings, vocab review

Then would be the next stage, and the format would vary depending on how many different paragraph stories or little translations there were (3 became the norm as we went on, including some scripts).  It was very relaxed, but you can see how it can absolutely be condensed to a weekly format for an older kid.

Thank you so much.  So everything I need is in one book?  What comes after Cambridge 1-4?  I appreciate this so much! eta...ooh I see there is a teacher manual?  Is it necessary?

Edited January 26, 2022 by KrisTom

[HomeAgain]

2 minutes ago, KrisTom said:

Thank you so much.  So everything I need is in one book?  What comes after Cambridge 1-4?  I appreciate this so much! 

Honestly, I'm not sure what would come next.  More translations?  I have Unit 1 and 2 on my shelf and after that first year, we used them for "gravy".  Ds likes the pace, so when he finishes the work in his book or is ahead, we'll stop and do some Cambridge.  He has two chapters left of Ecce Romani right now and will read through Cambridge until June or so to keep things fresh.  And you're probably asking why we switched if Cambridge was working.  By the time we finished with LFC A, ds had had enough years of introductory Latin that going back to Cambridge felt like treading water for another year.  Ecce was slightly faster paced, which meant that he still flew through the first few chapters, but he quickly got to a point where he needed to work just enough.  However, neither program was consumable so we always had the option of reducing the workload if it got overwhelming.  It didn't; Ecce Romani turned out to be the just right sweet spot for him with expectations and reward, but Cambridge gets a special place on our shelf as something he gravitates to. He will be amazed at how fluently he can read when he goes through it again in a month or two.

[Ting Tang]

1 minute ago, HomeAgain said:

Honestly, I'm not sure what would come next.  More translations?  I have Unit 1 and 2 on my shelf and after that first year, we used them for "gravy".  Ds likes the pace, so when he finishes the work in his book or is ahead, we'll stop and do some Cambridge.  He has two chapters left of Ecce Romani right now and will read through Cambridge until June or so to keep things fresh.  And you're probably asking why we switched if Cambridge was working.  By the time we finished with LFC A, ds had had enough years of introductory Latin that going back to Cambridge felt like treading water for another year.  Ecce was slightly faster paced, which meant that he still flew through the first few chapters, but he quickly got to a point where he needed to work just enough.  However, neither program was consumable so we always had the option of reducing the workload if it got overwhelming.  It didn't; Ecce Romani turned out to be the just right sweet spot for him with expectations and reward, but Cambridge gets a special place on our shelf as something he gravitates to. He will be amazed at how fluently he can read when he goes through it again in a month or two.

Thank you very much.  I wondered if the translation courses offered by MP might be something they could do after?  I edited my response, but do I absolutely need the teacher's book for Cambridge Unit 1?  I don't really use the teacher manual for FFL.  I do use the answer key, and we just read through the text together.  But I'm not sure if everything is within the Cambridge student book?

[HomeAgain]

14 hours ago, KrisTom said:

Thank you very much.  I wondered if the translation courses offered by MP might be something they could do after?  I edited my response, but do I absolutely need the teacher's book for Cambridge Unit 1?  I don't really use the teacher manual for FFL.  I do use the answer key, and we just read through the text together.  But I'm not sure if everything is within the Cambridge student book?

I'll give you two thoughts here:

1. The student book is well written, with all necessary information in the text.  We didn't find a teacher's manual necessary and I've never seen one in person.

That said...

2. I have the teacher's manual for Ecce Romani, and while the student books are pretty self explanatory and teach well, the teacher's manual provides quite a bit of extra information to teach the teacher, along with suggestions for projects and class exercises. It also had the bonus of having every translation written out, which isn't entirely necessary, but nice to see.

So, I think you can go either way, depending on how much support you want or need for the subject.

 

[Ting Tang]

1 hour ago, HomeAgain said:

I'll give you two thoughts here:

1. The student book is well written, with all necessary information in the text.  We didn't find a teacher's manual necessary and I've never seen one in person.

That said...

2. I have the teacher's manual for Ecce Romani, and while the student books are pretty self explanatory and teach well, the teacher's manual provides quite a bit of extra information to teach the teacher, along with suggestions for projects and class exercises. It also had the bonus of having every translation written out, which isn't entirely necessary, but nice to see.

So, I think you can go either way, depending on how much support you want or need for the subject.

 

Thank you so much!  Do you think it is necessary with Minimus?  I am thinking of just re-starting very light, but the TMs even used are pricey.  I would think the student book has all he would need to know, though we'd be without activity ideas. I found a site that gives translations for the comic stories, too. Help! - Minimus (minimuslatin.co.uk)  

[mellifera33]

Have you looked at I Speak Latin by Andrew Campbell? Oral, scripted, lots of movement built in.

[Ting Tang]

1 hour ago, mellifera33 said:

Have you looked at I Speak Latin by Andrew Campbell? Oral, scripted, lots of movement built in.

I haven't heard of this but will take a look at it, too. Thank you!

 

[Ilera25]

I'll put in another recommendation for Minimus Latin! When my 7-year-old came to me and said he'd like to learn Latin, I was little baffled. I wanted a program where he'd feel like he was learning, but that also wouldn't take a lot of time each day. I also wanted something more hands-on and engaging. It took awhile to find something that wasn't geared towards middle school/high school. Minimus Latin is rather pricey, but well worth the investment (at least for us). I purchased the audio CD and my boys started picking up on Latin phrases right away. I've been using it for three years, and my youngest enjoys making up stories in Latin to confuse his older sister (who chose to study French independently instead). Since it's published by Cambridge University Press, they sort of speak Latin with a British accent, which is hilarious. They're in 4th/7th grades using Level 2 now.

If you purchase the teacher's manual, it includes a variety of extra study options (art, music, history, etc.) There are also worksheets in the appendix. All of that is optional though. You can use the stories and the exercises in the student book. If you know a little Latin, you'd probably be able to translate the stories. But I've liked having the teacher's manual for extra study suggestions (especially if you're looking for ideas for a multi-sensory, or interdisciplinary, approach to learning language). 

The only real downside I can see is the cost. I've been able to find  it used from Ebay and Amazon Marketplace, but I've had to purchase all the parts from different sellers. I paid more for Level 2 than Level 1. But I did eventually find a decent price! We're using that level for two years instead of one, since I didn't feel that my youngest was ready to move up to a middle school text yet. 

Another critique might be that it isn't really designed for mastery, but more of an introductory course. I think you could use it for mastery, by having your child memorize vocabulary and grammar rules. But the lessons aren't really designed with that purpose in mind. It builds on concepts over time (the second book is definitely more challenging than the first!) My boys couldn't necessarily decline a verb or tell you what the case endings are. But they usually end up using the grammar correctly when they make up stories. I think by listening to stories they're learning the language in a more natural way--like how we all learn to speak before we study grammar. I guess you could actually count that as a strength of the program, rather than a weakness? It depends on what style of language instruction you're looking for.

 

 

 

[Ting Tang]

6 hours ago, Ilera25 said:

I'll put in another recommendation for Minimus Latin! When my 7-year-old came to me and said he'd like to learn Latin, I was little baffled. I wanted a program where he'd feel like he was learning, but that also wouldn't take a lot of time each day. I also wanted something more hands-on and engaging. It took awhile to find something that wasn't geared towards middle school/high school. Minimus Latin is rather pricey, but well worth the investment (at least for us). I purchased the audio CD and my boys started picking up on Latin phrases right away. I've been using it for three years, and my youngest enjoys making up stories in Latin to confuse his older sister (who chose to study French independently instead). Since it's published by Cambridge University Press, they sort of speak Latin with a British accent, which is hilarious. They're in 4th/7th grades using Level 2 now.

If you purchase the teacher's manual, it includes a variety of extra study options (art, music, history, etc.) There are also worksheets in the appendix. All of that is optional though. You can use the stories and the exercises in the student book. If you know a little Latin, you'd probably be able to translate the stories. But I've liked having the teacher's manual for extra study suggestions (especially if you're looking for ideas for a multi-sensory, or interdisciplinary, approach to learning language). 

The only real downside I can see is the cost. I've been able to find  it used from Ebay and Amazon Marketplace, but I've had to purchase all the parts from different sellers. I paid more for Level 2 than Level 1. But I did eventually find a decent price! We're using that level for two years instead of one, since I didn't feel that my youngest was ready to move up to a middle school text yet. 

Another critique might be that it isn't really designed for mastery, but more of an introductory course. I think you could use it for mastery, by having your child memorize vocabulary and grammar rules. But the lessons aren't really designed with that purpose in mind. It builds on concepts over time (the second book is definitely more challenging than the first!) My boys couldn't necessarily decline a verb or tell you what the case endings are. But they usually end up using the grammar correctly when they make up stories. I think by listening to stories they're learning the language in a more natural way--like how we all learn to speak before we study grammar. I guess you could actually count that as a strength of the program, rather than a weakness? It depends on what style of language instruction you're looking for.

 

 

 

Thank you so much!  I appreciate you sharing your experience with this program. It is good to hear from someone who has found success with it---I am awaiting both of the student books in the mail now!    I think for our family, this program might be just what we need for right now.  I don't think my son is ready to spend an hour on Latin everyday, and it's not something I want to force.  I want him to be interested in learning a different language.  I did find some resources on a UK Minimus site, and The Primary Latin Project has free workbooks and answers!  I think we are going to start with those.  There is a little bit of history in the First Form Latin, but since he hasn't studied ancient history beyond some Greek myths this year,  I think those little tidbits will help spark his interest.  Someone described this as more immersion-based, and that might be good for him.  That is so funny about the British accent! I think the same thing happens with French spoken in Quebec.  I think the Cambridge Latin for Middle School and High School looks pretty good, too. I think we shall see what we will do when we get there.  🙂 

[Dmmetler]

I mentioned this on your Minimus thread, but there is an online supplement for Cambridge that was well worth it. It provided some games and interactives (and reduced the writing some, which was helpful since I did it with a younger than typical child) and really fleshes out the history with links to the British museum, Cambridge University museums and collections, etc for specific works, lots of video clips, and stuff like that. The only downside I had was that every single time I renewed it, my credit card company tried to flag it as fraudulent because it was an international charge. 

[2_girls_mommy]

I used the Form Series starting in 5th grade.  I used Latina Christiana for 4th grade.  I found these to be semi multisensory if we did the songs, the standing up for recitations and everything during class times.  We played games in class time, we made flashcards for every vocab word.  We created maps and learned the culture and mythology alongside using the National Latin Exam and the Exploratory Latin Exam syllabi as guidelines of additional thematic vocabulary to learn (so for colors, we created fun art projects labeling the colors and played games like Mother, May I? which got them up and moving.  We sang "head, shoulders, knees and toes," to learn body parts in Latin and substituted in all the body parts for fun which again got them up and moving.) These things were in addition to the First Form work, but even using the Form series, if you do the songs and the recitations and the bits of culture included a bit creatively, and play some of the suggested games once a week or so, you get the kids interested and moving.)