Let's talk Latin--Compare Minimus to Latin For Children, anyone?

[Chris in VA]

I have the little Minimus workbook--the mouse is so cute, and I like the whole idea of learning about a real Roman Family living in Britain. The course seems friendly, fun, cute, etc.

 

I have seen the DVD (first lesson) that goes with Latin For Children--big plus, having the DVD.

 

Who can compare for me?

Me--hardly any Latin knowledge.

DD soon to be 9--Has been thru Prima Latin up to about Lesson 12 or so.

 

I want something rather fun, maybe with activities, and something we can both learn. It has to be easy to teach. I figure they will cost roughly the same, since I will probably only get the DVD for Latin for Children and the TM for Minimus.

[buddhabelly]

In almost every way you can think of, they are different. I think one is parts-to-whole and the other is whole-to-parts (can you tell I'm shaky about that whole concept?) One is way fun and is a gentle introduction to Latin. The other one will actually TEACH you Latin. I mean, it's fun too, but also a lot of work.

 

We actually did Minimus and LFC A at the same time (alternating weeks with each program). I'm not sure I would recommend this method. Perhaps doing them sequentially would be better. I think you could do either one first. LFC A will definitely take you the whole school year, and really should be done every school day for best results.

 

I think these two programs are both excellent. But I can't really say which one is "better" because they are completely different in almost every way. (I do think our pronunciation was helped greatly by doing Minimus. Dr. Perrin's pronunciation (LFC) is not always consistent, which confuses my son. But we haven't been corrected recently by any ancient Romans.....

 

Have fun with your Latin journey.

 

Julie

[comeshareacupoftea]

LFC is a very structured curriculum. We used it when it was new and there were many mistakes between the dvd's and books, but I believe that has been corrected. My daughter liked the chants and the activity book. We've also used minimus, a much more relaxed approach. I like them both but for very different reasons. My daughter struggled with the declensions in LFC, but Minimus gave her a gentle intorduction to Latin.