Maverick_Mom Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Dd (14 and in ninth grade) took a semester of Latin in a private school last fall. The text she used was Reading Latin, by Jones and Sidwell; she did well in the course. She subsequently left the school and is now homeschooled. She wishes to continue with Latin, but I have no idea what program to use. Here are my concerns: 1. I don't want her to have to start from scratch (although obviously if that's necessary, that's what she'll do). 2. My Latin background is negligible, and with a younger special-needs child I'm not sure I can be much help in terms of learning along with her. But again, if a program that necessitates my learning the language is our best option, I'll do what it takes. 3. I would like for her Latin work (past and future) to count as high school credit, not just an interesting survey of the language. There are so many Latin programs out there, and my eyes are glazing over from looking at them all. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I'd say Henle. If you want to do it, I have a source for a full key to the book, also the book being pronounced on CD. It was meant for Highschool, a limited amount of vocabulary words so you can really dig in and start to do some translation. If you want to do Latin starting now, you could do Latina Christiana I and jump from there to Henle... Carrie:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CherylG Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I'd say Henle. If you want to do it, I have a source for a full key to the book, also the book being pronounced on CD. It was meant for Highschool, a limited amount of vocabulary words so you can really dig in and start to do some translation. If you want to do Latin starting now, you could do Latina Christiana I and jump from there to Henle...Carrie:-) I am interested in the sources that you mentioned. Would you mind posting it? Thank you! Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latinteach Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 (edited) Dd (14 and in ninth grade) took a semester of Latin in a private school last fall. The text she used was Reading Latin, by Jones and Sidwell; she did well in the course. She subsequently left the school and is now homeschooled. She wishes to continue with Latin, but I have no idea what program to use. Here are my concerns: 1. I don't want her to have to start from scratch (although obviously if that's necessary, that's what she'll do). 2. My Latin background is negligible, and with a younger special-needs child I'm not sure I can be much help in terms of learning along with her. But again, if a program that necessitates my learning the language is our best option, I'll do what it takes. 3. I would like for her Latin work (past and future) to count as high school credit, not just an interesting survey of the language. There are so many Latin programs out there, and my eyes are glazing over from looking at them all. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. There are so many good Latin textbooks that it is difficult to choose just one. But part of the problem is that it seems like people are constantly switching from one course to another. Why not continue with Reading Latin? It is a university level course that has as its aim developing reading fluency in Latin as well as teaching grammar very thoroughly. Henle is a good textbook, but it doesn't make sense to switch if she's already taken a year of Latin from the Sidwell and Jones text and done well and enjoyed it. You say that you want to count her past work, so she should probably continue from where she left off. If she hasn't completed "Reading Latin" and you want to continue, Cambridge University Press publishes "An Independent Study guide to Reading Latin" which contains, translations of all the Latin text in the course, as well as helpful notes, plus answers to the exercises in the Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises volume. You should be able to order this from Amazon or Borders or Barnes and Noble. How much of the Sidwell and Jones textbook did she finish? Did she finish the Gramnmar, Vocabulary and Exercises book? Did she complete all the readings in the Text? As a student progresses through the reading material, they gradually start to read authentic Latin written by the original authors, so if she's completed the entire course, she should be reading and translating authors. Working through "Reading Latin" should definitely count as high school credit. The Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises text covers what is traditionally two or three year's worth of Latin grammar. The readings at the end of the course are authentic works by Roman authors. Edited February 10, 2009 by latinteach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moni Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I would place her in the beginning. If she knows it, she will go through the early assignments quickly and easily. If she doesn't, then you will find that it was a good placement after all. http://www.MemoriaPress.com "Latin" Henle First Year :seeya: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick_Mom Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 Why not continue with Reading Latin? It is a university level course that has as its aim developing reading fluency in Latin as well as teaching grammar very thoroughly. Henle is a good textbook, but it doesn't make sense to switch if she's already taken a year of Latin from the Sidwell and Jones text and done well and enjoyed it. You say that you want to count her past work, so she should probably continue from where she left off. If she hasn't completed "Reading Latin" and you want to continue, Cambridge University Press publishes "An Independent Study guide to Reading Latin" which contains, translations of all the Latin text in the course, as well as helpful notes, plus answers to the exercises in the Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises volume. You should be able to order this from Amazon or Borders or Barnes and Noble. How much of the Sidwell and Jones textbook did she finish? Did she finish the Gramnmar, Vocabulary and Exercises book? Did she complete all the readings in the Text? As a student progresses through the reading material, they gradually start to read authentic Latin written by the original authors, so if she's completed the entire course, she should be reading and translating authors. Having her continue with the status quo (a little Latin humor there :D) and stick with Reading Latin was my first choice, but when I did some digging I learned that this is not your standard "student text + teacher's manual complete with answer key" resource. So I didn't (don't) have any confidence in my ability to shepherd her through this course, and I frankly think she could use the support and accountability that comes from having a teacher. But I'm very intrigued by the Independent Study Guide you mentioned, and am going to check that out, as it may be what we need. She had a semester, not a year, of Reading Latin; the text and the Grammar/Vocabulary/Exercises book were to cover two years of high school Latin at her school, so since she finished a semester, she's done roughly one-fourth of each book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latinteach Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Having her continue with the status quo (a little Latin humor there :D) and stick with Reading Latin was my first choice, but when I did some digging I learned that this is not your standard "student text + teacher's manual complete with answer key" resource. So I didn't (don't) have any confidence in my ability to shepherd her through this course, and I frankly think she could use the support and accountability that comes from having a teacher. The Independent Study Manual includes a key to all exercises plus translations of all the material. The Grammar/Vocabulary/Exercises book that accompanies the reading book provides detailed explanations of the grammar as well as grammar exercises in addition to the reading material. But I'm very intrigued by the Independent Study Guide you mentioned, and am going to check that out, as it may be what we need. She had a semester, not a year, of Reading Latin; the text and the Grammar/Vocabulary/Exercises book were to cover two years of high school Latin at her school, so since she finished a semester, she's done roughly one-fourth of each book. If you do switch to Henle, keep in mind that the Henle book uses the American format for the declensions: nominative GENITIVE DATIVE ACCUSATIVE ablative. The "Reading Latin" series as well as the Galore Park (So You Really Want to Learn Latin textbook mentioned in this thread by someone else) have: nominative ACCUSATIVE GENITIVE DATIVE ablative. Note the difference in position of the three cases in the chant. Also, she'll notice that where Reading Latin used a "u" for the "v," most American textbooks will use a "v." ("U" is sometimes considered a "semivowel" in Latin grammars because the Romans also used it like a consonant, similar to how "y" can be both a vowel and consonant in English. Many books written in Latin use consonant "u.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick_Mom Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 The Independent Study Manual includes a key to all exercises plus translations of all the material. The Grammar/Vocabulary/Exercises book that accompanies the reading book provides detailed explanations of the grammar as well as grammar exercises in addition to the reading material. If you do switch to Henle, keep in mind that the Henle book uses the American format for the declensions: nominative GENITIVE DATIVE ACCUSATIVE ablative. The "Reading Latin" series as well as the Galore Park (So You Really Want to Learn Latin textbook mentioned in this thread by someone else) have: nominative ACCUSATIVE GENITIVE DATIVE ablative. Note the difference in position of the three cases in the chant. Also, she'll notice that where Reading Latin used a "u" for the "v," most American textbooks will use a "v." ("U" is sometimes considered a "semivowel" in Latin grammars because the Romans also used it like a consonant, similar to how "y" can be both a vowel and consonant in English. Many books written in Latin use consonant "u.") *This* is one thing I was concerned about -- whether Latin programs were pretty standard or whether there might be some differences (such as you described) among them. I know you don't know me or my dd from Adam, but I'd like your assessment of how realistic it is for a beginning Latin student (with only one semester under her belt) to do Reading Latin on her own, with just the Independent Study Guide (and a mom who doesn't know Latin) to help her. In many respects she's not a self-starter, but sometimes she surprises me. And would Galore Park be a good supplement, or not really necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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