Middle School Latin

[Kristen in NC]

My son is a little over half-way through LFC Part C. I am beginning to feel like we're in a little over our heads. I don't think we did a good enough job on memorizing some of the forms and vocabulary. I was planning on moving on to Latin Alive after finishing C. I was wondering if I should worry about finishing C at all. Since Latin Alive could be for a middle school student who has had no Latin, I think they will cover it all again anyway. The perfectionist in me wants to finish the book, but it's really making us begin to hate Latin since it's so slow going.

 

Would it be silly to just continue working through C until the end of this school year and then start fresh with Latin Alive in the fall?

[yslek]

It's also my understanding that Latin Alive can be for the middle school student with no Latin experience, so there should be nothing wrong with stopping where you are and starting over with Latin Alive in the fall. If you feel the need to still do something for Latin until then, maybe you could pick up a copy of Getting Started With Latin or Minimus for some fun translation practice. :)

[Classical Katharine]

I can't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to start Latin Alive without finishing Primer C. I do have a suggestion on vocabulary and forms, though. I'm not a Latin Primer user, but I have taught Latin to children. I've found it's extremely helpful to give a vocabulary quiz no later than midway through teaching a chapter. That way the vocabulary is under the belt before the child works on translation--and a lot more benefit is achieved from translating if it isn't an exercise in flipping back to the vocabulary lists. I like to test vocabulary in both "directions"--into and out of Latin. And testing in writing is helpful if student work is going to be written.

 

When I was taking languages (French, Latin, Russian) I always used to study my vocabulary by writing it out and saying it. That way I was saying, seeing, feeling, and hearing. After doing it that way I then could test myself just in writing and see that the knowledge had carried over. This way the learning is multi-sensory but the written recall is there, too.

 

Similarly with paradigms--repetition in writing is extremely helpful if students are going to doing written work. Learning orally is helpful too, but a quick quiz in writing on a given paradigm is very helpful as well. I think it's hard for some students to recall and use the correct form in written work if they haven't mastered the core components (vocabulary and forms) in written form.

 

If something still just doesn't seem to be sticking, sometimes the problem is that a given child would benefit from doing more sentences for each grammar concept. If it sounds fun to you to supply that--go for it!

[Kristen in NC]

Thank you so much for your responses. Thanks also for your tips Katharine. They are helpful.