Why Latin? Why Greek?

[Mrs. Lilac]

I've been exploring the ideas of teaching Latin and Greek in homeschool....we're planning to do Prima Latina this year, but I know lots of families who do Greek. What are the reasons for each, as far as how you would decide to do one or the other or both? Is there a "typical" classical approach to Latin and/or Greek?

[laylamcb]

The best place to answer questions on incorporating the classical languages into your homeschool is Drew Campbell's website: The Latin-Centered Curriculum. Check out his FAQs. Also in his book, The Latin-Centered Curriculum, Drew gives a complete apologetic for Latin AND Greek as well as a couple of reasons why families might choose to emphasize Greek over Latin: if a parent speaks Greek or if the family is Greek Orthodox, for example. And then I know a couple of families who are interested in Greek because it is the language of the New Testament; they're NOT particularly interested in Latin.

[hferguson10]

We are doing Greek because hubby knows it. That's also why we are doing Spanish - 2 years in Peru. Practicality won out in our case.

 

But I would at least like to get a bit of Latin in...in our spare time...

[dangermom]

We started Elementary Greek this year. Our main reasons are learning the language of the New Testament, building vocabulary, and the cool factor. It's like knowing a secret code! Also, ancient Greek is one of the most eloquent, flexible languages there was, and I'd like to get a little taste of that. I don't know how far we'll go with Koine, but I would at least like to get through the first couple of books. Even if we don't get terribly far, I think it's valuable to know the alphabet and some basic vocabulary!

 

We've been doing Latin for some time and are in LCII right now. Latin had never occurred to me before this whole classical education thing, and I was skeptical, but we tried PL just to see and I learned so much in a few weeks that I became a complete convert. We go slowly, but we love Latin--even though we have pretty much no religious reason to learn it.

 

I'd say that unless you have some particular reason to do Greek first, start with Latin--it's a bit easier and there are fun songs.