French v. Latin for 3d grader

[jlpumkin]

I was all set to order Latin materials to start studies this year. Obvious reasons - root of language, don't have to worry as much about pronounciation, we're Catholic... but a thread on here about a great French curriculum got me off on a tangent. I took quite a few years of French and have traveled there enough to have some great pics, souvenirs to share. While I'm certainly not a native or fluent (anymore) speaker I feel like with the help of a curriculum I'd at least be competent... plus the whole excitement of it being a living language. Thoughts? Why did you pick the language that you did for your hs? Any of this speak to any of you?

[gaudynight]

We're leaning towards French at the moment and adding Latin in a few years. I like the idea of them being able to go online and play games/visit sites for kids in French - with some help, of course. But I think that way it'll feel more real, you know?

Also from what I've read it'll be easier for them to pick up the correct pronounciation when they're younger.

Not that we've got a curriculum yet, but that's the plan.

[wholewheatchick]

We did Latin and Greek "From the roots up" in 4th grade when I was homeschooled, and I took 4 years of Latin in high school. I am going to take Spanish classes this fall to finally put that Latin to good use, but I did enjoy it, partly for the novelty, and partly because it did help a lot in biology and forestry! Just a thought.

[jlpumkin]

Ahh! You both make great points for each side!

I hadn't even thought of the possibility of visiting french sites and even french magazines, books etc... all the benefits of a LIVING language.

But also yes all of the Latin will be a huge asset when working on additional languages. And truly in 3d grade I am all about setting the foundation for future learning. What a great foundation Latin is!

[NishaG]

Are there any Alliance Francaise in your area? They tend to have French language classes for adults and kids.

[happysmileylady]

If I were to homeschool, I would pick latin for my curriculum.

I took 3 years of spanish in high school. I took 1 semester of latin and greek roots. I have made more use out of that one semester of roots than I ever have had the opportunity to use the spanish I took. In fact, I kept the book I used in that class, to use to teach my daughter in addition to her regular public school curriculum. I think it's just a great base to have, even as a base for later language learning. You could do latin first, then move on to french later and may discover that the french is much easier to pick up as a result.

Oddly enough though, my dd, yeah, she's taking of all things, Japanese for her language requirement in high school.

[Roar]

I think what random strangers online prefer means nothing and what your kid is drawn to means everything.

[jlpumkin]

Just to recap: I asked why did you pick one way or another for your homeschool and why

I think Alliance Francaise sounds interesting but French is one of the ones I would feel completely comfortable teaching at this level. And for languages at this point I would like to stay away from outside teachers.

I think that I'm more excited about French because it's a bit personal for me. She really doesn't care. We tend to have classical leanings so will probably give Latin a try. If it's a disaster then we'll switch to French

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by Roar

I think what random strangers online prefer means nothing and what your kid is drawn to means everything.

Which is great... if your kid happens to be drawn to a language. This is one of those things I don't really mind "nudging" a bit with my kid.

That being said, mine happens to just be drawn to languageS (plural). He's not fussy about which one, he just enjoys the idea of speaking something other than English.

We picked French for a few reasons:

* I was FLUENT in high school and my early 20s (like just open your mouth and speak without thinking). I completely suck at it now in my very late 30s, but I'm certain that I could regain my French quicker than starting something else from scratch.

* I found it way easier to move from French to other languages than most people I know found going the other way. Russian was far easier for me to pronounce (some of the pronunciation is the same as French) and I was totally able to follow my inlaws Italian conversations because I knew how to read French--so I know what the words looked like and that in Italian, they were often pronouncing a word differently than in French although it was spelled very similarly. It was such a blessing (because, ya know, they couldn't really bad-mouth me very much )

* I personally think (and fully acknowledge that I could be way wrong, but it is something I take a very active interest in) that Africa shows signs of finally emerging from the corruption in the gov't that prevents them from being a strong economic continent. Most of the gov't and educated classes speak French. I kinda feel like rather than play "catch up" like people are now doing with Mandarin, my kids could ALREADY be fluent when Africa becomes a force to deal with (possibly around the time my kids are of age to be involved in business). Longshot? Maybe.

* French is spoken more widely than most people realize.


I should note that I personally can't keep the 3 Romance languages separated. Moving from one language to another isn't an issue for me as long as they're not VERY similar. So going from French to Russian was non-issue but going from French to Spanish or Italian isn't happening because it's so close that I use a French word. I do NOT, however, assume my kids will have the same issue. So I'm considering having them learn French and Spanish because I definitely see the benefit there.

We've found plenty of French books and videos (especially on Amazon-France). Especially dual-language story books. It's a big help. Plus most movies have a French track available so you can view your favorite movies in French (or some other language)