latin anyone?

[onyxravnos]

anyone trying latin this year or done latin the the past? we are using oak meadows latin I program (haven't actually started yet) but i would like to make it a family affair and teach some latin to everybody.

tips/tricks? supplies?

[MissRubyandKen]

We're starting Latin this year. I'll be using Song School Latin. My kids are 10, 8, and 2. I wanted something fun and light that we could include the little one in. I have no background in Latin and this looks light, easy, and fun. I will also be using Roots and Fruits Vocabulary for the big kids, which will introduce words with Latin and Greek roots. If the kids enjoy Latin I may use Minimus or Latin for Children next year. I'm leaning towards Minimus at this time.

[elus0814]

I have yet to start latin with my kids but I learned it as a child. My dad teaches latin to middle and high schoolers and shared it, and greek, with me. We never used a specific program and I was not homeschooled but after looking at several potential programs for my kids I've found myself liking minimus. If I were to choose a curriculum at this point that would be it.

[AmyB736]

Originally Posted by MissRubyandKen

We're starting Latin this year. I'll be using Song School Latin. My kids are 10, 8, and 2. I wanted something fun and light that we could include the little one in. I have no background in Latin and this looks light, easy, and fun. I will also be using Roots and Fruits Vocabulary for the big kids, which will introduce words with Latin and Greek roots. If the kids enjoy Latin I may use Minimus or Latin for Children next year. I'm leaning towards Minimus at this time.

This sounds like us. I have no experience and I was looking for something light. My kids are turning 4 and 7 this month and Song School Latin looks like something fun we can all do together.

[PGTlatte]

We have started with Song School Latin. It is very much for younger kids. The songs are cute and fun and really nice to listen to in the car and my kids (7 and 4) enjoy them and have verbally learned some words this way. The book is useful for a way for me to see the written words, but I won't use any of the written exercises in it. The program teaches words and phrases, but nothing about grammar. It's a nice way to introduce Latin and make it fun. The songs are also very helpful for remembering words.

I have also purchased level 2 of Latin's Not So Tough. We have not started using it yet. I have the flash cards and CD that come with it. It looks like it will be a good start to written work. The book is in nice large dark print. That is important for DS1 because he has vision issues. I looked at a couple of other programs and the print was too small and the pages were too busy for him.

For my own studies I have purchase (but not started) Classical Latin by JC McKeown. I bought the textbook and the workbook. He has a great website with audio files for the vocabulary in each chapter, as well as him reading some Latin works.

http://www.jcmckeown.com/contact.php

I also emailed a question about the material to the publisher and the author responded to me personally

This is a chart that was helpful to me...it does not have all the programs that are available but the ones that are there are well described, including whether the material is secular or not:

http://www.homeschoolchristian.com/c...comparison.php

Another thing to consider is whether a program is a "parts to whole" or "whole to parts" approach.

[*Jessica*]

I'm starting Song School Latin with my 5 and almost-7 year old sons this year. We haven't started, so I have no tips, tricks, or supplies to suggest yet.

[Lisa1970]

Does OakMeadow use Minimus? If so, Minimus has a website where you can add games and such to the program.

[MyLittleWonders]

We did Song School Latin last year - all three boys enjoyed it. We did the songs and the workbook pages (mostly ds#1 and ds#2; sometimes ds#3 wanted to do something too). There is very, very little grammar taught but it was a nice introduction.

We just started Latin for Children A last week. I'm taking it slowly (right now I am planning 2 weeks per chapter), but we are all learning the chants and vocabulary. We like that there are DVD lessons, and spreading out the chapter helps it not feel quite so overwhelming to any of us. Dh is home for the summer and he's learning along with us.

[sapientia]

My 16 yo is in her second semester of latin (some online homeschool stuff) and she ADORES it-she's added some philosophy and culture to the mix and it's made a really great unit study. My 13 yo dd is starting the same course soon.
I don't really have any suggestions-other than to say that learning latin is great.

[MyFullHouse]

My ds started First Form Latin (Memoria Press) last year (6th grade) and absolutely LOVES it. We're waiting for Second Form to be delivered now.

It's a pretty dry, straight-forward, grammar-based program, so definitely not for the littles. My 8yo has been trying to learn a bit from it, so I think she'll do great in a few years.

Personally, I have no interest in dealing with Latin at the younger years. We have a heavy enough load as it is!

[craft_media_hero]

Wow, I didn't know Oak Meadow had a Latin program! That's cool.

We have Song School Latin and will be using that this year. We have listened to the cd without doing the workbook sheets but may start doing some of the workbook this year. I also will adapt some of the scripts/stories into fingerplays or maybe help her make her own books with them, etc.

We also like the Bolchazi children's books---we have two different series of books, one more "advanced" than the other . . . I can't remember the second set right now, but the first has "Quot Animalia" in it--I really like those a lot. Plus fairy tales in Latin and the Harriet Treadwell stories in Latin, children's picture dictionaries in Greek and Latin, just a whole mess of resources and try to do a little every day, maybe 15 minutes.

We read the book repeatedly over a few weeks, and copy the concepts (and okay, some of the pages ) to cut out images for her to do activities I make up, like match the Roman numeral to the number of animal pictures or smth like that.

I'm trying to "Montessori-fy" our Classical Languages this year; we do Greek, too.

So I'm thinking we'll set up a Classical Languages "station" where we add a Greek letter a week, sandpaper letters, and have a rice box for finger-drawing letters, the Roman #s on the wall, our book of the week(s) on display, and the stereo with SSL cd that we will open with every morning, plus see about a little finger puppet basket for acting out the SSL stuff?

Anyways, that's my idea for now. DD makes her own Classical Languages "main lesson book" that is combined Greek and Latin, and we read myths, too.