|
For what age is the study designed?
It is designed to begin as early as 5th
grade. Most students using my curriculum are between 5th and
12th grades. It was my intention that students finish their
Latin study before they entered high school so they could
use the valuable skills in their high school subjects. So
teaching the 3 Volumes in the 5th-8th grades is optimum. I
have taught a few bright 4th-graders but it depends on the
student and his willingness to work. Those already in high
school who have a strong background in English grammar,
being taught by a teacher or mom with a strong English
grammar background, should be able to finish my curriculum
in 2 years - Volume I in a semester, Volume II in a
semester, and Volume III in one year. Most of my students
who finished Latin by high school went on to the local
junior college at 15 or 16 years old to take Spanish or
French with professors fluent in those languages.
How long does each lesson take each day?
Each lesson averages about 50-60 minutes
each day. This includes about 25-30 minutes of the
teacher/parent guiding students through drilling,
correcting, and explaining. Then all go apart to do about
25-30 minutes of written work.
Is this a Latin language study or an
English grammar study?
This is first and foremost a Latin
language study. When a student finishes all three years of
study he is able to work through any Latin translations he
desires - histories, the Latin Vulgate Bible, philosophies,
etc. But because I do not assume the student knows English
grammar, there is a full English grammar program built into
it. In other words I make English grammar explanations
before the related Latin explanations so that I can be sure
a student can translate between Latin and English at any
given time. Most high school Latin texts assume a student
has a good understanding of English grammar when they begin
Latin and do not show the relationships between the
languages. These texts want you to memorize details of Latin
and leave you or your Latin teacher to relate the languages.
Both languages have some similarities but also some striking
differences. I do not make you figure them out on your own.
Do we need to do another grammar study
while studying Latin?
No, I found that we actually did more
English grammar in the three years of Latin than most high
school English curricula. In fact, Latin students have to
pay better attention to many difficult English sentence
structures to be able to translate between English and Latin
and, therefore, learn the details of both languages well.
You may find concepts and structures taught in a different
order than an English text, but your students will have all
the skills they need for college when they finish Volume
III. Some “experts” discount my program as an English
grammar study because I do not include a formal composition
course in it. When my students became skilled at the
language, teaching how to write essays, reports and research
papers was easy. Students with skills in language and
grammar are easy to guide through compositions.
How “mom-intensive” is this study?
This study has been designed for
parents/teachers with no Latin background. I have not
assumed you know the language, and so I have done all the
preparation work for you. You do not have to decide how to
teach each chapter, guess at pronunciation and translations,
wonder if your answers are correct, make charts and
vocabulary cards, make up quizzes and tests, etc. This has
all been done for you - all you have to do is follow along
and learn with your students. The lesson plans will tell you
what to do in the textbook each day. You do all the work
your students do so that you can direct them through the
study and answer their questions. So your time commitment is
the same as the student’s.
What Latin pronunciation do you use?
There are two traditions of Latin
pronunciation, the “Classical” (Germanic) pronunciation and
the “Church” (Italian) pronunciation. The only difference
between them is how some letters are pronounced. And since
Latin is not a conversational language this is a very minor
point, definitely not worth the fight that some scholars
engage in. I choose to use the “Church” (Italian)
pronunciation because it is the closest to English and it is
the only Latin you will hear spoken today. The only spoken
Latin left in the world is in music and the liturgies of the
Roman Catholic Church.
Why teach Latin? Isn’t it a dead
language?
There is probably no other language in
the world that affects English as much as Latin. We are over
60% Latin-based in our vocabulary and you will find that
those words are often our more scholarly vocabulary; most of
our common English words come from our German roots. So
Latin makes the best choice for the foundations of a
scholarly education. Also, Latin and English represent two
different language structures: Latin is a highly inflected
language, showing functions of words by adding endings to
base words; English is non-inflected, showing functions of
words by their placement within the sentence. By comparing
and contrasting these two languages for three years through
translating, a student will understand the basics of how
most languages of the world work. This is why Latin students
have the ability to pick up other languages so quickly. And
it makes the best first foreign language to learn and teach.
The fact that no one speaks Latin today is the reason some
people consider it “dead”. And yet I consider that fact the
biggest plus for teaching it. With Latin I did not have to
be burdened with teaching conversation and could spend my
time teaching the structure and vocabulary of the language.
But Latin is very much alive in the “living” languages of
Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, and Portuguese. Students
who finish Latin before high school are usually excited to
tackle college Spanish or French because it is easy for
them. And they will be taught by someone who is fluent in
the language and can really converse with them.
How does your curriculum differ from
other Latin programs?
There are quite a few Latin primers for
younger children to begin playing with some of the
components of Latin: words, roots, chanting. The LATIN Road
to English Grammar encompasses the whole Latin language and
leads to the skills of translation as well as structure and
vocabulary. Comparing it with other high school Latin
programs, you will find this is the easiest to follow and
teach for someone who does not know Latin or doesn’t know
how to teach it. My curriculum is designed in a multisensory
style of teaching. In other words, it is a balanced
combination of oral and written work. Students will hear,
say, see, read, and write the language constantly. In this
way all students can learn with their strengths and yet get
to practice their weaknesses. If your student does not have
neat handwriting or dislikes writing, then doing the Latin
notebook will give him lots of practice to get better. If he
does not listen or speak carefully, he will get a lot of
practice in his oral drills. If his spelling is poor, Latin
will provide a lot of clues to spelling far beyond that
which he would get in a phonics program.
What credits do we get on our transcripts
for this study?
I have been careful to give you the
equivalent of 2 years of high school Latin in this 3-year
study. High school students normally learn all the Latin
structures and grammar along with a substantial vocabulary
in the first two years. After that, any additional time
spent in Latin classes is devoted to working through
translations and adding to their vocabulary. Some schools
and homeschool programs have also given English grammar
credit to those who have completed Volume III.
Do you have any suggestions for younger
students?
The PHONICS Road to Spelling and Reading.
This will be followed by The BRIDGE to the Latin Road, grammar and composition
preparation for The LATIN Road to English Grammar (4th)
BACK TO TOP |
