Hi,

I saw a couple of discussions on Latin and thought I'd ask. I know some are using Latin Road to English Grammar. Has anyone used Latin in the Christian Trivium or Latin for Children? I know the latter is now listed in the Veritas catalog and is coordinated w/their history starting in 3rd grade but that part is not important to me as I no longer use their history I have a 6th grader who is fairly well grounded in grammar. Also a 3rd grader and 1st grader coming along behind. My older children used Artes Latinae but the CD is lost and I can't afford that again. Any opinions?

Hi Sharon -

Well, we were all set to use LRTEG, when a friend showed me Latin for Children. . . .

My 11 yo ds LOVES it, and the younger children beg to watch the DVD. My ds is also good in grammar, and, truthfully, the manner in which the material is presented is very engaging and *gasp* FUN! The text and DVDs have been very motivating for him. I really felt he would chafe under both LRTEG and the extra work load of moving up to Dialectic this year.

Sorry this is a little short - I have kids to put to bed, but wanted to answer. Post more ?s if you need to!

P.S. I pretty much KILLED my older daughter's chances at Latin by trying 3 different programs, and this week she said, "Mom, if I had had this, I think I would have like Latin!" Good thing I trust the sovereignty of God! LOL!

If you search the LG posts, you'll find a post I left about a program for 7-10 yo called Minimus that is a fun intro to Latin with some grammar. When you join the Yahoo group, you get access to the TM's free, and only need buy the student manual (~$14). If you want to check it out, e-mail me (deannaclarkson@hotmail.com). I think the group is private and won't show up if you search Yahoo groups for it.

Deanna

Hi Sharon!

We have used, with good results, a program called Schola Latina. You can find out more about it at:
www.scholalatina.4t.com/main.htm
This is the curriculum that our local classical school as well as 3 area homeschool coops use. I would recommend the audio CD VERY highly. Just playing each lesson daily for the kids ingrained the lesson and made a huge difference in their learning the new material. It is very reasonably priced, easy to use, and my kids enjoyed it just about as much as I think they could HTH!

I consider myself to be a bit of an expert on this subject having purchased, tried to use, then sold most every program on the market!

For our family the very best program has turned out to be Latin in the Christian Trivium. We have used the on-line instructor and my four sons finished year one! Yipee! Not only that, but this is the most Christ Centered program of them all. Please do go to their web-site and see why. I'm so happy for our four sons to be starting year two and someone else overseeing it all who truly loves Latin and inspires them onward.

Joyfully,
Aletha

I have been surfing the forum a bit...I am interested in hearing more about The Latin Road to English Grammar. My girls will be in 8th grade this fall. We have used Easy Grammar through the purple book and this year they worked through a basis grammar workbook, Rules of the Game. I would say they have a decent grasp of most grammar. I would love for them to learn Latin and Grammar with one program so we can scratch those two subjects off our high school list. The card I have says if you finish the program you can earn two years of a foreign language for high school.

When I looked at the program online, it does seem complete, but it is expensive, imho. The author is selling it on Ebay for $250. So I figure this is basically the entire program. I did not spend hours looking over every detail. Before I do that, I thought I would ask some others for their take on it.

Now what I have read so far, makes me wonder if this curriculum might be too ambitious for us. I took Latin in HS but that was AGES ago.

Any feedback would be very much appreciated. You can email me personally at lisalewis31@msn.com

Thanks!

Lisa in AZ

It is complete, and imho it requires quite a time investment on the teacher's part to maximize effectiveness. I didn't have that time to invest, unfortunately!

HTH -

My 14yod is currently using LRTEG. She is in book 2 chapter 6. It is a bit of work for me to keep up, but I do and it is well worth it, as all good things are! It does a wonderful job of reviewing English grammar while learning Latin. We had used A Beka for our grammar through 6th grade, and dd had that solid. Even though she has struggled with learning over the years, she has been able to do LRTEG. I have a Spanish background, no Latin. However, this program is thorough, enabling us to be able to teach ourselves. I would think you would have an easier time, Lisa, since you have had Latin in the past. It will come back to you. It was all new to me! I currently moderate a yahoo group for support.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LRTEGfamilies

Laurie,

We have made it to Volume 3 of LRTEG. LRTEG is expensive, but I wanted something that would 1) teach me as I taught my children, 2) reinforce English grammar, spelling, and penmanship so we could shelve those subjects (at least for a few years), and 3) contain everything we would need to complete the program - flashcards, notebooks, paper, pencils, etc.

The only thing I wished LRTEG had more of in Volumes 1 and 2 was Latin to English translations. Last summer, I discovered the history readers from Latin for Children, and they are perfect for extra translation work in the first two volumes.

HTH!

quote:

My older children used Artes Latinae

Could you please tell me about this program? I just finished reading Teaching the Triviumand this is the program they suggest. I have had a hard time finding much info on how it works. Did you think it was worth the money? Any info. is appreciated. Thank you.

Hi Ellen,

I do think it was worth the money. I know that it is a hefty price. I bought the Cd version and both my oldest used it. And since I found the disc now my younger ones will, too, so that brings the per capita price down to a reasonable level.

I never did any more grammar after the older ones started Artes Latinae and they both scored over 700 on the verbal portion of the SAT.

We used it in the "middle school" years and then they both took French in high school. My daughter also took Spanish. If you wish to follow the A.L. program to the end your student(s) will be prepared for the AP Latin exam.

Until recently I had not been out to the website in years but it looks to be quite extensive. Mine is the version 1.1 the one out now is the 2.0 which looks to be even better. (I am seriously thinking about upgrading.) The website is: http://www.bolchazy.com/index.php?cat=al&sub=main

Hope this helps,
Sharon

Wow! thanks, Sharon,
I think you've just helped me make up my mind. My girls are 12 and 10, and I believe we will be togging in the fall. Right now we use Sonlight and they have been learning French with Rosetta Stone. I plan for us to begin Latin in the fall as well.
Congrats on your children's great scores! That is one of the reasons I wanted to start Latin with my bunch.
Also, Thanks for the website info. I'll check it out.

Sharon,
Could you answer a couple of questions about the Artes Latinae program? I was looking at the website, and I'm a little confused.

I see that I can buy the DVD-ROM or the traditional with cassettes. I know I don't want cassettes, but does that mean we have to read everything on the screen? I dislike reading everything on a computer screen.

Do I need a reference notebook and a test booklet for each student? Are they intergral parts of the program?

How do the lessons look? I'm such a visual person. I always need to see things. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Ellen,

I will try and answer your questions, but bear in mind that I own an older version than is currently available. My copy is CD, not DVD. The lessons are quite simple to begin with. Only a few words or a sentence are displayed on the screen and the student types an answer to a question or fills in a blank. They are given immediate feed-back as soon as they hit the enter key. Sometimes they will click on an icon to listen to a Latin phrase or sentence read. They would then repeat the phrase 2 or 3 times as they read it from the screen. It is an interactive program. You also receive a 300 or so page graded reader which contains passages to be read and questions to answer. A Teacher's guide is provided.

There is a demo that you can actually work through on the website. If you scroll down to where it says "More Information..." a couple of lines below that is a highlighted "link" that will take you there. Or try clicking this: http://www.bolchazy.com/al/alcddemo.htm
On that screen just click on the "Artes Latinae Version 2.0 Demo". It will show an Intro and then let you work through the actual beginning screens of Level 1.

I did purchase separate reference notebooks and test books for my children, but I suppose you could just buy one and have them do the writing on notebook paper.

Hope this helps,

Dear Sharon,
Thanks, again. I guess I need take the time to explore the site a little better. You have been very patient and kind to answer my questions. I appreciate it.