I must be crazy. I realized this as I looked at Prima Latina and started making labeling cards with a Latin dictionary. I pulled my Wheelock's Latin (6th ed) and workbook (3rd ed) off the shelf and started looking through it again. Make no mistake, Latin is not easy, I tried before and got bogged down in insecurity, grammar, and frustration.
I will learn Latin first. I am still excited about French, in fact dh told me yesterday that we have two former French teachers in our church. WHAT?!? I wanted to shake the man, "Why didn't you tell me this before?" I will be contacting them to see about tutoring in French for moi and in the meantime, I'm going to follow my 2nd grade preparations by completing the first 4 lessons of Prima Latina on my own. Camille wants to start now, her dad is completely excited that she'll learn French and he's started with a few vocabulary words. I had to tell him that we need to start Latin first and then we'll add in French as it's doable.
There are many resources on the web for French and Latin- my current researching is documented in my bookmarks, check them out here: for Latin, for French. I also received a reality check about curriculums, which may or may not be news to any of my readers...You do not have to use a curriculum to get started in learning a live language, especially with littles. (Let me keep my illusion that my dd6 is little, okay?)
I'm not concerned with speaking Latin any further than Prima Latina suggests and I do plan on using Memoria Press products for our journey to the extent of Henle. For now, *I* am going to retry Wheelock's using a few online helps (in the bookmarks linked above) and with more focus and confidence. My back-up plan in case Wheelock's is not the program for me is to just work through what I'd use for Camille, Prima Latina, Latina Christiana I and so on...I don't see any reason I should spend more money to learn Latin using one product and then buy another product for her.
I'm still excited, but now that excitement has to turn into resolve and hard work. Is this post clear as mud or what? Lol.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Caught up in Excitement
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4 comments:
I took Latin in high school and I really feel it helped me understand English grammar. Now I don't know if my girls will get the same benefit because they will be learning Latin before they get to formal grammar study, but I know it will improve their vocabulary! I am just learning it with them. Somethings come back to me as I teach, but mostly I replaced my actual Latin vocabulary with Spanish in college I think! :) Anyway, I am looking forward to moving past just the basic vocabulary in Prima Latina and moving on to sentences and reading in the other levels. The girls are having fun too! We really like the prayers and the songs at the end of the CD which I just discovered the other day! LOL
I hope you have fun learning! I also pray you all are safe from the recent storm! In Him, Eva
I just wanted to offer a quick thought. When I taught Montessori and we were taught about how European children grow up knowing 5-6 languages, they told us the easiest way to do it in America is to give each language a room and only speak that language there. This is not feasible if you're not fluent yet, but when visiting her dad, he could have a room or two in his house where only French is spoken or read from French storybooks. This is the most natural way for her to learn it. The books, cds, dvds, and formal study can come as you get to them, but let him do this for her. It will not confuse or hamper her in anyway.
I would echo what Sandie said. If her Dad can speak fluent French have him jump right in with both feet! She will be fine. What an asset to her education he can be if allowed to do that.
Jessica, it's going to be a great adventure, learning languages! The two languages will probably resonate with and reinforce each other for you.
I blogged today about learning Latin and a little revelation about Wheelock's. I highly recommend you find something besides the "firehose" of Wheelock's Latin, even with the accessory materials.
Latin Book One is (I think) pretty accessible for adults, and the first 50+ lessons are FREELY available in the files of a YahooGroup for all to use. (The book is long out of print.) I really like how it introduces concepts and has you reading Latin to start every single lesson.
Prima Latina is five words of vocabulary and a few phrases every lesson; you could easily keep up with that and work ahead in LBO for FREE :)
On the other hand, what if you worked really, really, really slowly through Wheelock's -- say, a chapter every two or three weeks. Then you'd have time for lots and LOTS of reading and writing and translation practice (have you seen the Wheelock's series Web site?). I bet that would work pretty well, allowing enough time and practice for everything to (a) sink in, and (b) go into long-term memory.
Good luck with whatever you decide, J.
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