More Thoughts on Latin

I received Getting Started With Latin in the mail and Triss and I have looked it over. It looks like just my speed. Triss said she already knew all the grammar it contained, but some of the vocabulary was new.

A friend allowed me to borrow the first unit (book) of Cambridge Latin, along with the teacher's manual. The format looks exactly like what we want: two or more reading selections to translate from Latin to English, articles on Roman history, culture and artifacts (in English and with pictures) and a grammar lesson with exercises in each section. Plenty of reading and also grammar lessons. Triss looked it over and did some of the exercises and translating, and said she knew all the grammar in this first book as well, but not all of the vocabulary.

At this point I am very impressed with the foundation she has received from doing the first half of the first book of Latin for Children! The only thing missing from LFC is plenty of Latin reading and translation. It does contain history readers, but there is only one for each primer, and she has already completed the reader for Primer A. So here is the new plan:

1. I will learn the basics (just the basics) of Latin using Getting Started with Latin beginning this summer. This is so I will have a clue what she is talking about when she needs to confer with someone, and also so I can help my two youngers when their turns come.

2. She will continue doing the lessons in Latin for Children Primer A. I expect she will complete Primer A by next May or June. She will then begin Primer B.

3. She will use the free online readings and vocabulary quizzes for Cambridge Latin as a supplement to Latin for Children, and I will purchase the next two or three history readers in Latin for Children for her to translate this coming year as well.

4. For my two up-and-coming Latin scholars, I will continue using the Latin roots list contained in Grammar Songs until we have exhausted it, and then hold off on anything more. I plan to start Mariel in Latin for Children when she is twelve, which will be a year and a half from now. I'm not sure what I will do with Cornflower, but I know I won't start her in a dedicated Latin program until at least age ten.

Now I don't have to buy another curriculum. Whew. I definitely prefer using what we have.

And I want to take this opportunity to praise God for His provision. He has placed friends in my path who had just what I needed when I began to think through our Latin situation. I was able to hold in my hand a couple of different curriculums, discuss options and articulate more clearly what Triss and I were looking for, and was blessed with an online list that overflowed with help when I asked about Latin. And then He guided me to think things through in order to stay within the limits He has given our family. I praise the Lord for that. I thank Him for being interested in the small things that loom so large to us. His guidance and providence is a blessing.