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Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

Original poster

Im thinking of teaching my ds Latin - Am I completely mad?

63 replies

Yurtgirl · 28/04/2008 20:52

Hello
My ds (year 1) is perfectly happy at school most of the time - but does get bored because it doesnt always stretch him enough (and thus I do often wonder about HE)

He is showing an interest in learning Latin - Is this something any of you do whilst home edding

Is it a good idea for me even to consider this given that I know zero latin?
What resources do you use?

OP posts:
Original poster
Yurtgirl · 28/04/2008 22:07

I want to give it a go - for all the reasons you give raven. But I am very unsure what resources to use!

None of them quite seem to fit the bill - esp as I foolishly thought I could buy a book for about £10

I will hunt on ebay I think!

OP posts:
hannahsaunt · 28/04/2008 22:09

I did Latin to Higher and we used the Ecce Romani series (ecce! in pictura est puella nomine Cornelia etc) There was Cornelia, her brother Marcus and a friend called Flavia. It was v good IIRC and included lots of grammar. Don't know if it's still about.

PS I have the latin pooh bear too

RosaLuxembourg · 28/04/2008 22:13

Yurtgirl - I bookmarked this American website a while back. I don't know if the book is any good or not but it is available from Amazon for £11.50. There are some useful links on the site as well.

yoyo · 28/04/2008 22:17

ravenAK - I completely agree with your point about the necessity of understanding grammar. I was taught very well by fabulous ladies who knew and loved their subjects in both Latin and French. As a result I found studying both very easy and can recall rules with ease especially in French. My DD, however, has just started Latin and is being taught the "learn as much vocab as possible and guess a bit" way and is really struggling. She has also been advised to use the Cambridge course. I am stuck as to what to do as I don't want to confuse her any further and yet hate to see her finding it so boring and insurmountably difficult. Why isn't grammar taught well, if at all, any more? Why the assumption that children will find it dull and difficult?

UnquietDad · 28/04/2008 22:20

Have you heard about Iris magazine?

Article here

website here

ravenAK · 28/04/2008 22:25

I like what I've seen of 'Ecce Romani'.

Unfortunately Latin where I teach (state comp.) is hanging on by its cracking fingernails because the Deputy Head is a Classics graduate. (Once he retires, I'm hoping to keep it going, but not at all sure the Head won't quietly bin it). & Deputy Head
's taught CLC for years, so that is what we use...

Might lobby that we take a closer look at ER, actually.

ravenAK · 28/04/2008 22:43

'Why isn't grammar taught well, if at all, any more? Why the assumption that children will find it dull and difficult?'

Oooh. Don't even get me started on that one!

My understanding is that the CLC was a laudable attempt to overcome the fact that learning Latin meant a lot of (arguably - not if you're actually interested in how language works) dry grammatical stuff; whereas in French or other modern languages, the teaching approach has always been much more conversational/situation based. The thinking was that this is more fun & more approachable.

BUT Latin is an inflected language, ie. different grammatical meanings are conveyed by different word endings, whereas modern European languages use the position of words in a sentence.

If you learn Latin properly, it lays bare how language fits together. If you rush into learning enough vocab. to read continuous prose, without getting your head around why the word endings continually change, you are going to end up hopelessly confused - with the notion that Latin is 'difficult' firmly reinforced.

Also, the CLC is dull dull dull. Not much point rushing students into 'reading' (sort of) continual prose, if it turns out that after slogging through a page of it, the most exciting thing to happen is Hermogenes being bang to rights on his debts because he's neglected to remove the ring with the seal he used to sign the contract...

Honestly, that's as thrilling as it gets.

In fact ignore what I said earlier about checking it out online, yurtgirl - I suggested that as it's widely used & there are lots of online resources - but other posters have offered FAR better suggestions.

Ellbell · 28/04/2008 22:44

Raven... I had a rubbish teacher, too, which didn't help!

Yoyo... this assumption that young people (I mostly teach 18-22-year-olds and it applies to them as much as to younger children) will find certain things 'boring' and 'inaccessible' is one of my real bugbears. If you (not you... I mean 'one') start out with the idea that certain things are boring then of course they will find them boring. But if you 'sell' them as exciting and new and useful and important (add un-boring adjectives at will and lace liberally with enthusiasm) then they will believe you and will become enthused themselves.

I'm a medievalist. I should know.

gigglewitch · 28/04/2008 22:58

hey Raven, I learned with all of the Ecce Romani books, it is probably why I stuck with it. We also used a very ancient and dry grammar book which must surely have been written by Homer called "The Approach to Latin". If anyone comes across it, do not approach it at any cost

TeenyTinyTorya · 28/04/2008 23:16

I was home-edded and learned Latin - I had a private tutor who was a friend of the family and a Classics tutor, and I did it to A-Level. I don't know how much I rememeber now, but it's fun to be able to read inscriptions on buildings and so on. Minimus is meant to be good, can't remember the course I used.

TeenyTinyTorya · 28/04/2008 23:22

Just remembered - I used Ecce Romani, and it was great because it was full of interesting stories.

SSSandy2 · 29/04/2008 08:11

I'm teaching dd (7) with Minimus at home and it's going well but she is a history buff anyway and it was her idea to learn Latin, not my idea to start teaching her. She will have Latin at school from age 11 anyway so this is really just introducing her to the language and we do just 30-45 minutes a week. No stress. I find it quite straight-forward to teach

SSSandy2 · 29/04/2008 08:23

I think you need a bit more practice material than just what is given in the Minimus text book. I don't have the teacher's manual, which I think contains a lot of worksheets for that purpose, however I supplement the book with history-based stuff from other sources. I think if you don't know Latin or have much experience of teaching languages generally , you might run out of steam part way through the book.

I find it good as a sort of gentle introduction for dd but I wouldn't choose to teach her right through to exams and if she will be learning Latin at school anyway, I think it maybe isn't such a good idea to teach too much ahead of time, she'll get bored in class. I am just stoking her interest with it a bit.

Julienoshoes · 29/04/2008 09:50

Yurtgirl
It might be worth joining the Yahoo EO HE support list, you would be welcome if you are interested in home education.

I'm willing to bet if you asked this question there, someone would answer who is doing so, or would lead you to more information.

Julienoshoes · 29/04/2008 15:10

Yurtgirl
No sooner do I mention trying the EO support list-but they actually start discussing teaching Latin on there!

Someone has just pointed out that there is a Minimus page for Home Educators!!

marina · 29/04/2008 15:36

Hello Yurtgirl, I spotted this in the active convos list

I am teaching Minimus to Yrs 4-6 at my dcs' school - am not a teacher but a parent volunteer, as Rosa said. Have done the Minimus Training Day and it was well worth the modest (IMO) cost for the ideas it gave me, and some of the speakers' suggestions for additional resources

The school has paid for the Teachers' Resource Book and I have to be honest, I think it is an essential purchase if you have no Latin of your own.

Have you thought of approaching the school and offering to run a club there? That way you could get the training costs met, the materials costs too, your ds would learn Latin...and so would other children too. Minimus is fine on its own but so much more fun with other child to act out the scenes with, play "Fling the teacher" from the website etc...just a thought!

Original poster
Yurtgirl · 30/04/2008 11:19

Wow thanks for all your marvellous thought and links everybody - I am really grateful

The idea about setting up a minimus club at school is interesting - I trained to be a teacher but never qualified so I have some exp of teaching.

Marina do you charge for kids to attend the club - How does it work?

Most of the kids clubs at my lo school are held in rooms adjacent to the school which you normally have to rent from the school - argh! Im not sure how that would work

Off to study the links now - thanks so much for your suggestions everyone

OP posts:
marina · 30/04/2008 11:29

No, I don't, I'm doing it voluntarily. But some state schools do make a modest charge to help them afford the materials. Our school was able to cover the costs.
The Primary Latin Project also gives grants to schools to help them buy resources. Minimus is also a campaign as well as a splendid teaching programme!
Minimus is especially recommended as an enrichment activity. In my group I have Statemented children and "G & T" ones. They all enjoy it and find it interesting.
I think if you offered this to the school as a club they'd have a bit of a nerve charging you for the room!
Have a look round the Minimus website, there is some good guidance for its role as a G & T activity, a very interesting paper about how it can help children with dyslexia - and you can contact people at the PLP for more info. They are incredibly helpful

Original poster
Yurtgirl · 30/04/2008 11:35

Is it really possible to start a kids club about something I know absolutely nothing..........

I doubt it somehow!

OP posts:
marina · 30/04/2008 11:37

If you are keen and willing...YES!
The Latin is really simple. The programme is lovely and tells you and the children loads about life in Roman Britain.
The teachers' book has loads of good ideas for other activities - art & craft, drama, maths, English...

Original poster
Yurtgirl · 30/04/2008 11:46

i will investigate Marina - thanks

OP posts:
marina · 30/04/2008 11:51

I'm afraid I got totally suckered by one newspaper article and have not regretted it for a nanosecond
Rosa will back me up! It's worth it!

Original poster
Yurtgirl · 30/04/2008 11:54

Another question Marina!

Do you/ Will you have the same bunch of kids year on year out - or at the end of the school year do you start again with another year group

Also did you know any latin yourself?

OP posts:
RosaLuxembourg · 30/04/2008 11:56

It really is worth it. In our case the Primary Latin Fund gave us a grant and the PTA covered the rest. I donate my services free and it is so enjoyable that I feel I am getting a great deal!

RosaLuxembourg · 30/04/2008 11:57

That's a good question, Yurtgirl! I don't know what Marina is doing, but my group is a mix of year 5 and year 6. So next year I will have some who will want to progress and some new recruits (hopefully) and I am not sure how it's going to work yet.

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