Newbies: Choosing a Latin Curriculum

Because of the Internet, there are many, many options to learning Latin via independent study. YMMV (Your mileage may vary).

1. Simplest: Latin Appreciation- If the goal is Latin exposure or appreciation, then many playful and entertaining books like Minimus
or Secundus are available.

2. A Little More- The next very gentle step for Christian students might be Memoria Press books like Prima Latina or Latina Christiana. The positive side is that children are introduced to common Christian Latin sayings like Table Blessings, The Lord's Prayer, or famous lines from the Bible, but the down side is that grammar is de-emphasized, so that students will have to have a more intensive program to become fluent.

3. Serious Learning - Inductive- Good immersive or inductive Latin programs include Cambridge Latin or Ecce Romani. These books start students reading Latin very quickly, but as students progress through the book, they may become more puzzled by why words with the same meaning have so many different forms...it's because they weren't instructed about the rules of grammar in the first place. This weakness can be softened by the introduction of Latin grammar on the side (some done in the text), but for our 11 year old, the first 8 chapters of Ecce Romani was about all we could handle, we made a switch to Wheelock to learn the "bones" of the language in more straightforward teaching fashion.

Teacher and student workbooks can definitely enrich grammar learning through Ecce Romani, and there are free online resources to help you learn (we'll add in a later post) at Yahoo Groups, KET, and Quia.com. Cambridge Latin also has many fans; its site has many accessible exercises for practice, and it's even possible to have a Cambridge tutor (UK!) in a new distance learning program (here).

4. Serious Learning - Deductive- For those who think they or their students might pursue Latin for several years, a strong program that provides pronunciation may also be preferred. Because our daughter was preparing to enter a Latin school, we had a good start for her using a DVD series Latin Primer. The DVD really is just like sitting in an elementary school class, and both of our children picked up the chants for verb endings quickly; we did become discouraged, though when we found some errors in the materials, and when we found that the teacher was pronouncing some of words incorrectly.

Many Latin teachers and students debate whether pronunciation is important, but pronouncing it correctly will important for later Latin poetry and macron placement (the line over the long syllables).

Which brings us finally to Wheelock's Latin. We are using Wheelock's now for our 11 year old's study, and with it - the audio CDs for pronunciation, and the student workbook. When we first looked at it 6 months ago, it looked too dry to use. After being baffled by the different forms for words in Ecce Romani, it is now a sight for sore eyes! We also obtained access to the Teacher's site (including answers for the Text and Workbook) by emailing a request to: academic@harpercollins.com.

It's true that some of the lessons in Wheelock's are a little boring (even though the author tries to add a joke here or there), but we've also been enjoying Latin mottoes via Amo, Amas, Amat, and More, Aesop's Fables in Latin using Esopus Hodies, and Rufus Fear's fabulous Audio course Famous Romans, for history. Like the other major Latin programs, there are many resources to help Wheelock's learners - the main site here: WheelocksLatin.com, Dale Grote's Study Guide here, as well as support groups at Yahoo.

There are many more curricula, but these are the ones we're familiar with. A more extensive site with reviews is here