I have a confession to make

[Melissa in CA]

I have been homeschooling for 11+ years and have never read The Well Trained Mind! I really don't know a lot about Classical Education except for what I have gleaned from message boards such as this one.

In wondering why teaching Latin is so important, when my 5th grade son's schedule is dreadfully full already, I decided to take the plunge and buy Susan's book. It will be here on Thursday. To be honest, I am almost afraid to read it. I have one son graduated, one graduating this June, and one in 5th grade...what if I have done it all wrong? Scary thought. :o

[Lisawa]

I have been homeschooling for 11+ years and have never read The Well Trained Mind! I really don't know a lot about Classical Education except for what I have gleaned from message boards such as this one.

In wondering why teaching Latin is so important, when my 5th grade son's schedule is dreadfully full already, I decided to take the plunge and buy Susan's book. It will be here on Thursday. To be honest, I am almost afraid to read it. I have one son graduated, one graduating this June, and one in 5th grade...what if I have done it all wrong? Scary thought. :o


I cant answer your first question, but... I can encourage you that if you graduated one and one more coming up this June.... you couldn’t have done anything wrong! *Ü* Just right!

Lisa

[Diana in OR]

In my case, that means my dc haven't learned Latin either. Even the book says you won't be able to do it all.

P.S. Even though we haven't done Latin as a language, I started my dc very early on vocabulary and Latin and Greek word roots. That's something you may be able to add to your 5th grader's schedule.

[Sue G in PA]

of teaching. There are a lot of good points to it, but I've found that not all my dc can thrive in this model exclusively! When I first read TWTM, I was WAAAYYY overwhelmed and I tried to stick to the method exclusively. It drove me and my dc crazy. Now, I'm trying to be much more relaxed. Some components I really agree with and use. Others I don't. Really, we are very ecclectic in our hs. I'm sure your older dc turned out just fine and your youngers will as well...regardless of whether or not you've read or read TWTM (although I do highly recommend it as a reference at the very least b/c it's so full of great recommendations, ideas, how-to's, etc.). I refer back to TWTM often when I'm "stuck" or feeling like I'm not doing "enough". Anyway, don't worry. So many methods to hsing...classical is just one.

[Melissa in CA]

In my case, that means my dc haven't learned Latin either. Even the book says you won't be able to do it all.

P.S. Even though we haven't done Latin as a language, I started my dc very early on vocabulary and Latin and Greek word roots. That's something you may be able to add to your 5th grader's schedule.

Diana, do you use a specific book or program for this? The thought had crossed my mind to just teach the roots...but not sure which direction to take.

[Myrtle]

I have been homeschooling for 11+ years and have never read [I]The Well Trained Mind[/I
In wondering why teaching Latin is so important, when my 5th grade son's schedule is dreadfully full already,

Well Trained Mind doesn't really explain extensively why Latin and Greek are important, it's more of a "how to" book with resources once you've decided that you do indeed want to do Latin and Greek. An extended discussion of why Latin and Greek are important in education would be Tracy Lee Simmons Climbing Parnassus and for a discussion for the educational thinking that resulted in the demise of Classical Education see Diane Ravitch's A Century of Failed School Reform. Both of these are probably available through your public library.

While the Ravitch book is about American public schools it's close to the top of my list of books which have helped me understand the myriad of curricula out there and quickly identify the underlying educational philosophy of them in order to consider them or reject them when making choices. It was useful to me to see why Classical Education was important after seeing why it is that the alternatives failed and what those alternatives were.

[Diana in OR]

Melissa,

I have used the Word Roots series from Critical Thinking the most. I have both the workbooks and software. There is duplication, but I find it reinforces and provides variety. One year we used English From the Roots Up. I also used Science Roots with my older ds (it's probably more appropriate for older middle and high school). We also have the Word Roots card game which is a fun way to review, although I suppose you could learn from it as well.

The reason I've used so many is because we go through these every year. English From the Roots Up can be a multi-year program, but again, I like to provide variety.

I have always enjoyed word root study and have found it to improve vocabulary, reading and spelling skills in my dc.

[Melora in NC]

That Ravitch book looks interesting! I have her The English Reader, but I didn't know she wrote one on classical education. Our county library system has One copy of one book of hers, and, happily, that is it! Thank you for the recommendation.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I haven't read it either.:o But, Since I do more a CM/Beechick style, I guess I don't really think about it much. I love the idea of a classical education, but, I don't think it would be something that would work for my dc. They are really thriving in the CM style. Don't want to change now, you know?

[Melissa in CA]

I do more a CM/Beechick style,

Yes, this has basically been our school philosophy/style as well. I just decided to buy TOG for next year though, coming from SL and WP, so I have been looking more and more into Classical Education. I don't know if it is my teaching style or not, but I figured it was worth a look.

We tried Latin. My high schoolers did a year of it using Latin Road and my youngest got part way through Prima Latina. The older two began to struggle with Latin Road and we got completely lost around mid-year. Not just them....me too! No matter how much I looked through the TM I could not figure out what we were doing. Still not sure what happened since this is supposed to be so easy that even jr. high children thrive on it (Boy did we feel like dummies! lol). My youngest did fine with Prima Latina but due to so many other subjects it always got pushed to the side. I guess Latin just didn't seem important to me in the scope of things, but he will be entering 6th grade in August and I am rethinking it's importance.

I just looked at Vocabulary Vine. Has anyone used this? It looks simple, and simple may be what we need.

Thanks for all the help/comments so far!

Blessings,
Melissa (who will eventually make a siggy, but is currently too lazy :o)

[Snickerdoodle]

Thanks for the suggestion. It's going into the cue now.

Diane Ravitch's A Century of Failed School Reform.

[Rhonda@LivingWater]

I was a bit overwhelmed when I first read it. :) We also follow a classical/CM/Beechick style.

As for Latin, we're just starting it this coming year! We have used English from the Roots Up for the past 2 years with good success and I feel my oldest will be able to handle LC1 with no problem!

[Lori D.]

... We've just done root studies, using English from the Roots Up (books 1 and 2), 2x a week, and make it more of a game: we look at the root and try to guess what it means/what words the root is a part of. Then we read about the root, and then we look up in the dictionary any words we came up with that weren't a part of the list to see if they really do come from that root.

That's how we found our most fascinating word so far: "Decimate", which comes from the Latin root "decem" meaning "tenth". The ancient Romans would come into an area and conquer it. If the locals rebelled, they would line up all the men in the area, take every tenth man, and kill him -- they would "decimate" (cut by a tenth) the population. December also comes from the same root, meaning the tenth month (in the old Roman calendar December was the 10th, not 12th, month of the year).

Our older son apparently has been enjoying the root words so much, and is seeing so many of the roots show up first in his vocabulary words and now this year in his Biology vocabulary lists, that last week he surprised me by saying he *wants* to take Latin if it can count for his 2 years of a high school foreign language!

If you go with a root words program, enjoy! Warmest regards, Lori D.