You know, I think I am having the same problem with Latin...

[Nan in Mass]

We're stalled in Latin at the moment because the next step is just reading Latin, or at least I want that to be the next step, and it is turning out to be rather a large step. We've been through Latin grammar. Some of it stuck. Some of it didn't. We don't want to do that anymore. We want to move on to reading Latin now, but I need to find easy Latin to read. It occurs to me that this is rather like the problem with the French - I want to move on to the next step with inadequate grammar. Can it be done? Does anyone know any sources of easy, somewhat entertaining Latin that we can just read?
-Nan

[forty-two]

Lingua Latina (http://www.amazon.com/Lingua-Latina-Familia-Romana-Latin/dp/1585102385/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259157336&sr=8-4) is a great choice - it is designed so that you can learn the grammar through reading, and is also wonderful at helping you put all the pieces together and develop real reading ability in Latin.

The Cambridge Latin Course (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cambridge+latin+course&x=0&y=0) is a good source of easy, entertaining Latin stories. You can usually get used 3rd editions for fairly cheap on Amazon.

Also, I have a big list of easy Latin in my signature (comprehensible input resources for Latin), most of which is free online.

Edited to add: You can also search on Google books for "easy Latin reader" (http://books.google.com/books?q=easy+Latin+reader) and come up with lots of options.

HTH

[In The Great White North]

:iagree: We have both of these and dd (just beginning Latin) could read the first stories. They increase in difficulty, so you may have to try a few to see where to start.

[Ester Maria]

Have you covered syntax?
From my experience, if you cover morphology without syntax, it's incredibly hard to read (I'm talking the original authors, not adapted texts). Adapted texts should be read as you work through morphology and syntax, but after that you just have to start reading the originals, or you never will.

Start with Caesar (the more famous excerpts from De Bello Gallico are a good choice) or Sallust (for example, Bellum Iughurtinum). Stay away from Cicero in the very beginning, because most of his speeches are syntactically complex and require that you have some experience in reading already, and especially stay away from poetry and adding metrics to your plate as well. Start with plain, prose texts, have a dictionary next to you and work through those texts first, then move to more complex prose / speeches, and only then move to poetry and drama.

[latinteach]

We're stalled in Latin at the moment because the next step is just reading Latin, or at least I want that to be the next step, and it is turning out to be rather a large step. We've been through Latin grammar. Some of it stuck. Some of it didn't. We don't want to do that anymore. We want to move on to reading Latin now, but I need to find easy Latin to read. It occurs to me that this is rather like the problem with the French - I want to move on to the next step with inadequate grammar. Can it be done? Does anyone know any sources of easy, somewhat entertaining Latin that we can just read?
-Nan

Try Oerberg's "Lingua Latina." It is a direct method course and progresses from easy to more difficult Latin, teaching the morphology and syntax at the same time. If you would prefer a reading course that teaches the morphology and syntax in English, then Cambridge or Ecce would be good choices. Latin for the New Millennium is also very good, with more emphasis on grammar but employing reading methods. All of the above courses have interesting reading material.

[CleoQc]

Lingua Latina is your best bet. However, it's only going to work if you either have:
1. someone who can explain what's being said, and why it's that way when the student gets stuck
or
2. a very dedicated student

There is help though called Lingua Latina A College Companion by Jeanne Marie Neumann. It will provide the explanations when needed.

[Nan in Mass]

We've been through Ecce Romani 1+2. We're stalled in Ecce Romani 3. My son read the stories in Cambridge Latin last year, as we struggled through the first bit of ER3. We must have had some syntax because I'm not having trouble with it in ER3, as long as I've reviewed the verb and noun endings recently. My son, however, is almost always confused about who is doing what to whom. And both of us are struggling with remembering the vocab. I'm pretty sure we would have been ok if we had been able to keep going through ER1+2 without pausing. Every time we stop to travel or stop for the summer, we forget the endings and vocab. We can recover the endings, if we work at it, but recovering the vocab isn't as easy. We are seive-brained and only remember vocab if we are using it constantly. We can memorize with flashcards, but it evaporates quite quickly as soon as we stop doing Latin. I don't think ER3 has enough reading for us to be able to recover it. I tried using Lingua Latina, but I want to use it for myself next time I need to recover my Latin (I think it will work very well for me) and I don't want to spoil the stories by just reading them now...
Thank you for all the suggestions.
-Nan

[CleoQc]

I don't want to spoil the stories by just reading them now...
Oh I've re-read those stories many many times already. And I'm only halfway through! (I've ditched Latin for Spanish this year, anyway).

Those stories can be re-read a lot of times, you just get more and more understanding ...

[latinteach]

Oh I've re-read those stories many many times already. And I'm only halfway through! (I've ditched Latin for Spanish this year, anyway).

Those stories can be re-read a lot of times, you just get more and more understanding ...

I agree. Go back and re-read. If you have the CDs for ER, give them a listen as well. Maybe when you go on breaks, you could spend some time going back and re-reading, starting way back where it's almost too easy and then working forward.

[Nan in Mass]

That's how we've survived the breaks so far. Luckily, the stories are fun enough that we haven't minded. It has taken us four to get through two of the ER books, we've backed up so many times. It seems like this is the right point to go forward with new reading. Jane is lending me some readers that hopefully land between ER and "real" Latin. Perhaps those will work. We can chant quite a lot of the endings, too, with a little prompting, and I think if I came up with a regular chanting schedule, it would help us to keep those. Chanting is handy when you have a bunch of nouns and are wondering who did what to whom. At least ER has made it so we don't need to translate into English to understand Latin. Listening to the tapes is a good idea. I hadn't thought of that. That is quick, too. I need something I can do that will move us forward, involve no flashcards, and be done in 20 or 30 minutes four days a week.
-Nan