Levels of each Latin program?

[In The Great White North]

Could anyone relate the levels (as in, what is covered in each)?

I've seen charts of what age they start at (I think on Memoria's website) but it seems to me that they all start at the beginning. Do they all end at the same place? Do LC 1 &2, LfC, Latin Prep 1-3 all end at the same level? SYRWTLL is for high school, right? Does it cover the same as Henle 1? Or Henle 4? How about Cambridge Latin? I'm confused! (And I have 7 different Latin programs already, so I don't want to buy them all to compare.)

If you want to switch between programs, do you HAVE to start over every time? We could end up doing 5th grade Latin four or five times, just trying to find a program we like!

Help!

[Susan in SoCal]

Yes, they all start at the same place, and most of them will start there with some 1st declension nouns, some 1st conjugation verbs, and probably "sum." But the amount of instruction they provide differs. The vocabulary differs. The extent and type of grammar introduced differs. The pace at which the instruction is given and applied differs. Some won't begin with grammar at all (Lingua Latina, Cambridge, Ecce Romani), but will jump right into reading/immersion.

There's definitely NOT a direct correlation at all between programs. And yes, usually if you switch to a new program, you'll probably need to begin at the beginning (that's the problem with switching, it slows down your Latin path). BUT ... you'll probably be able to move quite quickly thru the stuff that's review to you, just lingering long enough to pick up new vocabulary and/or snippets of grammar you've not yet seen.

For example, here's the path my son has taken:

3rd grade - 1st half 4th grade: LFC A & B (thru C. 19)
2nd half 4th grade: Latin Book One (we started at the beginning, moving quickly thru the review stuff)
5th grade: cont. Latin Book One (completed thru lesson 75)
6th grade: Latin Prep 2 & 3 (we were able to skip level 1, and moved quickly thru level 2 in 3 months)
next year (7th) - we'll finish LP3 & SYRWTLL 3.

after that, if we move into a text like Lingua Latina, we'll be back to starting at the beginning. Or if we move into Henle 2, we'll have to quickly buzz thru parts of Henle 1 to catch the vocabulary and snippets of grammar.

But mostly, to answer what you're probably really asking ... if your student hasn't progressed into deeper Latin (ie. is still working thru the 1st level of any of the elementary texts like Latin Primer, LFC, LC, etc.), then the starting place in any new curriculum would be the first book.