Would you say that Latin is a better choice than a vocabulary study? sm

[BarbinTN]

On other boards and chats with fellow hs moms the consensus is that a vocabulary study would be better served thru Latin. Is that your opinion as well?
Thanks,
Barb needs to somehow wrap my brain around this;)

[dragons in the flower bed]

On other boards and chats with fellow hs moms the consensus is that a vocabulary study would be better served thru Latin. Is that your opinion as well?

Yes, because:

1) vocabulary hardly ever sticks unless it's in context, and Latin is worthwhile as a context
2) for every Latin word you learn, you also learn several English words

[Debbie in OR]

If I understand your question, these are my thoughts...

Have you read Climbing Parnassus by Tracy Lee Simmons? When dh and I first started considering the Latin thing, I thought I would just work on roots/prefixes/suffixes to develop vocabulary and call it good. Then I got ahold of this book and everything changed. I had no idea. The reasons for and the effects of learning Latin are so much bigger than vocabulary.

Of course, it's harder having to actually learn and then teach Latin but we can never go back, knowing what we now know. Truly, if I were told I could pick only one discipline to teach my dc, it would be Latin. Without condensing his whole book here, I highly recommend you see if your library has it and read through it. And if you haven't done so already, Drew Campbell's book The Latin-Centered Curriculum is fabulous as well. I think these two will answer your questions better than I could. HTH

[riada]

Debbie, I have a question for you. You said you thought you would do a roots based program first, did you do that or just think it? I was thinking of doing roots based first and then move into Latin. Am I doing this backwards or to no avail? Would doing a roots based first help make Latin easier?

[Debbie in OR]

You know, I got ahold of CP and LCC before actually starting the roots-based program (which I had purchased), so I never even went that route. I put down the books when I had finished them (meaning CP and LCC) and went straight to my computer to start researching full Latin programs. While I would imagine a roots-based curriculum would get you up and running quicker with vocabulary, the actual study of Latin will have longer and farther-reaching benefits. I wish I had the book in front of me as I would pull some of the information out that helped formulate our goals...goals that I had no idea I even needed before reading the book. I'm not sure if that answered your question or was even helpful but if you have other questions, I would be happy to process this with you!

[riada]

Thanks Debbie! I wrote down the name of the book and am off to look online at our local library. I really hope they have it. I think I will start with reading the book and then make a decision what we should do. I just thought since my children are younger that a roots-based program would be easier for them to understand and yet would be working towards my goal of Latin. I'll see what I think after reading Climbing Parnassus.

[Debbie in OR]

Riada, I just did notice the ages of your kiddoes. You know, what we did was started with Prima Latina with the DVDs for my ds 6. This was such a gentle introduction to Latin that by the next year, we all had some confidence that we could actually do this! But, I reaaly do think reading CP or LCC will prove very helpful in working through this. Best to you!

[BarbinTN]

Thanks for the tips. I found an audio of the Simmons fellow talking about this very subject!!
Thank you!
Barb