beginner self tutorial latin high school level

[Sharon]

Can anyone recc. a beginner self tutorial latin program for our 15yods who attends a secular private school. His school used to offer it but not anymore. We've talked about him doing this on his own during one of his study periods. Would like to start asap so he gets in routine of it. Also would like it to be something the school would most likely accept to place on a transcript. Thanks,Sharon

[dragons in the flower bed]

Do you want an online tutorial, or a book from which he can teach himself?

Either way, I am enjoying and having much success with http://gettingstartedwithlatin.com/

[Sharon]

Either would be fine. He has access to a computer during study but could handle it out of a book as well. Thanks so much for your response. Sharon

[Sahamamama]

1. Memoria Press Online offers a beginning Latin course w/instructor:

http://www.memoriapress.com/course/course/category.php?id=28

2. Artes Latinae is another option:

http://www.bolchazy.com/index.php?cat=al&sub=main

3. A third option is to wait for the new First Form Latin to be available through Memoria Press (Fall 2008, so it should be soon). I don't have a link for this, because it isn't out yet.

4. If you don't want to wait for First Form Latin, you could get Henle I from Memoria Press, along with the study guide. Your son might need a tutor 1-2x/week to help him through this.

http://www.memoriapress.com/descriptions/Henle1.html

5. There is The Latin Road to English Grammar:

http://www.thelatinroad.com/index.html

6. Another possibility is Latin in the Christian Trivium:

http://www.latintrivium.com/

7. If all else fails, you can get Rosetta Stone in Latin (any Latin is better than no Latin, right?) and have him work through that.

http://www.rosettastone.com/personal/languages/latin

I am studying Henle I here (age 41 and counting). It seems that what it really boils down to in the beginning is MEMORY WORK and EXERCISES and VOCABULARY BUILDING. I am also using MP's Lingua Angelica (songbook/workbook/CD) and MP's Book of Roots (vocabulary/derivatives). These seem to be making some of it stick in my brain, and that's saying something. Hope this helps!

[Sahamamama]

Do you want an online tutorial, or a book from which he can teach himself?

Either way, I am enjoying and having much success with http://gettingstartedwithlatin.com/

Hi, Dragons! Thanks for the link to this site/program. I have been studying the resources there and it looks like a well-designed, intelligent program. Could you please tell us a bit about it, and what you like about it? Thanks!

[dragons in the flower bed]

Hi, Dragons! Thanks for the link to this site/program. I have been studying the resources there and it looks like a well-designed, intelligent program. Could you please tell us a bit about it, and what you like about it? Thanks!

Sure. I'm a little groggy but I'll try.

It's supremely simple. User-friendly is an understatement. It's just a book, a slim, paperback, 8.5x11 book with one lesson per page. There's a lot of white space. The first few lessons took me about 2 minutes, maximum, each.

Each lesson teaches just one word or concept. Linney devotes a whole lesson to sum, another whole lesson for es, and so forth. You master that concept in a few sentences to translate. These translations can be done orally or mentally, or you can write them down if you desire.

Some older concepts are reviewed in the translation exercises, too. The answers are in the back. Each page will say, "answers to these exercises are on page ____," so you can look them up and check yourself right away.

Every last little thing you may notice is explained for you. That's what I like best about it, I think. Linney doesn't assume you'll figure out that sum agricola means the same thing as agricola sum, for example. He take the time to point that out and explain to you what's going on.

It really is just a book. There's no separate exercise book or instructor's guide; everything you need is in it, except the MP3s which are free to download from his website.

As a native New Yorker, I found Linney's southern accent distracting, so I have yet to use the MP3s I downloaded. But he often explains pronunciation (both classical and ecclesiastical) in the lessons themselves.

(As an aside, I laughed out loud when translating estis as he suggests -- y'all. He writes that it rhymes with ball or hall.)

I need to have every little thing explained. I'm a curious student. You can't tell me to memorize this because I'll use it later. That drives me nuts. I need to understand. Linney's is the first Latin book that has met that need for me. I'm remembering it all because I truly and thoroughly understand it.

HTH. Hit me with any questions, and please forgive my grammar and punctuation tonight. My five year old keeps forgetting I told him to wait a minute and every 30 seconds, restarts the conversation he wants to have with me.

[Sahamamama]

I need to have every little thing explained. I'm a curious student. You can't tell me to memorize this because I'll use it later. That drives me nuts. I need to understand.

Okay, I realize you are sleepy and I COMPLETELY understand the part about the interruptive and adorable 5 year old (my life with small children, but that's another story)...

BUT this makes me wonder, how DID you ever get through Algebra? When I was in school (ps), Algebra 1 and 2 drove me nuts because the teacher used to simply tell us to memorize everything without ever really understanding it. Geometry was the same way, and that teacher was worse. I did manage to pass (barely) these courses, but only because I finally gave up and decided NOT to try to understand it. This is the real lesson of public schooling, IMO. So...

And thanks for the info. I'd rep you again if they'd let me. ;)

[dragons in the flower bed]

BUT this makes me wonder, how DID you ever get through Algebra? When I was in school (ps), Algebra 1 and 2 drove me nuts because the teacher used to simply tell us to memorize everything without ever really understanding it.

:D I was homeschooled. My dad was patient. I don't remember an ounce of it because I have never had a practical use for it, but I did manage to understand it when I was studying it.

We used the Key to . . . series from Key Curriculum Press, and I also studied the history of math, how it was developed. I can't recall the title of the book Dad had me read on that. It was in one volume, a little brown paperback, very boring-looking but oh so fascinating.