Latin: when your child starts writing

[CleoQc]

My son is now expected to write short sentences in Latin. Often he comes up with a sentence structure that I would not have used, but it seems ok. The key here is that I honestly don't know if it's a proper sentence or not! I'm not that far ahead of him in my studies and he's got greater retention than I do.

So what do you do when you can't really correct Latin writings? Or can you?

[Sarah CB]

Dd began the High School Henle I course through Memoria Press when she was 11. She's in her second semester now. It's been wonderful - she's learning so much and I can concentrate on Prima with the little guys.

[Susan in SoCal]

I've learned enough to correct my son's work so far. But I can see that the day is coming when I might not choose to keep up with him. At that point, I'll probably go the route of Sarah CB and outsource.

At lower Latin levels, you can certainly post your questions here and there are bunches of us who can probably help you out. For higher level questions, there are Latin boards (Henle, Latinteach, etc.) where you can post questions and receive help.

[Sarah CB]

Me being out of my leauge really hit home when dd wrote a story in Latin. And I could figure out some of it but not very much.

[Beth in Central TX]

I'm not sure if this is the correct approach, but I'm not a big stickler on word order in Latin. The whole point of an inflected language is that you can put the word anywhere in the sentence and it should still make sense. I do have them try to follow the typical word: subject, indirect object, direct object, adverb, verb.

[LisaNY]

I'm not sure if this is the correct approach, but I'm not a big stickler on word order in Latin. The whole point of an inflected language is that you can put the word anywhere in the sentence and it should still make sense. I do have them try to follow the typical word: subject, indirect object, direct object, adverb, verb.

I think that is okay in the beginning, but you'll see that those rules go out the window when they get to reading real Latin. It's crazy! :rolleyes:

[LisaNY]

My son is now expected to write short sentences in Latin. Often he comes up with a sentence structure that I would not have used, but it seems ok. The key here is that I honestly don't know if it's a proper sentence or not! I'm not that far ahead of him in my studies and he's got greater retention than I do.

So what do you do when you can't really correct Latin writings? Or can you?

As others have suggested, I'd get involved in one of the online Latin groups, depending upon which program you are using. There is a CCSLatinteachers list that is a list that supports various programs. There is a Henle Yahoo group and a Lingua Latina list. Textkit is another great site, which has a message board full of really helpful people.

You can also post Q. here, and we'll see if we can help. :)

One thing I will say has helped me is reading Oerberg's LL. I am so much more confident in composing Latin sentences. Mind you, they are nowhere near complex, but I have a much better handle on the Latin now than I did when I was just using a standard grammar/translation text.

[katalyst]

I took Latin in College and sentence structure was not a huge issue for simple sentences. When the sentences get more complicated then order becomes more important or you won't know (in some cases) which adjectives go with which nouns. You'll also find that structure rules go out the window when you get to original works in latin. Order becomes more dictated by the mood of the passage.

[angela in ohio]

Agreeing with those who said not to worry about it. Latin word order is generally different than English (the dD.O. often goes before the verb and the subject after, for example,) so I don't get into word order until later. Like katalyst said, I would have him keep the adjective with the appropriate noun (noun first, then adjective, though.) Other than that, let him mix it up to his heart's content.

[CleoQc]

I'm not too concerned about word order, but about correct usage of the words. Especially when prepositions are concerned! I'm still having problems with prepositions in English! ;-)

Outsourcing is tricky for us, because - while we do use LfC - we are a Latin-French family. Grammar is explained through French. We use LfC mainly as a guide. So I don't want a full fledged outsourcing. I guess I'm only looking at sentences corrections.

Once he can find his worksheet, I'll post what he wrote. Hoping you gals who are ahead of me can help out.