Bolchazy Latin materials arrived today.

[Jane in NC]

Part of the order, that is. One book, the Ovid Legamus Transitional Reader, is not yet available.

My son is two thirds of the way through the Oxford III text which has introduced him to some of Vergil's and Horace's Poetry. We find, though, that we need some handholding on Latin poetry, so I ordered two of the Legamus readers, Catullus and Ovid. I also ordered the Cicero Workbook which walks students through excerpts from Pro Archia and De Amicitia.

Bolchazy has produced the Legamus series to be a bridge between Latin grammar studies and authentic texts. The Cicero workbook is part of a series developed to parallel AP curriculum but also serve as a resource to college students. These materials all look very user friendly.

We have also been happy with Bolchazy's Latin Mythica book which my son has been working through this year.

Hats off to the person who recommended this publisher to me on the old version of these boards!

Jane

(See Myrtle--some of us do take our Latin seriously!)

[Jan P.]

Part of the order, that is. One book, the Ovid Legamus Transitional Reader, is not yet available.

My son is two thirds of the way through the Oxford III text which has introduced him to some of Vergil's and Horace's Poetry.
Jane

(See Myrtle--some of us do take our Latin seriously!)

Jane,

Did you do all of the Oxford books? Have you tried others? I've tried using Henle, Cambridge, and Wheelocks with my dc. I don't know if I'm just a dunce at trying to teach Latin, or if my dc are just non Latin learners. I hate to try another Latin book, but I really, really, really want at least one of my kids to know Latin. The oldest graduated with only a half credit in Latin (took Spanish instead). My middle child is struggling so much with school that I let her choose Italian over Latin (hey, it's close). I know my youngest dd can do it. She is probably my best scholarly student. I do so much want this to work. Henle isn't cutting it with her. I'm thinking something with a story line would work better, otherwise I'm going back to Wheelocks.

Thanks,
Jan

[LisaNY]

Thanks for posting this, Jane. I just got their new catalog, and if I had the money, I'd be ordering quite a bit from them. Can you post your thoughts about the Legamus when you get it? :)

[Myra]

We are starting Latina Christiana II with my kids (12 and 14) after finishing LCI. I tend to only use secular materials but this DVD based program is so thorough and teaches Latin step-by-step that even I am learning it. Some people may call it Latin "light", but I call it Latin "great"! We should be able to start Cambridge Latin easily after this.

[Nan in Mass]

A story line is an absolute must for us. We are doing and liking Ecce Romani. We have used some Cambridge for reading practice, since that also has a story line. We also have read some Lingua Latina. If I were learning Latin on my own, I would use LL, which with all its reading would work really well for me, but I need more complete grammar explainations for the children. *I* can understand the grammar, but the children can't and I can't explain it to them. ER's explainations are at a lower level. Lots of people like Cambridge who don't like anything else. I haven't seen Oxford, so I can't compare that one. Just wanted to put in a good word for story line based curriculums. They are fun, the grammar is easier to understand in context, they attack Latin from both whole to parts AND parts to whole (at least Ecce does), review is built in because as you read, you use everything, and vocabulary is easier to memorize when you are using it to read.
HTH
-Nan

[Jane in NC]

Jane,

Did you do all of the Oxford books? Have you tried others?

Thanks,
Jan

Hi Jan,

Sorry Jan, other than the Minimus series for younger kids and Jenney (which was given to me), I am unfamiliar with other Latin texts. The Oxford series is similar in spirit to Cambridge, I believe. Students attempt reading Latin from the get go--the opposite of grammar driven programs. Each curriculum type has its followers and detractors. If you already own several programs, you don't necessarily need another. I would just pick one and stick with it.

Jane

[Jane in NC]

Thanks for posting this, Jane. I just got their new catalog, and if I had the money, I'd be ordering quite a bit from them. Can you post your thoughts about the Legamus when you get it? :)

The Legamus Ovid is not yet available but the Legamus Catullus did arrive. It appears to be exactly what we need! The reader contains eighteen poems with initial material explaining context and meter. Each poem is prefaced with grammar and vocabulary material, as well as preliminary exercises. After each poem there is further commentary and some additional exercises.

One Legamus reader will not suffice for an entire semester or year. My thought is to build my son's Latin program next year on the two Legamus readers (Ovid and Catullus), providing the introduction to Roman poetry that I think he lacks. The Cicero workbook is at a higher level and should round things off for a general survey course. The following year I would like my son to take a course on Vergil. I haven't had the time to examine these new books in detail to see if my plan is reasonable but I'll be happy to report back after we have put the Legamus readers to use.

Jane

[LisaNY]

The Legamus Ovid is not yet available but the Legamus Catullus did arrive. It appears to be exactly what we need! The reader contains eighteen poems with initial material explaining context and meter. Each poem is prefaced with grammar and vocabulary material, as well as preliminary exercises. After each poem there is further commentary and some additional exercises.

One Legamus reader will not suffice for an entire semester or year. My thought is to build my son's Latin program next year on the two Legamus readers (Ovid and Catullus), providing the introduction to Roman poetry that I think he lacks. The Cicero workbook is at a higher level and should round things off for a general survey course. The following year I would like my son to take a course on Vergil. I haven't had the time to examine these new books in detail to see if my plan is reasonable but I'll be happy to report back after we have put the Legamus readers to use.

Jane

Thanks, Jane! These sound like great resources. :)

[LisaNY]

Jane,

Did you do all of the Oxford books? Have you tried others? I've tried using Henle, Cambridge, and Wheelocks with my dc. I don't know if I'm just a dunce at trying to teach Latin, or if my dc are just non Latin learners. I hate to try another Latin book, but I really, really, really want at least one of my kids to know Latin. The oldest graduated with only a half credit in Latin (took Spanish instead). My middle child is struggling so much with school that I let her choose Italian over Latin (hey, it's close). I know my youngest dd can do it. She is probably my best scholarly student. I do so much want this to work. Henle isn't cutting it with her. I'm thinking something with a story line would work better, otherwise I'm going back to Wheelocks.

Jan, if you have Cambridge, I'd give that a try. If Henle isn't cutting it with her, I think she'd have even more of a problem with Wheelock's. There are lots of online activities available for the latest edition of Cambridge. http://www.cambridgescp.com/page.php?p=clc^oa_intro^intro (http://www.cambridgescp.com/page.php?p=clc%5Eoa_intro%5Eintro)

The Cambridge yahoo group is full of very helpful people.

As always, I highly recommend studying the Latin on your own, well ahead of your dc. It will make teaching it that much easier. Since you seem to have a few different resources, pick the one that best meets your particular learning style. :)

[Michelle in MO]

Part of the order, that is. One book, the Ovid Legamus Transitional Reader, is not yet available.

My son is two thirds of the way through the Oxford III text which has introduced him to some of Vergil's and Horace's Poetry. We find, though, that we need some handholding on Latin poetry, so I ordered two of the Legamus readers, Catullus and Ovid. I also ordered the Cicero Workbook which walks students through excerpts from Pro Archia and De Amicitia.

Bolchazy has produced the Legamus series to be a bridge between Latin grammar studies and authentic texts. The Cicero workbook is part of a series developed to parallel AP curriculum but also serve as a resource to college students. These materials all look very user friendly.

We have also been happy with Bolchazy's Latin Mythica book which my son has been working through this year.

Hats off to the person who recommended this publisher to me on the old version of these boards!

Jane

(See Myrtle--some of us do take our Latin seriously!)

progress on to the readers? Just curious. We should take our Latin more seriously here; youngest dd is still doing LCII, and the older two finished Henle I but displayed such incredible resistance to proceeding further that I will now send them on to a modern foreign language. However, I'm asking for myself! I have a secret desire to study Latin in-depth.

Thanks for your response!

[Beth in Central TX]

Jane, Thank you for this update. I am planning to use Vergil and Horace from Bolchazy when we get to high school, so it's good to hear from someone that this is a viable route for us.

[Jane in NC]

The Ovid Legamus reader arrived today. These Legamus readers are intended to help students transition from textbooks to real Latin works.

The Ovid reader begins with an introduction to the poet himself and his works. In addition to grammar and vocabulary review, the reader also delves into the literary constructs of Ovid's work. Included in the reader are twelve excerpts from Metamorphoses, exposing students to Apollo and Daphne, Pyramus and Thisbe, Daedulus and Icarus, Baucis and Philemon and Pygmalion.

To give you an example of the setup, I will describe the first of three sections on Pyramus and Thisbe, excerpts from Metamorphoses 4. The section begins with a review of gerunds, then gives some practice work on this concept. There are notes explaining how some of the vocabulary is used in context and a brief English summary of the passage. Further questions and notes help students focus on grammar and comprehension issues. After these preliminaries, students see What Ovid Actually Wrote without any footnotes or side vocabulary. Essentially the student has worked his way through vocabulary and grammar and is ready to tackle Ovid himself. Finally, students are asked to think about the literary elements and the effects created.

Wow!

I'm just so impressed by these readers.

Caveat: I have not yet implemented this. Our plan for the next school year is to do Ovid and Catullus via Legamus readers, then use Bolchazy's Cicero AP materials.

[LisaNY]

Thanks for the review, Jane! I'm going to have to purchase one of these for myself. They sound like the perfect segue into real Latin authors.

Please post again when you've had a good run with it. :001_smile: