Monday 11 August 2008

LOTEs for littlies

I aspire to the goal of having my children learn several languages other than English. In a perfect world, I'd love them to learn New Testament (aka Koine) Greek, Latin, Italian (their Aunt comes from a family of Italian immigrants) and Mandarin Chinese (another of their Aunts is an ethnic Chinese immigrant from Singapore). However, this isn't a perfect world!

Adrienne from Theological Kids teaches her primary-aged duaghter NT Greek and Latin as well. She has inspired me to start early with my kids, but perhaps not quite as early as she recommended.

Here are some curriculum options for teaching Greek to primary-aged children:
Elementary Greek: Koine for Beginners by Christine Gatchell. This is what Adrienne uses with her daughter. According to the publisher (Open Texture), it is suitable from grade two or three up, or as a self-teaching program for teens and adults (ie, me).
Classical Academic Press (who also publish The Art of Argument,) are about to release Greek for Children, which they say is suitable from grade three up. They have already released Greek Alphabet Code Cracker which is described as an introduction to the Greek alphabet "for all ages" although the way it is presented may be more of interest to older kids. The Classical Academic Press site also mentions Song School Greek but I can't find a link for that, so it might be still to come.
Trivium Pursuit also produces a copybook for the Greek alphabet with a pronunciation guide, called A Greek Hupogrammon. This goes with their A Greek Alphabetarion, which is advertised as "A Primer for Teaching How to Read, Write & Pronounce Ancient & Biblical Greek".

Learning Latin:
Classical Academic Press also publish Latin for Children, which at the moment is my preferred text for teaching Latin to the kids. This program starts at third grade, and they have recently produced Song School Latin for K-3.
Other programs for teaching Latin include Memoria Press's Prima Latina (to begin with in K-3) and Latina Christiana (for later years).
I recently purchased Henle Latin to teach myself Latin. I'd really like to learn at least a year's worth of Latin while we are in Perth because I know I have access to people who already know it. At least two of Jeff's lecturers know Latin (it's only a small college).

Jeff relayed an anecdote to me yesterday of his lecturer correcting a student's Latin using Greek, to be sure that they kept up with the Greek that they had earlier studied under him. He he he!

4 comments:

Adrienne XO said...

Sharon,

Great resources you listed! I am working on getting our schedule on my site. Keep checking! Oh, and I did leave a reply to your questions. :)

Blessings,
Adrienne from TheologicalKids

Bootcamp Burners said...

Hi Sharon,
We have just started Latin this week. I purchased Prima Latina from our homeschool convention. I was able to see Susan Wise Bauer and hear her speak. This is our second day back to the grind of school. But we are loving the Latin. I will be checking out the song school latin as well. Thanks for posting this.
Rhonda

argsmommy said...

My 10 year old is just finishing up LFC A and we're both very happy with it. It's a fun program, but thorough. I took Latin in high school, but in just one year my daughter has a much better understanding than I ever did.

As you may find in reviews on the internet, there are occasional inconsistencies between the DVD and the workbook (even with the revised edition)and some errors in the answer key. At times it can be annoying, but I feel the benefits of LFC greatly outweigh the problems.

I've also found the staff to be prompt and helpful in answering questions on their website's message board. And be sure to try out the Flash Dash game on their website! Can you tell I really like this program? : ) I'll be starting up the Song School Latin with my two younger ones next week.

Kellie

Andrea said...

Funny - this is the Latin program I was looking into last spring. I thought the Song School Latin looked great. We won't be starting until 4th (although R will start the same year when she's in 2nd).
When will you start Greek &or Latin?
Andrea