Oops! Latin again!

This time she mixed up periculum and pecunia.

Star's translation of in periculo magno sumus ... "we are in big money".

What it should have been was "we are in great danger"!

Fruity Latin

The neuter ablative singular of magnus according to Star ...

MANGO

Latin

Over the last couple of years I have become convinced that Latin is one of the most beneficial subjects to study. It teaches grammar, increases vocabulary, encourages logical thinking and provides building blocks that can later be used to learn other modern foreign languages. And it is the liturgical language of the Catholic Church for good measure.

Angel's Latin experience was a brief and reluctant dabbling with Latina Christiana. Star sat in on those lessons and showed more interest than her sister, so I decided to make an early start with a more serious attempt at learning Latin for her. This year we have been using Latin Prep Book 1 from Galore Park - really intended for children a year or more older - and ... it is working!!!! She can translate simple sentences from Latin to English and vice versa, is grasping the use of different cases, and best of all, seems to be enjoying it. We are going very slowly, with anything from three to five sentences a day, but regular short lessons are paying off. This time round, I'm determined we are going to stick with the Latin. And on a day when we got off to a late start and other things were like wading through glue, it is good to have something encouraging going on!

Latin Prep

Love it! This is one of the books from Galore Park we are using this year, and so far I am thoroughly impressed. I am also delighted with the way Star is taking to Latin. Will it last, I wonder?

Why do I like Latin Prep?

• Clear, lively explanations
• Solid grammar
  
• Gives a sense of achievement by including "real" Latin translations from the beginning.
• Short exercises
• Includes English to Latin translation as well as Latin to English

This is only our sixth week using the book, and Star is already able to translate simple paragraphs. She was also able to grasp the concept of subject and object very quickly thanks to the explanation in Latin Prep.

It is a secular book, but my own experience is that it is easy to follow Church Latin if you have a classical Latin background. As someone who does know a reasonable amount of Latin it is hard to say for sure how easy it would be for someone with no Latin to teach from, but I think it would be do-able, particularly as there is an answer key available.

The biggest downside I have found so far is that the book is not very robust and is already falling apart under the strain of Star's carelessness (Oops! Dropped the book ... Oops! Crumpled pages while flicking back to look at vocabulary ... Oops! A page fell out ...) My fault for failing to train my daughter in the art of caring for books, I'm afraid - but nothing I can't fix with book tape.