What's New

Pilgrims of the Holy Family

Book cover: 'Pilgrims of the Holy Family'
Author(s): 
Kerry and Nancy MacArthur

This program encourages children to learn about themselves and their world while imparting Catholic ideals. Pilgrims of the Holy Family is well suited to be used by individuals or in a group setting as an alternative to secular scouting programs. Written by a homeschooling family of five, "Pilgrims" presents 75 enrichment activities each of which allows the child to achieve a degree of mastery in a particular topic. Those familiar with scouting will recognize some of the topical activity sets as similar to scouting badges.

Learn Spanish with Grace

Book cover: 'Learn Spanish with Grace'
Author(s): 
Miriam Alvarez Gallaher

Everyone knows that children's minds are good at grasping new languages. Many children find foreign languages exciting and fascinating. However, it's not always easy for parents to help satisfy this delight. Learn Spanish with Grace offers a colorful and engaging approach to beginning Spanish that is very homeschool friendly (designed for grades 2-8).

Power Glide Spanish

Book cover: 'Power Glide Spanish'
Author(s): 
Dr. Robert Blair

This is an expensive, but in-depth conversational Spanish program that is very popular with homeschoolers. The text, test booklet and workbook come with nine audio tapes or CDs (depending on the option you choose when you purchase the program) and an optional CD ROM and audio CD set. These options should be looked at very carefully when ordering as the operators often don't know which set is which.

Learning Wrap-Ups: Spanish Introductory Kit

Book cover: 'Learning Wrap-Ups: Spanish Introductory Kit'

Our family has been enjoying Learning Wrap-Ups in a variety of subjects to drill and practice basic concepts. Each set consists of ten key-shaped plastic flash cards attached at a pivot-point with a string to wrap back and forth from question to answer. After finishing each key, simply look at the back to be sure the string matches up with the self-correcting answer key. I love how my children can study independently with these sets AND they can be used over and over again. They are sturdier and more self-contained than ordinary flash-cards (and don't get lost under the couches!).

Teach Me Spanish

Book cover: 'Teach Me Spanish'

This audio tape and coloring book set (also available in CD) is designed as a very early introduction to Spanish for young children through popular and traditional songs in Spanish and English. Material covered includes counting to ten, learning the days of the week and the words of songs such as Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Are You Sleeping?

My children have enjoyed this tape quite a bit over the past several years and the songs are performed nicely enough to not be too tiring for Moms either.

Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin

Book cover: 'Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin'
Author(s): 
Leo F. Stelten

All Latin students will benefit from ready access to a Latin dictionary, but Catholic Latin students using a Catholic textbook, or reading from Church documents and the Vulgate Bible in their original Latin, will especially benefit from access to a Catholic Latin dictionary. The Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin has been written to help both seminary students and laypeople as they advance beyond their introductory Latin studies. The hardback binding, clear typeface, and non-shiny paper combine to make this book a pleasure to use.

Easy Latin Crossword Puzzles: Quid Pro Quo

Book cover: 'Easy Latin Crossword Puzzles: Quid Pro Quo'
Author(s): 
Betty Wallace Robinett
Virginia French Allen

This will make a fun supplement to students in upper grade school or high school who have already studied Latin for a year or two. The words are fairly simple (requiring both English to Latin and Latin to English translations). One feature that makes it quite accessible is a list of words from which to choose the correct word. There are 50 crosswords in all, plus a complete answer key, and a brief introduction to Roman numerals, some common Latin abbreviations in use today and a list of the Latin mottoes of 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Latine Cantemus

Book cover: 'Latine Cantemus'
Author(s): 
Franz Schlosser

This is a fun collection of popular and traditional songs translated in Latin. It's a nice exercise for Latin class to practice pronunciation and gain a little cultural literacy to do some of this kind of singing in class. You'll a wide variety of songs, including: Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Happy Birthday, Amazing Grace, My Bonnie, The Star Spangled Banner, Good Night Ladies, Lots of Christmas Carols and a section of Gregorian Chant. With the exception of the 20 page Gregorian Chant segment (which includes the traditional Chant notation), only words are included and no musical notations.

Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency

Book cover: 'Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency: Phrase Book and Dictionary'
Author(s): 
John C. Traupman

Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency (Third edition) is a beefy, but easy-to-use supplement for Latin teachers and older Latin students.. Each of the twenty-five chapters tackles a particular subject matter; providing Latin and English conversations on three different difficulty levels and an extensive list of topical vocabulary and related phrases (some chapters also include suggested classroom activities and additional notes).