Fr. Henle's Latin course is now well recognized as a superior choice among Catholic homeschoolers. Many curricula have adopted it and recommend it, and also publish syllabi and course plans of their own to aid families in breaking it down the lessons day by day. For instance, Mother of Divine Grace School and Kolbe Academy both have their own plans available beginning at the High School freshman level.
To prepare for this review, I decided to put this book to practical use. Nightly, as our family sits down to family prayers, husband begins by doing a lesson orally with the kids. It's been a hit, a very nice family activity indeed. We all participate, from first to tenth grader, mom included. For some of us it's mostly review, for some it is all new, but we all look forward to it.
like working through long division and playing chess, involves multi-level thinking that is very good for the development of the intellect. It also gives students a better understanding of language and grammar, develops their vocabulary and can be extremely beneficial in recognizing medical and scientific terminology (even a trip to the zoo can be an opportunity for students to appreciate their Latin skills as they recognize some of the scientific names for the animals). For Catholics too, Latin has special meaning as it is the official language of the Church. It is good thing for young Catholics to learn to love and begin to understand the wealth of beautiful hymns, chants and prayers that are part of our cultural and religious heritage.
After several challenging years of teaching beginning Latin to my elementary-grade children, I have finally found exactly the book that I wish I had had available from the beginning. Not only is this book classical in orientation and Christian in content, but it is also very well-organized and easy to use. This program can be begun as early as third grade by a motivated student with excellent reading fluency and some grammar knowledge, but it will be beneficial for a beginning Latin student of any age.
Ecclesiastical Pronunciation, 15 weeks of lessons
Program consists of an audio tape, a reader and an activity book (approximately 30 pages each)
This home produced conversational Latin program is designed for young children. Your pre-Latin students from Kindergarten up may enjoy getting a taste of the language, especially if their older siblings are studying Latin. The program consists of two softcover books (the binding leaves something to be desired) and an audio tape.
Basic Set includes Student Book, Teacher's Manual and an audio tape or CD
Teacher's Manual, 138 pages, softcover
This text is intended to introduce grade-schoolers to the Latin language. It is useful in preparing for future Latin studies in high school (particularly helpful for studying Henle Latin), but also teaches children some basics of grammar and vocabulary that sharpen thinking skills and assist in understanding the English Language more thoroughly.
I've been teaching Latin to two small classes in our weekly homeschool co-op for the past year using Latin is Fun as the primary text. The younger students were 9-11 yrs. old and the older students were ages 12-14. The text is a large workbook with a lot of cartoon-like illustrations and dialogue boxes to make the text engaging and intended to help students connect a Latin word directly with an idea rather than to the English word.
Henle's First Year Latin is the book I studied as a homeschooled high schooler under the care of a great old Jesuit priest who left his position as a Latin and Greek professor at the all-boys Jesuit high school for a few hours each week to teach Latin to a small group of homeschoolers.