| Author | |
Bookswithtea
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 07 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2621
|
| Posted: July 15 2007 at 3:13pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
teachingmyown wrote:
So, is it even important? I want the children to know their prayers and root words and such. But, other than that, is it necessary or should we try another language?
|
|
|
I'll be a dissenting voice.  I do not believe that skipping Latin will lessen their chances of loving God with all their heart/mind/soul, or being a hard working and productive adult.
I think this comes down to knowing your children, considering all that is going on in your home, and determining in prayer where Latin is on the priority list. If you feel that Latin (or any language, for that matter) needs to move down on the priority list in your home, I'd do it without an ounce of guilt. Perhaps God will move it up on the list in the future...or not. That's ok, too, imho. Homeschooling is a very personal/family based endeavor, and its ok if one homeschool looks very different from another. It doesn't mean that one is better than the other.
__________________
Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
helene
Forum Pro
Joined: Dec 10 2006
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 304
|
| Posted: July 15 2007 at 4:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I agree with you, Books.
__________________
Happy Mom to five girls (20,17,13,11and 4) and five boys (19, 15, 10, 8 and 6)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MicheleQ
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 23 2005
Location: Pennsylvania
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2193
|
| Posted: July 15 2007 at 7:19pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
teachingmyown wrote:
| Those little books from CHC look nice. But I am so often disappointed by their products. Does anyone have them yet? |
|
|
I do! I just got them but from what I can tell I like them. They are immersion method and very CM.
Personally I DO think Latin is important. We are Latin Rite Catholics - Latin is the language of our Church and we would do well to know it.
I don't think we have to necessarily be fluent but we should at least know the parts of the mass....which brings me to my other Latin recommendation: Understanding the Latin Mass: Hear and Learn the Words of the Novus Ordo Text and Audio CD by Marion P. Smedberg
We picked it up at the Expo last month and it is very nice. If you can't manage to do LC or Henle at least learn the Mass (Novus Ordo) in Latin. No, most of us don't attend a liturgy like this but it is what the original 1970 missal of Pope Paul VI intended and what we may yet get to have.
__________________
Michele Quigley
wife to my prince charming and mom of 10 in Lancaster County, PA USA
http://michelequigley.com
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
teachingmyown
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5128
|
| Posted: July 15 2007 at 8:21pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thanks Michele.
I do want them, and me, to know the Mass. When we would try to go to the Latin Mass at our old parish, it drove me crazy because I couldn't really follow along with all the little ones distracting me and I didn't know the language at all.
Maybe I will check out the CHC books along with the resource you suggested.
__________________
In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
BrendaPeter
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 28 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 981
|
| Posted: July 16 2007 at 7:58am | IP Logged
|
|
|
ElizLeone wrote:
| However, Latin was losing a little of the "fun" that it used to have for us (not that everything in life must be fun , and I just drooled when I read the Lone Pine description. So we shall see. |
|
|
Has Elizabeth or anyone else looked at the samples at www.livelylatin.com? Talk about drooling! I can't believe what's included - grammar, vocabulary, derivatives (much better than in LC imo) and history! Talk about a complete program. Yes, I will be selling 2 unused copies of the LC I workbook, not to mention the TM & dvds  ...
__________________
Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ElizLeone
Forum Pro
Joined: Jan 09 2006
Location: Wisconsin
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 214
|
| Posted: July 16 2007 at 8:37am | IP Logged
|
|
|
BrendaPeter wrote:
| Has Elizabeth or anyone else looked at the samples at www.livelylatin.com? Talk about drooling! |
|
|
Oh, yes, there was lot of drooling over Lively Latin too!  It looks wonderful, doesn't it? I'm giving Lone Pine a test run this fall though because I liked the interactive nature of it (with a classroom in Colorado), and I think it should free me up just a little bit to work with my younger ones while my older daughters are doing Latin. 
__________________
Elizabeth in Wisconsin
7 kids, 1 little saint
Munchkins on the Path
Our Adoption
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Elizabeth
Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595
|
| Posted: July 22 2007 at 6:09pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
teachingmyown wrote:
So, is it even important? I want the children to know their prayers and root words and such. But, other than that, is it necessary or should we try another language?
|
|
|
Ummm....
You are up to your eyeballs in stress. You are about to have your eighth baby. I remember you being "teachingmyownfour" about oh, seven or fewer years ago. So, you're having babies quickly right now. When was the last time you slept eight hours straight?
You have a very high-need teenager and you are trying valiantly to keep him from muddying the childhood of your other children.
Your husband commutes long hours and his job situation is frequently unstable.
You are working SO HARD to make home education work in your family. And you feel so guilty about the things you perceive to be failures or omissions.
Now, read back over this list and tell me, if I were you and I were your best friend in the world, and you were looking out for my mental health and my need to succeed, would you tell me that I needed to teach my kids Latin?
Home education looks different in different homes. At the end of the day, at the end of childhood, I don't think education is about academics nearly as much as it's about relationships. Do what you need to do to LOVE them well.
God love you! I do. 
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Jane Ramsey
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 05 2007
Location: Florida
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 652
|
| Posted: July 22 2007 at 7:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I think Elizabeth said it very well.
There is no need to push yourself to study Latin, or anything else, if you and your children find so agonizing.
I loved Latin in HS, mainly b/c I had a wonderful teacher with a passion for it and he passed on that enthusiasm to me.
Obviously your family's interests lie elsewhere. Go with them!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
ALmom
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3299
|
| Posted: July 23 2007 at 5:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Molly: Elizabeth did say things well.
As another comfort, we too bumbled through trying every variety of Latin program(Latina Christiani, Prima Latina, Missal Latin, and the one from CHC with the music and prayers. We also had a basic tape of prayers in Latin, the Pope leading the rosary in Latin, etc., etc. It really didn't matter what it was. We failed miserably at every one of these attempts from the very simple learning prayers one at a time at the table to the LC1 or Missal Latin.
The bottom line was that I was not supposed to teach it. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate what Latin has to offer - I'd love for all of mine to have it on a regular basis. But reality in my house is that I cannot provide this right now to the younger children.
They had some exposure in co-op last year and loved it. I cannot do co-op in the coming year(transportation, adjusting to LD child in the home, focus on finding answers to binocularity issues and my own deteriorating vision) I don't feel quilty - but oh how the temptation hits to fall into the peer pressure of our children "keeping up academically" and worrying about all that I want to cover that we won't be getting to this year. My biggest teaching fault is having unreasonable expectations on myself and the dc. This tends to freeze us all. Next year we are trying to really streamline and I simply don't do Latin well. We will continue with the high school tutor. The youngers will have to wait a bit for Latin again.
When my 2nd dd got to high school, Latin jumped back up at us, my mind and heart felt panicky at just the thought of trying to keep up with helping her bog through this too (and I don't speak/know a word of it). I have trouble even figuring out pronunciation, etc. I might have been able to help dc slightly through German. Anything else - well, I'm unqualified and don't have the time to learn it in order to help. So we prayed, called every lead - and found a Latin teacher. Turns out to be great, she is doing fine in Latin and is about halfway through Wheelock. It really doesn't matter that she never had any Latin before. She is ready for it and she is getting it. Now, we'll eat beans in order to pay for this tutor. At some point she may have to duel enroll when her education account is dry. The one thing I will not do is try to have her teach herself or try to help her along myself. Computer courses basically do not work in our house, so I am not going to force it this way. Foreign languages have to be used to be really learned - so the class setting works best for this, imho.
Wheelock is classical pronunciation which disappointed me a little at first - but according to the professor, he said that learning Church Latin makes the grammar more difficult and that if they learn classical Latin, the grammar concepts are easier to grasp and they easily adjust to church Latin. If they learn church latin, the adjustment isn't so easy. Now, I haven't a clue if this is true or not, but since he has a Phd and has been teaching this for years (he taught high school and college back when I was in highschool), I'm just trusting that he is correct. He did say he would show them various pronunciations (evidently there are 5 different ones). I decided that if Latin was going to happen at all in our house, someone besides me would be teaching it and this is the teacher God sent our way (and initially the fee was very reasonable - we pulled together a little co-op around it and shared the cost with 12 others). Next year, I'll be paying the full fee for this dd Latin tutor - But it is worth it to me. He is demanding but makes the course fun. Our dd responds well, is learning a lot and this is the only course that she and I haven't stressed over all year. (We are playing catch up with everything else).
My little ones (the 7 - 13 yo) all had a little Latin from Latina Christiani last year in co-op when a mom with some Latin background agreed to teach this class. My kids hated LC1 with me and we never survived beyond a month of trying, but they loved this class - same book they hated with me. Confirmation -
I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO TEACH LATIN
If it is supposed to happen in our house, someone else will be teaching it. Better this way, then making my kids hate it forever. All my dc have enjoyed it with the co-op or tutor. They were beginning to hate it with me. Yes, it was very humbling - but for whatever reason me teaching Latin just doesn't work. I am probably not the best teacher in the world - but the children are fine, they really are.
When we need it, we find outside support. My younger ones won't have Latin again this next year (I cannot do the co-op again for a variety of reasons) but when my 4 and 6 yo are ready to do it (ie reading and writing well), we'll do co-op again or find something like this for Latin. If nothing else our 15 yo will teach it to her siblings -(One of the reasons we don't mind using her education account now to pay for her Latin). We're preparing her for this job and will pay her for it when the time comes - . Something will work when it is really important - but it is fine for us to postpone until the support is there or life crisis allow.
Janet
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Elizabeth
Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5595
|
| Posted: July 23 2007 at 6:39pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
ALmom wrote:
I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO TEACH LATIN |
|
|
Me neither. I enrolled Patrick online with Memoria Press.
I'm teaching Mary Beth French.
Everyone else will do Signing Time and learn Latin prayers.
Good enough.
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: Dumping Latin?
