(in response to questions on elists)

Our family began studying Latin in the Fall of 2007, and in response to discussions on various lists, I've put up this page for resources we've found inspiring, since many people find it hard to imagine "Latin" and "inspiring" can exist in the same realm.

For my elementary aged daughters:  My daughters were 6 and 8 years old when we started out using an introductory Latin course, Minimus:  Minimus Pupil's Book: Starting out in Latin (Cambridge Latin Texts) and Minimus Secundus Pupil's Book: Moving on in Latin. This is an outstanding series for introducing elementary age Latin, published by Cambridge University Press. Minimus uses a reading approach to learning Latin in context, and follows a Roman family (with their mouse, Minimus, and cat, Vibrissa) in ancient times in the Roman Britain town of Vindolanda.

The stories are based on actual archeological evidence from the locations they live and travel to. All I can say is, it is FUN. It's often functioned as bedtime reading when my girls didn't want to stop reading the stories. The student books are well constructed, and beautifully illustrated in full color. There is an online homeschool co-op that can provide you with more information, see MinimusHS.

After less than a year of working through Minimus, we moved into Cambridge Latin Course (North American 4th Ed)
combined with Lively Latin.

Lively Latin is a Latin program developed by Latin teacher and homeschool parent. I heard so many personal recommendations from homeschoolers taking her classes that we decided to try her distance learning plans. This is essentially a Latin unit study, incorporating English and Latin grammar, English and Latin vocabulary /derivatives, cultural history and lots of activities. My kids find it a lot of fun, and I find it very substantial. I initially had concerns my youngest could keep up, as it is a worksheet based program. However, if I did much of the writing and she narrated, she was able to do this at age 7. It is the only worksheet-type curriculum I have ever successfully used, it is well designed.

For my middle schooler: In 2007, our family combined funds with another to have a Latin/classics teacher meet with us once a week.  We started out using the 1989 version of Jenny's First Year Latin (The Allyn and Bacon Latin program). The teacher found the text and support materials to be the best she could find for high school. Jenney has a long history of being a well-liked text, with pacing being the only problem for high school classes. As we go at our own pace, this is not a problem. It is a grammar program but has readings, historical and cultural contact that make it interesting.

Our teacher has the Workbook and Teacher's Manual for this course and as she is finishing her PhD in classics she is obviously competent in Latin. Without those materials, it is very difficult to learn, unless you yourself know Latin. The can be hard or impossible to find. I have been trying to get permission from the publisher to share these with other homeschoolers that might want to use the text, but I have received no response. This could be because they sell a later version. This version is not as well liked by Latin teachers.

Once, however, our teacher discovered Cambridge Latin Course (North American 4th Ed), she began blending her own knowledge of grammar with this text, dropping Jenney from our weekly meetings. The effect was an immediate increase in the kids' enjoyment. The story line is very fun and engaging, and keeps you reading Latin! My son is moving through this course much faster than my younger girls, naturally. We still pull out Jenney for our between meetings study as it explains the grammar we encounter in Cambridge fairly concisely. Cambridge has a large following and there is an excellent elist for support from teachers around the world using it in a variety of settings: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CambridgeLatin/

I just recently obtained Lingua Latina: Pars I: Familia Romana for myself, because I am a reader and a reading approach to learning appealed to me. I follow my son's lessons and work ahead, but supplement with Lingua Latina. It is enjoyable because ou pick up vocabulary through repeated use in context, and grammar rules are introduced in contextual situations as well. This can be used with middle school on up. There is a great support list for Lingua http://nxport.com/mailman/listinfo/oerberg

I am not a Latin expert, I have relied on recommendations of others. There are other programs that might be worthy of trying. These we selected based on the fact that they allow us to study Latin in a holistic manner and they make it fun for us. The Jenney text would probably not be nearly as lively if it were not for our Latin teacher, however. She is truly an inspiring teacher for us all, and we look forward to the weekly contact.

More information on Latin learning methods can be found at the LatinTeach website and this article in particular: How to Teach Latin?