Latin ~ week 1

JMJ

I hope you all had as much fun on Monday as I did!  It was the smoothest, least stressful first-day-of-co-op I have experienced so far!  Thank you all for your eagerness and hard work!  Now, I have a confession to make: I don't know Latin.  Latin was the subject I dreaded the most in college.  I've never been good at languages; even English grammar has never been my strong suit.  In college, Latin chewed me up, spit me out, and crushed my hopes of being a philosophy or theology major (at Christendom, you have to take two years of Latin and PASS to go into those majors).  It all works out per God's design, though.  I have no ill-will toward the Language of our Holy Mother Church.  Quite the contrary!  A longing has grown in me for the assistance that an understanding of Latin would lend to using our own English tongue.  I also wish I could get more out the Tridentine Mass by having access to the meaning of the Latin and not having to rely on the English translation.  I wanted to give my children this great treasure and tool, but I thought it would pass me by.  Someone else would have to give it to them because it was not mine to give.  Now, I say with great delight, that I will be learning along with the students at Sancta Familia and I hope, if you missed receiving this treasure, that you will join us! 

I have spoken to all you moms, at least briefly at co-op, about the issues regarding time and work load in Latin.  English from the Roots Up suggests that children as young as 2nd grade will enjoy making their own set of flash cards.  Having the kids write their own cards during co-op isn't going to work for our group.  We aren't meeting every day, so there is no extra time for writing.  Our class time has to be packed with learning!  :)  To streamline things,  I will provide the card with the root word, pronunciation and definition on it for both the Dominicans and Franciscans.  The students can fill in their cards as we go over them in class, or they can save the writing for home work if that is too much pressure.  Either way, some of the card will have to be filled in at home. 

If you have students in several of the classes, you can decide if you want to make a family set or if you want each student to have a set.  If you choose to do a family set, then everyone can participate in the making of the cards, which lessens the work load for each person (and me!) but the whole family can come together to learn these roots.  Or it may be more beneficial for your children to each do a set of cards.  Please let me know how you would like your family to handle the cards: each (older) child makes a set or one set for your family?  If you choose to make only a family set, please let me know with which child I should sent the cards home.  Also, I heard from one mom who is going to start the cards for her kids before our weekly meetings.  If you would like to do this, let me know and I won't start cards for your family.  I will, however, send a stack of blank cards home with you.  :)  There are only 10 families with students in Latin, so I don't mind customizing.  That is the beautiful of homeschooling, right?! 

We will spend the last 5-10 min. of class going over the Little Latin Reader (LLR).  We will listen to the CD and do a lot of repeating out loud, together and individually.  This will help to get them comfortable with saying Latin words and just speaking in front of their peers in general.   

In the future, I will send a handout home with all the information needed to make the cards.  If you have the book English from the Roots Up, then you have the information already; all you will need to know is what roots we are doing on what day.

Carmelites (1st-2nd):  I will NOT be doing the cards with them.  We will go over each root word in class and they will copy them to a piece of paper.  Then they can draw pictures to illustrate the meaning(s) of one or more of the roots we learned that day.  This will be laying the foundation for future years.  Parents, you will have the all the information to make the cards, so if you would like to do this with your child at home, go for it!  I know most of the students in this class have older siblings who will be making a set of cards. 

 I forgot to mention the differences in pronunciation In class.  One mom noted that the Vs are pronounced as Ws in English From the Roots Up.  This is the Classical pronunciation which is used by most of the world, I think, except the Catholic Church.  I'm pretty sure The Little Latin Readers use Ecclesiastical (Church Latin).  I think we should use Ecclesiastical pronunciation because that is what The Church uses.  The only place we will actually hear Latin spoken is in Mass or among clergy (or if you went to Christendom during Latin Lunch Wednesdays where all the more enthusiastic language students sat together and actually SPOKE in Latin.  I was never able to participate but I sure got a kick out of hearing it!)  I changed the pronunciation on the cards, so if you look at the book and see a difference, that is why.  I found this pronunciation guide extremely helpful:  http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/ecclesiastical_latin.htm

Hopefully, I will get my schedule of root words typed up for you all can look ahead and even work ahead, if that is your style.