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.
Schola Latina offers some unique features that make it stand apart from other Latin programs that are available. First, the vocabulary is immediately useful and relevant to the student. In the Preface, the author states, "When a present-day American child learns French (or English, for that matter), she begins by learning the names of the objects around her in the house. But when she starts Latin, she begins by learning military terms she's expected to come across in Caesar four years down the line. ... It was my goal that every word in the vocabulary list could be used in simple, natural sentences as the students learned the rudiments of grammar." Another very motivating feature is the variety of puzzles designed to drill the reading, writing, and spelling of the vocabulary words. This unique, painless spelling emphasis has an immediate benefit in the spelling of English derivatives as well. A third feature is the conversational practice in each lesson. Not only will the student practice the infamous Latin mottoes and lovely biblical phrases, he will also learn to say "Merry Christmas!", and "My head aches!"
Each of the twenty-four lessons includes five teaching sections and five clearly-marked daily assignments. The teaching sections follow this pattern: a famous Latin saying, a practice conversation, new vocabulary words with a few questions that require critical thinking, Latin grammar with English grammar review and comparison, and a history summary keyed to Famous Men of Rome. The Famous Men book is not required to use this course, but it will be a very useful addition to extend the history lesson. The daily assignments vary from day to day and week to week, but they all are very easy to use and work to reinforce the new material while reviewing previous lessons. Activities include oral recitations, written work on derivatives and history, and puzzles and translation practice; each lesson concludes with a reminder for the student's parent to check their work. The student's text also includes a pronunciation guide, a glossary (both English-to-Latin and Latin-to-English), a listing of Latin numbers, and several songs in Latin.
A Teacher's Manual is also available and highly recommended. It includes the full text of the student's pages, with the correct answers included, as well as specific teaching notes. The teaching notes describe potential difficult areas, suggest additional practices, and remind the teacher about the chants and forms to drill.
Further information and sample pages are available at the author's website noted below. I'm very excited about this Latin course, and I'm looking forward to using the second book in the series next year!
