When you think about taking a Latin class do you shudder? What about the thought of teaching Latin to your children or students? Learning Latin does not have to be daunting anymore thanks to the First Form Latin Complete Set from Memoria Press. This Crew review was not for Arlene, it was for me. I firmly believe that learning Latin can make you smarter overall, just like learning math makes you smarter, because it teaches your brain to find and follow patterns.
I asked to be included on this Memoria Press review because I've tried to learn Latin before, but struggled because I did not have the supporting tools to make my learning easier. When I saw all the components of the First Form Latin set I realized that it could help me succeed. This set has several components that work together to help the student learn, practice, and practice some more.
First Form Latin is designed for beginning or near beginning Latin students Fourth grade up to adult. If your students have already completed the Prima Latina or Latina Christiana levels from Memoria Press they will probably have an easier time adapting to the First Form level, but they are not required if your student is old enough to already have a grasp of the English Language and is willing to apply themselves.
As I mentioned before, I had tried to learn Latin a few years ago, but fell short of retaining it because I did not spend enough time on reviewing the lessons. After all, while making your own flashcards sounds good in theory, and can actually be a valuable learning tool for children, adults who wish to learn Latin almost always would rather purchase the cards already made and spend that precious time working on studying and memorizing the word roots for class.
The First Form Latin Complete Set is designed for one student and their teacher. If you have multiple students in your class (which is really recommended, because no one wants to stand up and recite by themselves every week,) you will need to purchase additional copies of the Student Text and Student Workbook.
What is included in the set:
Student Text
Student Workbook
Instructional DVDs
Pronunciation CD
Teacher Manual
Teacher Key
Quizzes & Tests Book
Flashcards (for all the lessons!)
If you want to be able to teach Latin to your students, either at home with two students, or in a class of 20 at Co-op or a private school, without knowing any Latin ahead of time... this set has all the tools you need to succeed as the teacher without stressing yourself out. The Instructional DVDs teach the actual Latin lesson, and the Teacher Manual walks you through the steps to take during class time as you review what was taught with your students. Each page of the Student Text is shown in the Teacher Manual, along with notes to help both the teacher and students succeed.
The Teacher Key has all the pages from the Student Workbook as well as the Quizzes & Tests with the correct answers. Since I am teaching myself Latin, I try not to look at the Teacher Key until I an finished with the pages in my workbook for the week...but sometimes, I get stuck, so I take a peek to see if I am doing the exercises correctly. :)
The pages in workbook are shown half-sized in the Teacher Key, but because the spaces in the Workbook are designed for a fourth grader's handwriting, and not an adult's, they are still plenty big enough to read easily in the Key.
The pack of Flashcards is huge! The cards themselves are about the size of baseball cards, but the package is about 3" thick. This is a huge time saver for me, because as a working and homeschooling Mama, who wants to learn Latin in her limited free time, I can grab the cards to review for each lesson and get to studying without any delay. For now I am keeping the cards I currently have covered in my lessons in an index card box.
I hope by now you've realized that this is pretty much an open the box and go curriculum for Latin. You will want to spend an hour or two looking over the notes in the front of the Teacher Manual, and going over the first lesson (video, workbook sheets) before your first day with your students, but it is a lot less prep work than any other book-form Latin program I have seen.
I would like to give you a look into how I am using it by myself, and let you know that if you only have one child who is ready for Latin, I think you should join them in learning, more as a second student and less as the teacher. If you have 10 or 20 students in your class ... maybe it is wisest to not let them know how much Latin you do or do not know on the first day. :)
For myself, first I would watch the video segment for the day. I did recite along with the teacher...but I did not stand up to do it. :) While watching I had my textbook and a blank notebook to jot things in, because I felt like listening well was more important than trying to figure out which things he said would be on the workbook sheets. If I struggled, I watched it again. Then I would get out my workbook, look at my textbook again, and complete one page at a time. Once I got done with two pages in the workbook I usually checked my answers in the Teacher Key. Next up, time spent with the flashcards. I'll never get the word roots memorized if I don't practice right? Then the next time I would come back and work on a couple more workbook pages, look at the flashcards and the English derivatives, and try to write the endings from that lesson without peeking! My progress is slow, but I'm getting there. Sometimes I take my Latin materials to the library and practice in the quiet.
Memoria Press has several levels of Latin from early elementary through Fourth Form Latin and continuing with Henle Latin for High School. Some of the Crew families are reviewing two new offerings from Memoria Press: The Book of Trees and Nature's Beautiful Order. To read all the reviews, click on the banner below! Memoria Press is your one stop shop for classical Christian homeschool curriculum!
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