Waaaaaayyyyyy back in Spring of 2009, when the TOS Review Crew was just finishing up its first "cruise," I was introduced to Memoria Press when I reviewed Prima Latina as well as Famous Men of the Middle Ages with my two oldest~ who were then in 6th and 3rd grade (Famous Men was a bit of stretch at that point). As a matter of fact, that was the final review for that Crew run, in the days when we followed the school calendar for our review years. And I digress... At any rate, I believe that may have started my Eldest on the path to Latin as her chosen Foreign Language for High School! Fast forward nine years, and my Youngest is enjoying his first serious taste of Latin with the next level from Memoria Press, Latina Christiana.
We were sent the Complete Set pictured above, which includes a Teacher Manual, Student Book, Pronunciation CD, Flashcards, and Instructional DVDs. In the intervening years since my review of Prima Latina, Memoria Press has added the last two products in the list above to their Latin offerings~ Vocabulary Flashcards and Instructional DVDs, and I feel that they are very valuable additions, indeed!
Now, I will say that I was able to muddle along fairly well on my own with Prima Latina (in part thanks to having had choral training, which helped with pronunciation), and having never been exposed to Latin beyond that choral training, I appreciated learning right along with my kids as I used the Teacher Manual, and went over the pages of the Student Book with them. However, that being said, I definitely appreciate the Instructional DVDs!
I haven't often used curriculum for middle school that includes an Instructional DVD, and I was pleasantly surprised with the thorough job Jessica Watson does as she works through each lesson. She pretty much goes through everything included in the Teacher's Manual and really does "teach" the lesson. I only needed to use the manual to check on my son's work in the Student Book and work through some of the recitations with him.
The other "new-to-me" tool was the Flashcard Set. The set includes all of the words covered in Prima Latina and Latina Christiana both. The Latin word and a derivative are on one side, and the translated English word or phrase is on the other side. There is a small indicator of the lesson where the word is introduced for both Latina Christiana and Prima Latina.I don't have an amazing way to store these cards, so they live in a ziploc bag, which is easy to grab and go, particularly useful during his brother's high school baseball season with daily practices or games. One of the minute features of these cards is actually one of my favorite things~ the top left edge of the card is rounded. That means that when I pull out the set of cards that he has learned so far, I always put them back in the bag fascing the other direction from the rest of the cards so that I don't have to sort through the stack the next time around. It's the little things that make a difference!
When chatting today with my daughter who is away at college, I mentioned that Youngest already had a fairly firm grasp on 34 of the included 200 vocabulary words, as well as properly understanding their declensions (you can see those rounded edges in the photo above). She was very impressed, and honestly, so am I. This has been a pretty painless review for me, and not terribly arduous for my son, and he will reap the benefits of knowing Latin roots for the rest of his life!
So~ here's how working through Latina Christiana looks for us. At the beginning of the week, my son watches the Instructional DVD Lesson. The rest of the week is spent completing the workbook exercises (Spending 5-10 minutes/day) and going over the vocabulary flashcards (currently about 5 minutes, but will get longer as more words are added). And that's really all there is to it~ it's as simple as that!
As with all Memoria Press Student Books, the Lessons are regular and predictable, with a similar format for each lesson. There are two pages for each lesson, with a 1-2 page "Review Lesson" after every 5th lesson.
The first page includes:
- Latin Saying
- Vocabulary
- Grammar Forms
The Second Page will always include:
- Phrases and Sayings (translate)
- Grammar (Comprehension of the rules)
- Derivatives
and will sometimes include:
- Translation
- Declensions and Conjugations
- Endings
- Further Vocabulary Exercises
*Side note: In today's techy world, I find myself appreciating non-electronic options more and more, especially as the days get longer and warmer and I want to take our schooling outside. That was never an issue when my two eldest were little~ I particularly remember having Prima Latina lessons in the backyard on the swingset. ;)
** "Latin Saying translation from my title: Work conquers all - Virgil
Other Crew Members received different Latin products, from Prima Latina up through 4th Form Latin + Henle, and others reviewed the Traditional Spelling programs or Music Appreciation I. So be sure to click through the graphic at the end of my review if you are interested in hearing more!
- Company: Memoria Press
- Product: Latina Christiana
- Ages: Publisher Recommends Grades 3-5, Personally I would say appropriate for grades 4-7
- Price: $98.90 for the complete set
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Blessings~
#hsreviews #memoriapress #classicalchristianeducation #classicalyhomeschooling #latinachristiana #classicalchristianhomeschooling #memoriapresslatin
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