Review - Memoria Press First Form Latin

First Form Latin

http://www.memoriapress.com/

Ages:  Recommended 5th grade and up

Cost:  $119 for complete set with DVD

I never had the opportunity to learn Latin “back in the day” when I was in school, so I hadn’t really considered teaching it to my children.  When I taught Language Arts to eighth graders at a local Christian school, I was surprised by the requirement that they learn Latin.  Then, when I became a homeschooler, I began to understand that many advocate a classical education that includes Latin – I was intrigued.

Near the beginning of our homeschooling journey, we joined an excellent teen co-op that offered numerous classes.  My older son took Latin I and my youngest son took Greek and Latin Roots.  This was an eye opener!  Learning Latin was a big benefit to understanding the origin of words, thus understanding our own vocabulary.  I was hooked!

When my older son took Latin I – the teacher used Latina Christiana by Memoria Press.  So, I was excited to learn I would be reviewing the next level of Latin from Memoria Press – First Form Latin.  What a blessing – they sent the entire First Form Latin plus DVDs and Flashcards.  I was humbled by their generosity.  This set includes:

DVDs

Teacher Manual
Student Text
Student Workbook
Quizzes and Tests
Pronunciation CD
Flashcards 

There are thirty four lessons in the program.  The DVD contains lessons taught by an instructor who refers to the student text during the lesson. 

See sample student text page here. 

The DVD instruction has the real feel of being in the classroom.  The instructor is engaging and really knows his subject.  He often gives comparison of Latin to English early on so that students understand that the rules or “code” of each language are very different.   

 

The workbook is excellent with exercises to really reinforce what the student is learning.  If studied diligently along with the DVD’s and pronunciation CD, the student will learn Latin.  The program says this is for 5^th grade and up.  Personally, I wouldn’t start this program until high school.  It is very in-depth and moves at a fast pace. 

See a sample workbook page here. 

I found the teacher’s guide to be thorough.  The guide gives excellent structure for teaching the course.  The program recommends teaching this as a class rather than individually.  Thus, the teacher’s guide is really structured for teaching more than one student at a time.  I believe this to be good advice as learning any language is easier when you have other students to work with and practice with.  As I noted, this is used in our co-op and is found to be effective in that format.  If you’ve never tried Latin, the teacher’s guide can be a little overwhelming at first.  You will want to read it through thoroughly and listen to several  lessons before attempting to teach it to your children.

See sample Teacher’s page here. 

The program offers several suggestions for reinforcement of vocabulary and language “code”.  Recitation, flashcards, games, and quizzes all help the student memorize the vocabulary and learn the concepts of the Latin language.

See a sample recitation here. 

This is a very complete program for teaching your child Latin.  If you are in a co-op, I recommend it highly for group learning.  Memoria Press has, in my opinion, always created a strong product for learning.  They are a name I trust.

 

To see reviews by other TOS Crew members click here.

 

*** I received this program free of charge as a member of the TOS Crew in exchange for my honest review.