Compass Classroom: Visual Latin {Review}

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I have been homeschooling my fantastic kids long enough to have seen and heard all kinds of opinions on the importance, or not, of teaching Latin. Since I took Latin in high school, I have been on the "yes" side of the fence, even though I understand that some people see it as unnecessary. I have not followed a "classical" approach in our education, taking a more eclectic approach, however, I do see great value in learning Latin. Several of my children are learning Italian, French and/or Spanish, so Latin will help with those languages, as well as help immensely with our native language, English. Last fall I decided that I needed to finally add Latin to our list of courses.

I received the downloadable version of Visual Latin 1 and 2 from Compass Classroom for the purpose of review. Each lessons pairs three videos, featuring teacher Dwane Thomas, with worksheets for different learning styles to guide students from grammar concepts, to practice sentences, to reading in Latin! There are 60 lessons in total. Visual Latin is available in three formats: DVD, download or streaming. Included in the downloads are lesson worksheets, a teacher's guide, vocabulary lists and quizzes. This course is suggested for ages 10 and older. It also provides 2 high school credits, which is one reason why I am so excited about it!

This school year we have been working our way through Visual Latin 1, which is 30 lessons. We haven't used too many video-based programs in our school, so I wasn't sure how well it would work. It has worked perfectly! It is super easy to use. Just cue up the video and print out the worksheets for whatever lesson you're on. Mr. Thomas has a quirky and fun sense of humour and is very engaging in the video lessons. Even though I primarily wanted my grade 10 student to work through these lessons for high school language credit, I decided to make it a family affair and include everyone. So, in addition to my grade 10 student, I also included my students in grade 8, grade 5 and grade 4, as well. I am amazed by all they have learned this year. We have a had a great time learning together and already look forward to continuing with Latin 2 next year.

It was rather hilarious to start this program and find Latin everywhere we turned. Books, movies, other school curricula. All the children were noticing it and having a good time doing so. We also had a few laughs over the sentence structure in Latin and how the sentences remind us a bit of Yoda. For example, "They are bright in the sky the stars are." And "At night also stars there are." Another benefit in learning Latin is all the English grammar you learn in the process. It's been a great reminder and reinforcer of what my children have already learned plus even more! This has been a wonderful fit for our family, and we are learning so much. I cannot recommend Visual Latin highly enough.



Give it a try with 2 Free Lessons.

Also, check out the Additional Resources.

And right now, Visual Latin 1 and 2 are on sale! Get $30 off!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Blessings and love. xo

Memoria Press - Prima Latina {Review}

Even though I took Latin classes in high school and in university, I have never purchased a Latin curriculum for my homeschool. I know the value of having a Latin background, but when in Canada, my older three children were involved in French classes and then branched out to other languages of their choosing. My younger ones have also been interested in different languages, and thus, I just haven't put much thought into having any of them learn Latin. Until now . . .

I was given the opportunity to participate in a review of Prima Latin by Memoria Press, which is written for students in grades 2-4. I received the complete set (retail value: $90.90), which includes the following: 

• Student Book
• Teacher Manual 
• Pronunciation CD
• Instructional DVDs (a total of 9 hours of instruction)
• Flashcards

This is a wonderful resource for getting started in Latin. I have had my Ava (age 8) using this material. She was thrilled to have her own "new language" to learn, although she has been learning a bit of French, as well. The way the program is set up is clear and straight-forward. Several times per week, we watched the instructional DVD, worked on the exercises in the student manual and reviewed the flashcards. There are 25 lessons and each lesson is only four pages in length. There are over 200 flashcards! The set of flashcards alone is a wonderful resource.

I wasn't sure if the exercises would be too overwhelming for Ava, who is improving in her reading but is not yet a strong writer. She did get frustrated a couple of times but I think amount of work is just about right. I do appreciate that each lesson only contains only 5 or so vocabulary words. It is just the right amount of new information, with plenty of repetition. 

One thing I want to note (it is the only drawback to this program and a minor one, in my opinion). If you are not from the southern part of the United States, you may find the pronunciation a little off-putting (unless you love a slight southern drawl!). There is not one thing wrong with it, it just threw us off for the first few lessons. After we had viewed several lessons, it was not a big deal. And I am glad we have the DVD lessons to practice the pronunciation, since I am a little rusty.

We have not used the CD for extra practice, although I have plans to do so. I want to get a portable CD player so that Ava can listen to it in the mornings when she is up early (she is our early bird). She could use headphones and get in a little more practice, without waking up all the sleeping siblings.

One of my favourite parts of the program are the Latin prayers we are learning. Here is the first one, called The Sanctus:

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus

Dominus Deus Sabaoth

Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria Tua.

Hosana in excelsis.

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Translation:

Holy, Holy, Holy

Lord God of Hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Click HERE to view a sample lesson.

If you are having doubts about adding Latin to your homeschool set, click HERE to read a short article.

To read what other families thought of Prima Latina or Memoria Press' Geography curriculum, click the banner below . . .