High School Latin 1 textbook/Oped?

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Does anyone have any current or recent information about high school Latin 1 textbooks?

ODS has been trying for 2 years to take Latin 1.  Our reasonably wealthy, rural/suburban, public high school hasn't offered it due to low enrollment.

They did offer an online course to ODS, but, since we just spent $75 million to build a brand new, state-of-the-art high school building, the irony that my child now needs to take an online class is not lost on me.  (Yup, I can be incorrigible sometimes with school folks.  

I finally convinced said school folks to let ODS learn Latin 1 on his own over the summer and they would let him take Latin 2 during the upcoming school year.  All we needed to do was to pick up the textbook before school wrapped up for the summer.  Well, DH ruptured a disk in his back and couldn't walk and was in pain and needed surgery and I completely forgot to pick the book up.  My bad.  Fast forward to last week and I come out of my fog and realize I forgot to pick the book up.  Swing by the school and, of course, no one knows what I am talking about and there is no book to be found.  

So, I will just order a Latin 1 textbook online and ODS can use that.  Latin instruction is fairly formalized at this point -- I mean its not like there is a "New" Latin like there is "New" Math.  I am just curious which textbook folks' kids have used recently.  I am considering either the Cambridge Latin Course, North American 4th Edition, Unit 1 or the Latin Alive! text (I think the kids used Spanish Alive! in middle school so the school district is familiar with that publisher).  

Also, will Unit 1 cover a typical high school yearlong Latin class or do I need more units?

[Deleted]

I use Rosetta Stone. The kids are on Level II right now. That is enough for me. I just want a background in language base for vocabulary and to build off of for any other language learning.

Unfortunately, I don't have much textbook experience with Latin, as we use the computer program. I'd send you Latin I, but Rosetta Stone is kind of tight with their codes....I'm not sure if you call them if they would release the code to let you install it? 

I do have two copies of Ecce Romani IA and Ecce Romani IB here that I never used, they are 1995 copyright, but you can have them if you want, just PM me your address. 

[The Captain]

Good gravy, in the name of all that is holy why in the world would you want to subject your child to that language.

Declensions, singular and plural.  Masculine, Feminine, and Neutral.

Six tenses, not to mention the vocabulary.

**Shudder**

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 12:30:16 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Good gravy, in the name of all that is holy why in the world would you want to subject your child to that language.

Declensions, singular and plural.  Masculine, Feminine, and Neutral.

Six tenses, not to mention the vocabulary.

**Shudder**

Oh.  I thought you were going to tell me it is a dead language or something like that.  

He is a very bright kid with some dogged learning disabilities (a hearing issue making one ear nearly useless and some dyslexia and language learning issues).  

Since public schools have virtually given up direct, explicit vocabulary instruction, ODS is losing ground.  He needs instruction in the nuances of vocabulary: inter vs. intra, pre vs. pro, etc.  Latin will do that for him.

Also, Latin is largely a written foreign language while other foreign languages (i.e., Spanish, French, etc.) become more conversational in upper levels.  Because of his hearing issues, ODS reached his ceiling with the increasing conversational demands in Spanish 3 this year.  I don't want him to drop foreign language entirely, though, so Latin it is.  

[The Captain]

Wow!  Exceptionally well thought out.  I will say you are spot on as far as your analysis of the benefits.  I took it for two years in HS when I still thought I wanted to go into medicine and though it would give me an edge in understanding terminology.

My problem is that I totally suck at memorization, and there is a LOT of that in Latin.  The sentence structure as well as "tense" views are what stuck with me though.  I was told that if I'd stuck it out through years 3 and 4 then things would have really "clicked", but for me that was not going to happen.

I wish him all kinds of success with it!

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 12:27:36 GMT -5 oped said:

I use Rosetta Stone. The kids are on Level II right now. That is enough for me. I just want a background in language base for vocabulary and to build off of for any other language learning.

Unfortunately, I don't have much textbook experience with Latin, as we use the computer program. I'd send you Latin I, but Rosetta Stone is kind of tight with their codes....I'm not sure if you call them if they would release the code to let you install it? 

I do have two copies of Ecce Romani IA and Ecce Romani IB here that I never used, they are 1995 copyright, but you can have them if you want, just PM me your address. 

Awww, Oped, you are really kind to offer.  But, ODS is a visual learner due to some hearing issues, so I have steered away from Rosetta Stone and other computer/online courses.  He also has dyslexia, which makes reading to learn a challenge, but at least the words stay on the page in their intended form unlike oral instruction that fades away before he can hear it in either its intended form or in some gibberish his ears form the words into.

Really bright kid.  Truly amazing work ethic.  Just needs to learn the nuances of English vocabulary that are no longer explicitly taught in public schools.  

SATs are in our future...

(Although I am really heartened by the number of competitive colleges that no longer require SATs.)

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Thanks, theCaptain.

You are forgiven.  


(I actually had a middle school guidance counselor tell me that Latin was a dead language.  Not for the right student.   )

[Deleted]

Ok. If that is what you re looking for, I'm going to suggest maybe skip the Latin and go to Critical Thinking.com and order their Word Roots Series. That should accomplish what you are looking for with less struggle. It will also cover other roots besides Latin, ie, Greek, etc. 

You might find them on Amazon. Critical Thinking Company.

[Deleted]

The Ecce Romani are books, if you want those they are older, but Latin hasn't changed much.... I can always use room on my shelf.


but I still think the word roots might be better for explicit vocabulary instruction. 

[The Captain]

Just another suggestion - you mention picking up on the nuances of the English Vocabulary.  If the boy is into reading at all try getting him into the classics (pre 1950) which usually have (IMHO) much better sentence structure and expanded vocabulary usage. 

I'm a chick, so suggesting the Bronte sisters or Jane Austin may not work so well.  Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes series) come to mind.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 12:46:53 GMT -5 oped said:

Ok. If that is what you re looking for, I'm going to suggest maybe skip the Latin and go to Critical Thinking.com and order their Word Roots Series. That should accomplish what you are looking for with less struggle. It will also cover other roots besides Latin, ie, Greek, etc. 

You might find them on Amazon. Critical Thinking Company.

Ooooooh, great suggestion!!!

I personally LOVE foreign languages and did really well in foreign language courses (German, French, Spanish and Greek).

I took a "Latin and Greek Elements in the English Language" course in college and found it very valuable and very useful.  I was trying to cobble a similar type of experience together for ODS by having him take Latin.  The Word Roots series sounds right on target.  

Back to Amazon I go...

Thanks again!!

[Deleted]

I know you said you don't do software, so I probably don't need to say this, but get the books, not the word roots cd rom. I LOVE critical thinking company, the only thing I ever did not like was that cd rom... Lol. The books are great. 

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 12:51:33 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Just another suggestion - you mention picking up on the nuances of the English Vocabulary.  If the boy is into reading at all try getting him into the classics (pre 1950) which usually have (IMHO) much better sentence structure and expanded vocabulary usage. 

I'm a chick, so suggesting the Bronte sisters or Jane Austin may not work so well.  Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes series) come to mind.

He is not a natural reader because of his dyslexia.  He WILL read but only if assigned.  He doesn't fuss or complain when he is assigned reading -- as I said, amazing work ethic -- but reading is NOT an activity of choice.  It's a lot of work for him to read so he doesn't enjoy it the way many of us do.  That said, however, you raise an excellent point.  He is an avid fan of crime series shows (NCIS, CSI, etc.).  I really should turn him on to the Sherlock Holmes series and springboard off of those.

Thanks, again, theCaptain.  You must be a teacher -- you have a far deeper knowledge of language learning than most.  

[The Captain]

Nope, I'm an accountant by trade but have a love of learning and passing on what knowledge I can.

Latin frustrated me because the structure is in a way beautiful in it's precision and absolute clarity of communication.  There is a very solid reason Latin is still heavily used in the sciences.  However my lack of ability to memorize meant I would never be able to come close to doing even fair in mastering the language.

I actually think about picking up a textbook and working on it in my spare time (snort).

[Deleted]

Does he listen to audiobooks ? 

[Wisconsin Beth]

I was wondering that too.  Some audiobooks are exact verbal copies of a book, others aren't.

And apparently the Catholic Church as a thriving Latin twitter account or blog or something(with 120K + people using Latin to communicate.)  I was reading Vatican Diaries recently and the author talked about priest who taught Latin by tossing the students straight into the classics.  No idea if that's useful or not. 

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 13:06:56 GMT -5 oped said:

Does he listen to audiobooks ? 

No.  We tried audiobooks years ago and he doesn't have the hearing ability to enjoy them.  

In fact, he only occasionally listens to music even.

It's a lot of work to hear, so he generally likes more quiet environments.  That's not to say he avoids noisy places (sporting events, malls, concerts, etc.), but he spends proportionately far more time in quiet than not.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 13:23:39 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I was wondering that too.  Some audiobooks are exact verbal copies of a book, others aren't.

And apparently the Catholic Church as a thriving Latin twitter account or blog or something(with 120K + people using Latin to communicate.)  I was reading Vatican Diaries recently and the author talked about priest who taught Latin by tossing the students straight into the classics.  No idea if that's useful or not. 

Love the Catholic Church social media in Latin, LOL.  The constant yin and yang of holding tight to tradition that reaches a few versus reaching the masses.

As for Latin immersion, I am not sure if that would work at the start.  He needs explicit instruction in details because so many fly right by him auditorily.  I do think, however, that immersion would be perfect for him after some explicit instruction in the fundamentals.  He does like to throw himself totally into certain areas of study and absorb everything and anything he can about the topic, so if can develop a working knowledge of the fundamentals, I can see him diving into the classics.   

[Bob Ross]

I thought that the whole point of Latin was to be able to sound snooty at fancy dinner parties?

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 13:40:57 GMT -5 Bob Ross said:

I thought that the whole point of Latin was to be able to sound snooty at fancy dinner parties?

Or is the whole point of fancy dinner parties to sound snooty using Latin?  

[geenamercile]

I took Latin.  I enjoyed the language, but I'm having a hard with the idea of doing a whole Latin I program in a month.  There are a lot of rules to memorize, and I think Latin I was the hardest of the Latin classes I took.  When does school start?  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Jul 29, 2013 13:55:37 GMT -5 geenamercile said:

I took Latin.  I enjoyed the language, but I'm having a hard with the idea of doing a whole Latin I program in a month.  There are a lot of rules to memorize, and I think Latin I was the hardest of the Latin classes I took.  When does school start?  

September 5th.

Yup.  I know our time is short.  Even without DH's surgery, we would have only had 2 months total.  

I only agreed to it because ODS did something similar with Spanish 1 several years ago.  

We are also going to us a 2 prong approach:  heavy effort on Latin 1 using the Cambridge Latin books I just ordered from Amazon AND the Word Roots series from Critical Thinking that I just ordered if the Latin 1 becomes too overwhelming.  

Gotta get this kid ready for SATs (and life).  

[Deleted]

GRG - Have DS take the ACTs.  Very commonly accepted & the organization of the test makes more sense (dyslexic DD showed her stuff on ACT, but bombed SAT).

She took Latin in University & really enjoyed it.  This was one of the books she used for the first class: www.neebo.com/Textbook/oxford-latin-courseb9780195212037/ISBN-9780195212037

If you go to neebo and search Latin, you will find several choices.

[Deleted]

Go to any major school textbook company . . . Holt is one, but there are a lot . . . and see what they have.  Or go to your state dept. of education.  There should be a textbook list on there.  You might also want to check the Course of Study for Latin I to see what he should have covered.

I actually might recommend the online course.  Although he will be working on a computer, he will be encouraged to do some of that work at home.  He can print lessons off and look at them there, if necessary.  There are a variety of lessons and a teacher to explain what you are doing wrong.

But if the purpose is to build vocabulary, you might try the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop.  There is a level for every grade.  It incorporates a variety of exercises and includes working with Greek and Latin roots (but not a lot).  It is a workbook. 

We used to use a vocabulary approach that had students memorize Greek and Latin root words.  It was fine for the memorizers but truly awful for other students.  "Words in context" are how most of us define and remember words.  Usually, if a student asks me what a word means, I have to quickly place it in a sentence and back it out to get the definition.  Sometimes I then give them the sentence I mentally used as part of the explanation.

That's why reading is so important to vocabulary.  Victorian literature is the best vocabulary builder.  You say your son doesn't like audio books because he doesn't hear well.  You might try a combination of audio with the book itself.  In fact, that might be doubly important for your son so that he can hear the words.  Many people have reading-only vocabulary for words.  Knowing how the word is pronounced helps form connections that reinforce remembering the word.

For classic books, Librivox has a wonderful array of classic literature in a free MP3 format.

Good luck!