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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Discere Docendo

(To Learn Through Teaching)


Latin ~ One of the foundations of a Classical Education. Sounds scary, doesn't it? And yet it is one of my favorite subjects. Yes, I realize we are learning very elementary Latin, but we are LEARNING LATIN. Even Leif has memorized full prayers in Latin.

Prima Latina is a program designed for early elementary students, and very simple to teach, even for an adult with no Latin background. In just one year, we are covering:

  • Recognizing English and Latin Verbs
  • Invisible Verbs
  • Nouns, Proper Nouns, & Pronouns
  • Prepositions
  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • To Be Verbs
  • Present and Future Tenses
  • First Conjugation
  • First Declension
  • 125 Latin Vocabulary Words
  • Approx. 150 Latin Derivatives
  • 25 Latin Sayings
  • 4 Latin Prayers
  • 4 Latin Hymns
  • 12 Constellations
  • Latin Numbers 1-10

Are you curious as to why students should learn Latin? Read here.

Or why teach Latin to elementary students? Read here.

I am enjoying learning the Latin phrases (mea culpa, quo vadis, stupor mundi), and I recently came across a very fun (and long) list of Latin quotes and phrases. I'll have to memorize some of these, such as:

Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium.

(Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence. ~Seneca)


Or possibly some of the more light-hearted translations:


Luke sum ipse patrem te.

( Luke, I am your father.)

OR

Aspice, officio fungeris sine spe honoris amplioris.

( Face it, you're stuck in a dead end job.)

See, Latin is fun.

5 comments:

Celia said...

Salve Heidi,

Quid agis?

We're learning it this year too! I looked at Prima Latina and was a little intimidated, in part because I had a 3 year old son (now 4) who would be right there with us. I went with Song School Latin and we all love it, especially my younger boy. I will be using Prima Latina in the fall (because now I'm not intimidated!). We listen and practice at the dinner table. So much fun.

Vale,
Celia

Laurel said...

This is a great post Heidi! Goodum Luckum!

Molly Anne said...

I like "ancora imparo" :)

Laura at By the Bushel said...

I see this series on our horizon, but we've already established it's iimportance. In Apologia Science, we've learned that all animals have a scientific name in Latin, ? Why because the language is dead and doesn't suffer changes from modern usage. My son loves to say 'Kingdom Animalia'... love... Latin! Amas, Amat, Amos! (that's all I remember from highschool Latin...)

Anonymous said...

Any websites for kids?