Customer Reviews

Latin for Children, Primer B (Latin For Childred)

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My eight, almost nine-year-old sons (third grade), are just finishing up with Primer B of this three-part series. We started out with Primer A last year, were extremely pleased, and therefore continued with this rigorous (but not overwhelming), well-organized, incremental, traditional grammar approach to learning Latin. After just two years of study with these texts, my sons were able to take this year's National Latin Exam, Introduction to Latin, as a practice test without difficulty and receive perfect scores. They also were able to take the Latin I exam and do quite well (some verb forms and adverbials had not yet been covered in the Primer B text, so they were unfamiliar with these). I attribute such success to these texts.

The study of Latin has helped my sons enormously in all their subjects, most particularly in their study of the two modern languages they are also learning (German and French), as well as in understanding their own mother tongue. Spelling, vocabulary, and essay composition have all been strengthened by their Latin knowledge.

Now the critiques:

The Primer B text could have done a better job at incorporating oral drill and reading translation exercises (both Latin to English and English to Latin) rather than focusing almost exclusively on rote memory grammar/vocabulary worksheets. While building a vigorous working vocabulary and understanding how grammar works are certainly essential, at this stage students should be learning to use Latin in order to sight read and translate simple text. This is vital towards developing the kind of fluidity and confidence needed for learning a language, especially an inflected one. To fill in this gap, I often supplemented with practice exercises from various other sources (primarily Wheelock and Jenney).

Another critique I have with the book is its not offering much in the way of learning about Roman history or culture. While the Latin for Children program does offer a companion Libellus de Historia: Latin History Reader to accompany Primer B, often there were vocabulary and grammatical constructs used in the Libellus that were far beyond the reach of second year Latin students, which made for two to three pages' worth of glossary per reading! Ideally reading assignments should be within the grasp of the student, without heavy reliance upon a glossary. It should also be noted that there is a slight Christian bias in some of the Libellus readings. For example, in one of the readings about Muhammad, the Qur'an is described as "the scripture of Muhammad, not the scripture of God" (try telling that to a Muslim!).

Unfortunately I noted several errors--some typos, some grammatical--in the Primer B text that should not have escaped thorough copy editing. I have alerted the publisher, who has been very responsive.

Despite these drawbacks, I would certainly recommend the Primer B text as a solid continuation of study following Primer A (we plan to continue with Primer C). The grammar is thorough, clearly and effectively explained. The vocabulary lists are comprehensive, containing the most commonly encountered words in Latin texts and those that are also important for derivative study; just be prepared to supplement beyond the basics.

I have used the Latin for Children books and DVDs for my kids and I only have great things to say about this curriculum. The classical approach to teaching this language is excellent. My boys (8 and 9) love to see other kids on the DVDs chanting the new vocabulary. I as the Mom really love the Grammar explanation in each chapter. It's great to have someone explain the 'why' for each chapter. Great curriculum!!