I am hoping this will help those who need a bit of encouragement, especially on the days when studying Latin seems tedious, pointless, and painful. I may not post much, but I read here everyday, looking for encouragement from people I may never meet, but who are living a life very much like my own.
My daughter, Sarah, just finished her senior year. She was a delight to educate. We began studying Latin together with her younger brother when she was 10. (Except on video days, when they would watch the video and Mom would inevitably fall asleep, only to wake an hour later, nestled under a blanket the children had considerately put over me.) By the end of LC II, she was independently studying, and her brother was no longer an interested participant. She went on to First Form, Henle, and finally Wheelock's, as a review. She also watched the Great Courses Latin 101, which really helped clear up a few things for her. She took the NLE twice, scoring one perfect paper and one gold. She has also taught First Form, LCI, and Prima to younger siblings. And, as the icing on the cake, she completed Rod and Staff Grammar through Book 2 of 9/10, "just for fun".
During her senior year, she was studying psychology, and was dismayed at the number of grammatical/syntactical errors in the text. I encouraged her to keep a list of the errors, and e-mail the author after she completed the course. Sarah not only contacted the author, offering to share with him the list, but she also shared with him her love of language, her years of studying Latin, and how the errors in the text distracted from what she believed to be excellent content - finally, she asked him if she could edit the entire text to make it more pleasurable to read. He was so impressed by her that he responded by offering her the opportunity to edit his new book. And she did. She just finished her work, as her senior year came to a close.
I just wanted to share because, over the years, I have defended my choice to educate my kids in this way far too many times. I have fielded the, "Why do you want to teach a dead language? Why don't you teach them something useful?" questions more times than I can count. My daughter learned so much from studying Latin. And, yes, it was hard. And, yes, there were tears ... No, not just from me. Maybe none of my other children will have this same love for Latin or English grammar. But for this one, Latin has opened the door to what very well could be her career. Thank you, Memoria Press, for the materials you publish that made this course of study possible. Sarah is teaching LC I this year, and she loves the updated manuals. When you have a child who can teach Latin to other children, you know you have something special.
My daughter, Sarah, just finished her senior year. She was a delight to educate. We began studying Latin together with her younger brother when she was 10. (Except on video days, when they would watch the video and Mom would inevitably fall asleep, only to wake an hour later, nestled under a blanket the children had considerately put over me.) By the end of LC II, she was independently studying, and her brother was no longer an interested participant. She went on to First Form, Henle, and finally Wheelock's, as a review. She also watched the Great Courses Latin 101, which really helped clear up a few things for her. She took the NLE twice, scoring one perfect paper and one gold. She has also taught First Form, LCI, and Prima to younger siblings. And, as the icing on the cake, she completed Rod and Staff Grammar through Book 2 of 9/10, "just for fun".
During her senior year, she was studying psychology, and was dismayed at the number of grammatical/syntactical errors in the text. I encouraged her to keep a list of the errors, and e-mail the author after she completed the course. Sarah not only contacted the author, offering to share with him the list, but she also shared with him her love of language, her years of studying Latin, and how the errors in the text distracted from what she believed to be excellent content - finally, she asked him if she could edit the entire text to make it more pleasurable to read. He was so impressed by her that he responded by offering her the opportunity to edit his new book. And she did. She just finished her work, as her senior year came to a close.
I just wanted to share because, over the years, I have defended my choice to educate my kids in this way far too many times. I have fielded the, "Why do you want to teach a dead language? Why don't you teach them something useful?" questions more times than I can count. My daughter learned so much from studying Latin. And, yes, it was hard. And, yes, there were tears ... No, not just from me. Maybe none of my other children will have this same love for Latin or English grammar. But for this one, Latin has opened the door to what very well could be her career. Thank you, Memoria Press, for the materials you publish that made this course of study possible. Sarah is teaching LC I this year, and she loves the updated manuals. When you have a child who can teach Latin to other children, you know you have something special.
Thank you for sharing.
Comment