Really Learning Latin

Just yesterday, as I struggled to translate a Latin sentence through what this site refers to as a "crossword puzzle" reading of it, I realized that I had a problem that needed addressing. Deconstructing sentences this way is wholly inefficient. I tend to follow all of the steps thusly: pick out the verb, determine the conjugation (1st, 2nd, etc.), determine the personal ending, the number (singular or plural), the tense, the voice, the mood, pick out the subject, determine the number, check for an object, again check if it's singular or plural, determine the noun cases, etc. And I didn't even get to adjective declensions, or issues of gender. Not to mention that I'm still learning all of the vocabulary.

The article I've hyperlinked above details the Dowling Method for learning Latin. It speaks of learning Latin grammar via "brute memorization." Well, after yesterday's exercise in frustration, I've come to the conclusion that yes, nothing but brute memorization is required here. Surely, internalizing all of the forms by way of daily recitation and keeping copywork notebooks full of charts would be more than helpful. The article recommends that these charts and tables be copied 200 times each--100 times for the adjectives table. That's a lot of copying. If I'm not able to master the paradigms after that, I'd have to pack it all in. But how could one not get it after all of that? Now, despite my agreement with all of this drilling and copying, I just don't see the point in holding off so long before introducing reading selections. The article explains how the forms must be mastered first, and asserts that this could take about six months' time. That's a big time commitment to nothing but rote memorization. I'm a big believer in the immersion method to language learning, which requires little to no prior familiarity with the target language. And yes, while immersion in Latin is very different than immersion in a modern language (it's not like you will be surrounded by native speakers or anything like that--unless of course there's some society of classicists that do nothing but hang around together and speak Latin all day), I still see value in exposing oneself and one's children to Latin readings early on. In my opinion, it gives children (and adults) something for which to strive. Drilling forms, I've determined, is essential, but why hold off on something as pleasurable as reading? Why can we not have our cakes and eat them too?

As far as Latin reading material is concerned, I do own the first of Hans Orberg's series, also referenced in the above article. I've only read through a dozen or so pages, but I was able to understand everything I've encountered there so far. I understand there is a huge jump in difficulty as you go along, but that's to be expected, and brings us closer to our goal of eventually reading more complex material. It's such a neat idea. In fact, I wish such a series existed for most languages, but especially for ancient Greek. The illustrations basically help you understand the text. Really, it's as much of an immersion program as can be found for Latin students.

Some other books I either own, or am contemplating purchasing for the kids are Ecce Romani (similar to Orberg in that you are immediately immersed in Latin, although Orberg's books are far better and infinitely more thorough), and an assortment of children's books/stories translated into Latin (Fairy Tales in Latin: Fabulae Mirabiles, Harrius Potter books which I recently found are also available in ANCIENT GREEK, and various Dr. Seuss titles as well). There are just so many options now, and it would be a pity to hold off on them until all of the Latin grammar is committed to memory.

   

Classical Education or Bust

When we first decided to homeschool our children, I was filled with all of these romantic thoughts of how joyous it would be to educate them. Actually, I probably would have not even used the word "educate." I preferred saying that I would facilitate my children's learning. Somehow, that seemed less controlling in my view. I remember having read John Holt's Teach Your Own, and being completely enthralled by the idea of unschooling. Heck, I still am! It made sense to me. It was organic, and wonderful, and yet really really tough--at least for me. Within a few months of starting out as "unschoolers" (in quotes because I'm sure there will be those who may believe, as even I do, that I went about it all wrong, and therefore wasn't technically a practicing unschooler), I was stressed beyond belief. A large part of it was because I didn't trust the method would work for me. I still wholeheartedly believe that it can work for nearly any child (if not all children), but perhaps not for every parent, as was the case with me. So I branched out and my homeschooling library grew to include books on other methods.

I think I ascribed to the "better late than early" philosophy for as long as it took before I was inundated with questions from well-meaning friends and family regarding my daughter's progress. Some people are able to field these questions effortlessly, but I was still working on thickening my skin in all matters related to home education. And frankly, the only reason I decided to jump on board with the whole "better late than early" view to education, was because I had already tried pushing early academics and made absolutely no progress. I guess you could say that personally, I was a reluctant advocate of the "better late than early" approach to homeschooling. Choosing to wait wasn't my preference, but it made me feel better to know that there was a school of thought out there that saw nothing wrong with waiting. Still, I felt conflicted.

I went on to read about the Charlotte Mason approach, and then moved on to other books on classical education. That's when I became interested in The Well-Trained Mind. It was the sort of education I wished I had had. I  quickly fell in love with the method, and tried to follow the schedules perfectly. I later learned that those schedules were only added to the book at the insistence of the publisher, and that they were only just loose suggestions. Still, I wanted to do it all. But I ran into a wall. My daughter was not learning to read as effortlessly as other children I read about on homeschooling boards. She struggled so much. I found that my perfect schedule was getting left behind. There was no time for all of the cool and interesting things I had planned to teach her, because our days turned into hours-long reading lessons. It ceased to be fun, for her and for me. And here's where I feel very ashamed of myself. I built that initial difficulty up into this insurmountable obstacle. I wasted precious time getting my daughter to excel at reading, without realizing that I was making it all such a tedious chore. Thankfully, it was around this time that I started to seek out support again online. And go figure, there were several other homeschoolers out there who were experiencing the same things! These homeschoolers also wanted to give their children a classical education, and were finding ways to do so, regardless of their children's struggles with reading. This was a major a-ha moment for me, because in my mind, I was still regarding the task of reading, and writing, to be prerequisites to a classical education. Once I eased up my expectations, and we started to conduct a lot of our lessons orally, setting aside a decent amount of our time each day to reading and writing instruction, things started improving. Those romantic ideas I had when I first started out, were not wholly unfounded after all. Granted, among our good days, were a smattering of difficult days. And as good as the good days could be, the difficult days were HARD, often bringing me to the verge of tears. But we pressed on. (Note: We eventually made our way into a more Latin-centered classical approach, but that's another story, best kept for another post!)

My little girl is now fourteen years old. She's a reader. She's still a reluctant writer, but she's making progress. She works very hard, and has taken ownership over her education. Yesterday, as we were discussing John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," and really getting into our literary analysis, I was just struck by how much she's matured. She's grown to be such a sweet, mature, and introspective young lady. I don't think I've ever enjoyed homeschooling her as much as I do now. She is such a pleasure to be with, and discuss things with. This is exactly what I had hoped to get out of our homeschooling, all those years ago when I first romanticized about setting out on this journey. She may not be getting a "by the book" classical education, but she certainly seems to be no worse for the wear.