Latin Primer
by Martha Wilson
Reviewed by Martha Robinson
Purchase details: Latin Primer by Martha Wilson, trade paperbacks, published by Canon Press. Please support HomeschoolChristian.com by buying this program from our Christian Book Distributors link.
Latin Primer, originally published in 1992, has been a mainstay of Latin home education for a number of years. Written with Dorothy Sayers vision of the Trivium in mind, this workbook-based program focuses on memorization of Latin vocabulary, noun and verb endings, and touches on the use of these facts in levels II and III. For this reason, Latin Primer is ideally suited for elementary ages.
Three years of Latin Primer are available. If the student begins Latin Primer I in third grade, as recommended, and continues with the program, he will be ready to dig into the study of Latin grammar as he moves into the dialectic stage. The Latin Primer levels are detailed below.
Latin Primer I
Latin Primer I Second Edition -- Twenty-seven weekly lessons introduce a total of 350 vocabulary words, twenty chants, and twenty-four Latin quotations. Chants include conjugations of regular and irregular verbs, personal endings, case endings, and pronouns, but in following the method mentioned above, the student is not always made aware of what the chants mean. The chants help draw in the more auditory student, while the workbook format appeals to the visually-oriented child.
The student book is laid out in a simple, easy-to-use format. One week's word list is shown per page in the first section followed by a section of the chants. The weekly worksheet section comes next and includes five pages of blank lines to be filled in with derivatives. Another blank section for quotations follows. The book concludes with two crossword puzzles and several drawing pages.
In the 2001 revision of Latin Primer I, the teacher's manual includes all pages from the student book and more. Student pages are reproduced at the beginning of the book so that the page numbers correspond to those in the student book. An overview of Latin grammar, derivatives, and pronunciation is in the "teaching tools" section. In the next part, teaching notes highlighting important points for the lesson and a list of derivatives are provided for each week. When simple sentence translations begin around lesson twelve, suggestions to make it easier are given. Test and test keys are included as well as crossword puzzle keys. The teacher's manual concludes with a listing of all vocabulary words broken down by part of speech and declension for nouns.
Classical pronunciation is described in the book, but of course, a family could modify this if preferred.
Recommendation: The affordable price and ease of teaching make Latin Primer I an excellent choice for homeschooling parents. While the teacher's manual recommends the video tapes for novice teachers, a motivated parent could easily use the notes to complete Latin at this level successfully. The notes in the teacher's manual are thorough and written well enough for easy understanding. The exercises on the worksheets move along at a gentle pace for young students.
With some translations coming from the Latin Vulgate and others referring to God, Latin Primer I definitely has a Christian feel. The vocabulary paves the way to later programs, such as Latin in the Christian Trivium, that focus on use of the Bible for studying Latin.
By including derivative study along with SUCH a quantity of vocabulary, verb endings, and noun endings, Latin Primer I is a program that will be helpful to any elementary aged student who plans to pursue Latin studies. Even if you have waited to get started on Latin with your older grammar staged child, completion of only Level I of Latin Primer will provide an excellent foundation for greater success at an intensive program in the dialectic stage.
Latin Primer II
Plans are being made to revise Latin Primer II during 2002. The goal of Latin Primer II is to let the student "begin to read and write harder Latin sentences." In this level, about 100 new vocabulary words are introduced, and another 180 are reviewed on fifteen word lists. Seven new chants are added to the twenty chants from the previous year.
The student book for Latin Primer II begins with the word lists and a listing of "college seal inscriptions." A section of seventy lesson worksheets follows. Using a fill-in-the-blank method, the worksheets include general grammar questions, translations from Latin to English and English to Latin, verb conjugations, and noun declensions. Some brief explanations of concepts appear on the worksheet pages. The student book concludes with the chant charts.
The teacher's manual for Latin Primer II is in a different order than the student book. It begins with an overview of grammar and the chants that is similar to the overview in the Level I teacher's manual. Some games to play in a classroom environment are suggested. The student word lists are not included in the teacher's manual. Rather, a list of all words studied in Level II broken down by part of speech and alphabetized is given. Simple lesson plans are shown in a chart divided into 80 "periods" which would correspond to a class time. This chart shows only what word list, quiz, or lesson should be covered in a particular class. Very sparse notes for the nine units, with even less detailed, if any, notes on the lessons, come next. The nine unit exams and final exam blanks and solutions follow. Answer keys to the seventy lesson worksheets complete the teacher's manual.
Recommendation: The teacher's manual in Latin Primer II offers very little help to the homeschooling parent. A revision that includes the goal for each lesson, teaching methods, and a duplication of the student book as seen in Levels I and III would be wonderful. Currently, the only way to plan a lesson is to work backwards from the students worksheet to determine what needs to be taught to complete the worksheet successfully. The teachers notes are much too brief to provide significant help to even a more experienced teacher. I will be anxiously awaiting the new version of Latin Primer II, and will update this review at that time. I would recommend using the Latin Primer II Video set as a guide or primary teaching method for this level.
Latin Primer III
Latin Primer III starts to pull together all the information memorized in previous years. Sixteen word lists with both new and review vocabulary complement 74 lesson worksheets. Latin Primer III covers general grammar concepts, introduces etymology, provides extensive Latin to English translation and increasingly challenging English to Latin translation, and initiates study of many Latin grammar concepts that will be handled in depth in later courses. Throughout the book, similarities between Latin and French, Spanish, and Italian are pointed out to the student.
The student manual contains the word lists and the exercise pages only. Chants are not shown in this volume.
The teacher's manual mirrors the student manual except for a few additional pages. Very brief teaching notes for selected lessons appear in the front and include information on which word lists go with a particular unit. A section of translations for supplemental study is in the back of the teacher's manual along with ten tests and their keys.
Recommendation: The lessons in Latin Primer III offer interesting material that shows the student how Latin applies to today's world and to potential future careers. My favorite exercise surrounds the medical terminology for fingers (in Latin, of course!) and proposed Latin names for toes. This program will definitely revive the student from the Latin doldrums that may be occurring during third year studies.
The teacher's manual is well organized, but again, the teaching notes are very sparse. Preparation will definitely be required by the homeschooling parent to determine what to teach before doing the lesson worksheet. The worksheets in Level III do have some explanatory material to make preparation a bit easier.
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
Latin Curricula Comparison Chart to help select an introductory or intensive program.
HomeschoolChristian.com's Classic Languages Resource Section
Review of Latin Primer Supplements
Review of Latin Grammar
Find more helpful reviews on HomeschoolChristian.com's Review Page Index!
Reviews represent the opinions of the authors rather than the views of HomeschoolChristian.com.
