Latin

I want to make clear that I am not fluent in Latin or ever took a Latin course in my life.  Can I teach Latin, why not? Just because I don't have experience or a degree in this area doesn't mean I can't attempt to do so.  I think this is a feeling many homeschooling parents feel that they can't homeschool because they don't have a fancy diploma in a frame collecting dust.  I have a bachelors in education but honestly, I had no idea "how" to teach until I was thrown into the situation.  Experience is degree worthy.  If you have one child or 8 children, in my opinion, you already are on a great start to knowing more about children, their learning style, how they "behave", what makes them motivated, how to bandage a boo-boo, and much much more than I ever imagined when I graduated from college.

So, yes, I teach Latin to our 8 year old.  You have probably heard people say, "But Latin is a dead language! Why teach Latin??"  So my reply is this... "Is English, French, and Spanish dead?"  If you speak any of those languages you are using Latin roots.  Teaching your child Latin will put them ahead when learning other languages.  If they have a base in Latin they can derive meanings to many other words. 

Image from Song School Latin website

When should I start teaching Latin? As soon as you want to give it a try. Children grasp languages very quickly.  We use Classical Academic Press Song School Latin and I will give you a fair warning about this program, you will be singing Latin songs during the day whether you are washing dishes or buying groceries :) If your child is really young, say around 3-5 years old, then you may not want to wait do the workbook part of this program but I would highly recommend the DVD, matching cards and the CD of songs.  I would just play the CD and Adrian learned many of the songs very quickly before we got to the lessons.  His favorite part of the DVD is Simeon the Monkey and so far his favorite song is the Silly Sally chant. Below is a video of him doing his Silly Sally chant. Sorry for the poor lighting, actually too much lighting, but this was a very sunny point in our day and it feels the room with warmth and light. It is still chilly up here in New Hampshire so we will take any warmth that will stream into our house.