Memoria Press produces easy to use, classical, Christian materials for home and private schools. Memoria Press products require no previous knowledge of the subjects being taught but are designed with high academic standards. I have always been very pleased with the products we have received from Memoria Press and was excited to have an opportunity to use and review the new edition of Latin Christiana Complete Set.
Latin Christiana is a beginning Latin course with a suggested age range of grades 3-6. The teacher does not need to have any prior experience in Latin to teach this course. When the student completes the course they will have learned: 25 Latin sayings, 2 prayers, 3 songs, and how to pronounce, spell, and translate 200 Latin words. They will also understand how to conjugate first and second conjugation verbs in the present, imperfect and future tenses, understand tense, number, gender, 1st, 2nd, 3rd person, decline first and second declension nouns and adjectives, make adjectives and nouns agree in number and gender, and recite and spell five cases of Latin nouns.
There are 5 main components to the Latin Christiana Complete Set:
Latin Christiana Teacher Manual: This is a spiral bound 187 page book. It contains the pronunciation rules, grammar overview, student goals, teaching guidelines, entire student guide with answers, teaching information on the Latin Sayings, grammar lesson, word study and important things to remember. There is also a history guide (more on that in a minute), vocabulary index, derivatives and definitions list, advanced grammar overview, quizzes and tests, and answer keys.
Latin Christiana Student Book: This is a 105 page paperback consumable workbook for the student to complete their weekly exercises. It also has a section of history questions, vocabulary index, English to Latin reference, and derivatives and definitions.
Instructional DVDs: 3 discs with 5.5 hours of teaching. On these DVDs, Jessica Watson goes through each of the lessons with your student.
Pronunciation CD: This CD contains the prayers and songs and pronunciation for each lessons.
Flashcards: The flashcard set contains the vocabulary words with derivatives, Latin sayings, conjugations and declensions.
Famous Men of Rome from Memoria Press is listed as an optional history component. There are drill questions included in Latin Christiana for the first 13 lessons in the history guide section along with a history test. The reading selections are not included you will have to purchase the Famous Men of Rome text separately if you choose to add in the history portion. If not you can skip over that section. I already had Famous Men of Rome because we reviewed it a few years ago, so we did add in the history portion.
Latin Christiana is set up to complete one lesson per week. Their suggested schedule is as follows:
Day 1 teach saying, vocabulary and derivatives and have your student do derivative exercises and written drill with CD.
Day 2 teach grammar and remaining exercises and written drill with CD.
Day 3 optional history and questions.
Day 4 written drill with CD and review.
Day 5 quiz.
We have a 4 day school week so I modified the suggested schedule a bit. On Mondays we watched the DVD and completed the exercises in the book. Tuesday we reviewed the vocabulary with the CD. Wednesday we read Famous Men of Rome and answered the questions, and Thursdays Quiz.
One of the things that I like the most about Memoria Press products is that you do not have to have any experience with the subject to teach it to your children. The Latin Christiana Complete Set provides you with all of the materials you need to teach your child Latin successfully. I love that the Teacher's Manual has the entire student manual inside of it. It is so helpful to be able to see the questions and the answers and not just the answers. I love that the Teacher Manual is spiral bound and able to be placed flat on the table.
We liked learning the weekly saying and learning the derivatives for the words along with the vocabulary words. We enjoyed the added history component but I liked the flexibility to be able to leave it out as well.
I love that it includes a DVD that goes over everything in the lesson. This is great for independent learning and an added bonus for homeschool parents that do not feel confident in teaching their students Latin. The biggest thing that we found challenging with this course is that it feels as though the teacher is rushing through the lessons on the DVD. There is supposed to be several pauses to allow the student to repeat back what is being said or to answer a question that was being asked. The pause is so brief it does not allow the child to actually repeat back or answer. My son found this very frustrating.
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog where the Crew have written reviews on different Latin, Nature, and Trees products!
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