How We Use Latina Christiana from Memoria Press

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Memoria Press. I received the Latina Christiana product in exchange for an honest review.

Latin was one of those subjects that I would have never thought to study prior to homeschooling, since then it has become one of my favorites to teach and have my children learn.  The Latina Christiana complete set from Memoria Press is one of the easiest Latin curriculums I’ve found to use.

First, let’s talk about why one should study Latin.  It is, after all, a dead language.  For our family, we choose to study Latin for the following reasons:

1.  For native English speakers, one of the easiest ways to learn grammar is by studying a foreign language.  While this can be most any foreign language, we choose Latin because pronunciation (while we do practice it) largely doesn’t matter and instead of concentrating on being able to properly speak it, one can concentrate on the grammatical properties.

2.  Even though English is a Germanic language, 70% of the words in the English language are derived from Latin words.  Therefore, having a working knowledge of Latin helps to increase vocabulary and spelling.  This is also beneficial for tests such as the SAT and ACT.

3.  Because all of your romance languages are derived from Latin, learning Latin first aides in learning other romance languages later.

When I am looking for a Latin curriculum, I look to see how well it aligns with our reasons for studying Latin in the first place. Especially our first two reasons.  The Latina Christiana curriculum from Memoria Press meets those goals.

Each lesson contains:

Memoria Press structures their Latin curriculum so the teacher learns right along with the student.  Parents don’t need to worry about having any prior Latin knowledge.  This takes the stress of teaching a foreign language off the parent.

The lessons are laid out in the teacher’s manual in a very straightforward manner.  I just followed along and everything was right there for me.

In the beginning of the teacher’s manual it lists a suggested schedule depending on whether you are part of a co-op or doing it on your own. They do encourage a co-op setting.  Chants and some of the responses are better received in a group setting.  We did not use it in a group and it was okay. I could see where some parts would be better in a group, but not necessary.

Latina Christiana is geared toward children in grades 3-5.  I use it with my son, who’s in second.  Since he is an strong speller and reader, this wasn’t a problem.  In fact, he did really well memorizing the vocab and declensions.  The hardest for him was grammar, because he is still learning it and it takes more effort for him.

The DVD included is very beneficial.  It basically teaches the lesson for you.  It’s also helpful for pronunciation. While pronunciation does’t need to be perfect, you do need to all be saying it the same way.

I had my son watch the DVD lesson on his own the first day.  The next day I went over the greetings, as done in the teacher’s manual, and reviewed the grammar portions with him.  Then he would do the worksheet pages for that lesson.

The following day I would have him review the vocabulary and practice his declension.

The fourth day he would review again and listen to the hymn and read the prayer.

The fifth day, he would take the quiz.  The student workbook is consumable and meant to be used for only one student; however, you are given permission to copy quizzes out of the teacher’s manual.

The Latin curriculum from Memoria Press does cater to the Catholic religion.  The prayers and hymns are Catholic.  While we are not Catholic, it didn’t bother us.  I see it as expanding vocabulary and the hymns are beautiful.  These are easily left off without affecting the lessons, if you want.  In fact, some weeks we forgot to do them and it didn’t make a difference in what he was learning.  I feel it’s mostly for memorization practice and to see Latin being used in context.  If you are Catholic, then it may be more beneficial to you.  Even if you’re not, this is still a great curriculum.

Latina Christiana is the second in their Latin curriculum, the first being Prima Latina.  I didn’t feel as though he was missing things because we started according to grade level instead of the beginning of the series.

If you are looking for an easy-to-use Latin curriculum for your homeschool, then I highly recommend Memoria Press.