Preliminary Review: Visual Latin

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]omeone emailed me asking what I thought about Visual Latin, and then the very next day it came up in the comments. Since I had already written a review in my email, I thought I’d gussy it up a little and post it here.

But first…

 

Disclaimer #1

I do not have much experience with other curricula to compare it with. I used Song School Latin with my younger students for years {sort of dropped that as we got busier…oops…}, and my two oldest children also use Rosetta Stone Latin when they are at their grandparents’ house.

 

Disclaimer #2

We are only on Lesson Five. This means there is a definite possibility that I don’t know what I’m talking about!

 

Short Review

We like it. Five stars. Hurrah.

 

Long Review

Here are my initial thoughts, including information on why I chose this curriculum in the first place.

• I wanted something manageable while I’m adding new students. I am not naturally a good juggler, and my three younger children were all born in 3.5 years, which means they will all be starting school in that amount of time as well. I didn’t want to start something that required too much of ME, because I was afraid I couldn’t keep up the momentum over the years. In my mind, it is better to choose something that I can make work over the long haul, whether than choosing something that seems really perfect, but that I can’t maintain over time.
• I have been highly influenced by a book called Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor. Taylor suggests that the best way to teach Latin in the younger years is conversationally, with a Latin tutor. That shook me up because I was planning on learning alongside my first student, so who was supposed to be the tutor? Visual Latin feels a lot like having a tutor in our house. It is a very conversational style of teaching.
• Poetic Knowledge also emphasizes the importance of humor as an aspect of the poetic mode of learning–humor is part of taking delight in something. This curriculum is quite funny, with the tutor/teacher making lots of jokes and generally keeping things light {but not silly}. I think the combination of Rosetta Stone and Visual Latin serve {for us} as the best substitute for a Latin tutor.
• I still think I want to eventually use some of Classical Academic Press’s Latin programs — though we may be beyond Latin for Children by the time we begin with a book-based curriculum.
• With that said, we may also return to Visual Latin in high school, as it is said to fit nicely with Lingua Latina in the upper grades {Lingua Latina is ALL in Latin — no English}.
• By the third lesson, we were able to do almost all of our translation without referencing a dictionary, so in that regard I’d say it is effective. I am taking it slow because we haven’t done much grammar, and so too much in a week can get overwhelming. We are using KISS Grammar daily, and this is reinforcing the Latin, and vice versa, conveniently enough.
• I haven’t noticed a change yet in my son’s writing, but for myself I have noticed that this little bit of Latin study is already helping me pay better attention to my own writing in English. For instance, I find myself mentally self-editing {which I have always done, to some extent} using new tools I have learned from Latin lessons.
• At the end of the day, this makes my children love Latin {my six-year-old often sits and watches the videos with us}, and at the end of the day I am satisfied with that because it is the love of Latin which will keep us going when the study gets hard.

When we finish all of the first set, I will try and write another review.

Oh. And yes, I would recommend Visual Latin even without Rosetta Stone, though the reverse is not true. I just wanted to give a complete picture of what we are doing.