Product Review
Latina Christiana I
Memoria Press

You may recall that last year I was part of the TOS Homeschool Crew reviewing products on my blog.  Well guess what?  After the birth of the twins I got significantly behind!  I still have six or seven reviews to write, and I am committed to finish!

With the start of the new school year, I have renewed zest for reviewing some of the remaining products, because we are actually thrilled to be using them in our homeschool.  One such product is Latina Christiana.  For several years now, Latina Christiana has been the gold standard for Latin instruction in the elementary years.  I have been planning to use Latina Christiana and always falling short on budget.  I already had familiarity with Memoria Press products as we had already used the first level of Christian Studies and Classical Studies.  So, when offered the opportunity to request two specific products from Memoria Press I  requested three and recieved all three!  (Thank you Memoria Press!  You’re Amazing!)  You can read my review of Christian Studies II here, and my review of Famous Men of Rome here.  All of these products are being used right now, in our 2009-2010 school year. 

What is Latina Christiana?  A complete first year Latin course for elementary aged children (grade 3 and up), Latina Christiana comes complete with teacher guide, student guide, flashcards, pronunciation cd with hymns, and an optional dvd set with complete instruction for each lesson taught by Leigh Lowe.  Leigh is the daughter of the author (Cheryl Lowe) and a teacher at Highlands Latin Academy.  I am reviewing the video course with teacher’s guide and student guide.  The complete set with flashcards is $97.90.

What I Like:   With three years of formal Latin in high school, I am absolutely convinced of the benefits studying Latin conveys.  Grammar, vocabulary, ACT scores, thinking skills, organization and logic, Latin covers them all!  Sometime in my Junior year, I made deep connections between all of those Latin conjugations and declensions and my own compositions in English.  I won multiple writing contests, topped out ACT scores, and won the title "walking dictionary" from my siblings.  Pretty exciting stuff .  With Latina Christiana, I have a simple elementary level course that I can just pick up and use.  In fact, I am watching the dvd series with my children for my own edification, since my grammar has apparently taken a nose dive after ten years of changing diapers.  My more academic son is thrilled with the study of Latin, the videos, the whole experience.  My less academic daughter is pretty frustrated with me at the moment, but I know this will help her in the long run.  She hates change, so in a few weeks (after she adjusts to the change) Latin will probably be her favorite subject.

What I don’t Like:  I will be the first to admit that the videos are a bit dry and schoolish.  In fact, most of the materials from Memoria Press are presented in a very traditional schoolish fashion.  My son thrives on this classroom style presentation and enjoys standing for recitation during the video, etc.  My daughter thinks it is ridiculous to behave as if we were in a classroom when in fact we are not.  She has a point.  I figure balance is key.  We have some subjects where we are about as far from schoolish as we can get, so it doesn’t hurt us to encounter a few subjects in which we have "facts to know", vocabulary words, and comprehension questions…

My Bottom Line:  We are using Latina Christiana I in our school this year, and if all goes well with the budget I expect to continue with the second course next year.

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Product Review
Rocket Phonics

I’m going to give you my bottom line first on this one.  If you love the idea behind Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons but would prefer that it had all the bells and whistles of Saxon Phonics — then Rocket Phonics is perfect for you.  If you hate the idea behind 100 Easy Lessons, or you hate extra accessories like flash cards, games, etc then you will not want Rocket Phonics.

So what exactly is this idea I keep referring to.  The basic gist of it is this.  You start out by teaching your child a different symbol for every single sound.  So, the long a looks different then the short a, the soft c looks different then the hard c, and etc.  Then a certain period of time after each sound symbol is introduced, you wean the child off of the special symbol and reteach them that an a can make many different sounds. 

To me, this seems counterproductive.  Those who use the method love it though.  I have heard that you either love this method or hate it.  I am definitely in the latter category.  Had I known that this method was employed in Rocket Phonics, I would never have requested this product sample.  However, I know that Rocket Phonics will work really well for some.  To get a better idea whether or not it will work for you, you can check out the other reviews at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog.

Here’s what’s included:  2 Student/Teacher Books, Bingo Game Sheets and Chips, Play and Read Cards, and Big Movement Games.  Cost is $160.

For perspective on what I like and don’t like about phonics programs I have used with the three reading children I currently have.  I used Saxon Phonics and loved that it was scripted, but hated all the extra busy work and classroom style games.  I used 100 Easy Lessons and loved that it was scripted but hated the "weird" notation, I finally settled on Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (Peace Hill Press)  which is scripted, simple, and straightforward. I skip the first 26 lessons, and use Get Ready, Get Set, Go For the Code workbooks to teach the beginning alphabet sounds.   I then continue to augment Ordinary Parents Guide with Explode the Code, alternating between the ETC workbooks and Ordinary Parents Guide and they compliment each other really nicely.  I have now also used Rocket Phonics, albeit breifly.  It also is scripted and as you can see that’s a big plus in my book.  I just can’t get past the method.  I have found that sometimes knowing what works for others tells you exactly why it will or will NOT work for you.  Rocket Phonics might just be perfect for you!  I hope this review gives you some insight.

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