How can you make Latin fun?  The truth is that there is alot of material that simply needs to be memorized in order for the student to be able to read it without constantly referring to a dictionary.  I learned to read Latin and Greek in my 30s and it was tough!  I wanted it to be easier for my girls so I started them in Latin when they were very little.  We sang songs with familiar tunes such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Mica, Mica parva stella) and we also used the Lingua Angelica CD and song book by Memoria Press.  We sang and prayed our way through the CD over the last few years.  They developed an "ear" for the language and now we are settling into the nitty gritty of memorizing pesky paradigms and vocabulary.

One of the fun things that I try to incorporate is Practical Latin.  I found a list of Latin names and each one of us picked one.  Each morning we greet each other using our Latin names, then we say a prayer or sing a song in Latin (learned in previous years).  Sometimes I read a section from Minimus. Then we get down to the business of the lesson. 

When I introduce new vocabulary, I use the technique of the "disappearing line".  (It is used in almost all of the materials developed by Memoria Press) For example, we are on Lesson IV of Latina Christiana I.  We are memorizing the Latin numbers.  So on my whiteboard I wrote the first five in a column:

unus

duo

tres

quattuor

quinque

I said them first, then they repeated them.  We did this a couple of times and then I asked them if they were ready.  Then I simply erased the first line and they repeated the entire list including the missing word.  We just went down the list, erasing each word in turn until they have all been erased and they were able to say them from memory. (We eventually did all of them from the lesson)  It was a hoot watching them! 

On Friday, they did the word search puzzle in Ludere Latine (also published by Memoria Press) and the vocabulary words are (hopefully!) memorized.  I guess we'll find out on Monday!

The girls love to play Latin Hangman to review their vocabulary words and I'm in the process of making a deck of cards using the vocabulary so we can play Go Fish.

It is such a simple thing to do but it really helps them remember their vocabulary.  We also use this technique for memorizing Scripture and poetry.

Have a blessed day!

Debbie

Mom of 4 girls!