In thinking about giving our kids a classical education I realized that by doing so we will also be educating ourselves.
My son Micah is due to begin learning Latin in the fall. I have decided to learn along with him (though I’ll be at work during the day while Shari is teaching.) I considered trying to get a head-start, but decided instead to plan ahead for a few years down the road and learn Greek. Oddly enough, I learned the Greek alphabet in grade school as a project that myself and another young schemer dreamt up for using as a secret form of communication.
A month or two ago while visiting a Greek Orthodox church I found that I still remembered the letters and their pronunciations and could figure out who the icons were on the onion dome since the names we use for them are simply transliterations.
There are quite a few great resources on the net for learning Greek and Latin. My personal favorite is Textkit. For pronunciation practice I found some great tutorials with audio samples. My plan is to learn Homeric Greek so that I can start with Homer. My goal is to eventually be able to read the Septuagint, the New Testament, and the Fathers of the church in the original languages. I am starting with Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners by Clyde Pharr, which is a free download from Textkit.
During the summer in order to make up for lost time Shari and the kids are working through The Story of the World Volume 1. I have begun a nightly reading ritual and began with The Great Divorce by C.S.Lewis, which was a little over Hannah’s head and sometimes Micah’s, but still worth reading. Now I’m reading a children’s adaptation of The Iliad. We have also begun following the Orthodox lectionary, which has daily readings from both the Gospels and the Epistles.
Brian,
I noticed your comments about both Greek and Latin, so I thought I’d commend you on your study and that of your son, Micah. I have a few websites that might be helpful to you in that endeavor. I hope you don’t mind me sharing them with you here:
http://latinisenglish.wordpress.com/ (teaching blog)
http://greek2u.wordpress.com/ (teaching blog)
http://wermuthsgreekbook.com/(book)
Robert Wermuth
St. Louis, MO
Welcome back to blogging! Nice to see a fellow nourishing traditions follower also homeschooling. We are doing Latin as well, this year. We are using Latin for Children and are loving it.
Shannon,
Thanks for mentioning “Latin for Children.” I hadn’t heard of that curriculum before. We are using Latina Christiana and it seems to work well for us so far, but I will look into Latin for Children.
Hello,
just came across your blog and your desire for a truly classical education. I highly recommend you check out the Classical Liberal Arts Academy. It is authentically Catholic and truly classical.
Good Luck,
Denise
Hi,
What an interesting blog! I hope you come back soon. I like basically all the topics you touch on.
Why did you decide to start with Homeric? I studied Attic Greek in college: it is a sort of middle point to go either backwards or forwards. I was told it is a more accessible starting point than Homeric, but you learn more about syntax than you would with Koine. Just curious.
Cheers,
Michele
Michele,
I chose Homeric for a couple reasons. 1. a number of people said that if you start there, everything else is easy. 2. I wanted to read Homer.
That said, I put Greek to rest because I started teaching my son Latin. I didn’t think learning two languages at once would be a high success endeavor.
So right now I’m using two programs together for Latin. Latina Christiana I along with Hans Orberg’s Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata.
Hi Brian,
sounds like you might be interested in this version of the new testament due to your anticipated appetite of greek:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Testament-TransLine-Michael-Magill/dp/0310228034
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