Tracy Lee Simmons readily concedes that there is little reason to hope for a widespread renascence in the teaching of Greek and Latin to our nation’s schoolchildren. But in this concise and elegantly wrought brief, he argues that, whatever its immediate prospects, an education in the classical languages is of inestimable personal and cultural value.
Simmons first sketches the development of educational practice in the schools of the classical and Renaissance eras. He then presents a lively narrative of the fortunes of classical learning in the modern age, including accounts of the classical tongues’ influence on some of the West’s most prominent writers and statesmen, including, among many others, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Arnold, Theodore Roosevelt, Evelyn Waugh, and C. S. Lewis. Simmons demonstrates the personally cultivating and intellectually liberating qualities that study of the Greek and Latin authors in their own languages has historically provided. Further, by tracing the historical trajectory of Greek and Latin education, Simmons is able to show that the classical languages have played a crucial role in the development of authentic Humanism, the foundation of the West’s cultural order and America’s understanding of itself as a union of citizens.
In Climbing Parnassus
Simmons presents the reader not so much with a program for educational renewal as with a defense and vindication of the formative power of Greek and Latin. His persuasive witness to the unique, now all-but-forgotten advantages of study in, and of, the classical languages constitutes a bracing reminder of the genuine aims of a truly liberal education.
Visual Latin (DVD)
Visual Latin is a bit different from other Latin curriculums in that it wants children to have fun while they learn. Many Latin programs can intimidate or bore students (how tragic!) through lots of memorization. Instead, Visual Latin follows a combination of the natural and traditional learning methods, and emphasizes using the language more than memorizing it. This is why each lesson includes reading and translation from the Latin Vulgate Bible: when kids actually translate Latin for themselves from stories they are familiar with, they are excited by the process and want to learn more.
Dwane’s goal is to teach students to be comfortable with the language so that if they ever want to learn Spanish, French, or Italian (or any other language for that matter), they will have a much easier time doing it. This process has worked for hundreds of children all over the world. We believe it will work well for yours, too.
Last, but certainly not least, Dwane incorporates lots of humor, jokes, and good-natured fun into each lesson. We often have kids asking their parents when they can do their next Latin lesson. (Really!) Although that may seem incredible, we know from experience that kids can love learning Latin.
Visual Latin is designed so that it requires no knowledge of Latin either by the student or the parent administering the class. Just hit play and start learning. Each Latin lesson contains the following three videos and related PDF worksheets: 1) Grammar, 2) Sentences, and 3) Reading.
Latin 1 includes two Intro Lessons and Lessons 1-30. It covers two semesters and can be worth one credit for high school foreign language. Recommended for children 10 and older.
Specific lessons include:
A. Why Study Latin?
B. How Does Visual Latin Work?
1. Being Verbs Basics | To Be and Not to Be
2. Being Verbs Basics | Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives
3. Gender | Boy Words and Girl Words
4. Singular and Plural | E Pluribus Unum
5. Declensions | Meet the Cases
6. Adjectives Learn to Agree with Nouns
7. The Case Files | Nominative and Genitive
8. Counting to 10 in Latin
9. Active Verb Basics | Indicative Mood
10. The Case Files | Accusative
11. The Case Files | Vocative
12. Changing Your Moods | Imperative & Indicative
13. The Case Files | Ablative
14. Meet the Pronouns & Question Words
15. Pronouns | Relative
16. Accusing Prepositions of Accusative Case
17. Verbs | Active & Passive
18. The Case Files | Dative
19. Pronouns | 1st & 2nd Person Personal
20. Pronouns | 3rd Person Personal
21. Pronouns | Demonstratives: this, these
22. Pronouns | Demonstratives: that, those
23. Pronouns | Relative and Interrogative
24. Pronouns | Possessive
25. Nouns | 3rd Declension
26. Verbs | Infinitives – Active & Passive
27. Verbs | Infinitives – Ability, Negation & Indirect
28. Nouns | 3rd Declension – Neuter
29. Nouns | 4th Declension
30. Adjectives | Positive & Comparative
