# 3rd and 4th grade courses?



## Pugnacious (May 17, 2012)

Does anyone teach their children latin? How does one go about it if you don't know the language yourself? Good curriculum? Online Classes(ideal)? How about sciences? Physics? We are still undecided about whether or not to homeschool. There is a very good private school that teaches advanced classes like this in our current area but it is very expensive and we haven't found our permanent house yet(we will before school starts). The house we currently are trying to get is too far away from this school for it to be practical to take them every day. So homeschooling is a distinct possibility. My wife is a teacher by trade(has been teaching 4th grade) so she will be okay but we are looking for the right balance in knowledge. My kids have been attending a private school that uses abeka and both are straight A students(except my son in hand writing). My son needs advanced mathematics. He is always bored in his current math. He took 4th place in a 5 state regional math competition. We are thinking of using Khan academy for math. We prefer basically online/computer work since that is the way the world is going. Can anyone tell me the good and bad about Khan academy?


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## 78Parrothead (Apr 6, 2013)

For young kids I like the Latin Road to English Grammar. But it is *pricy*
Also there is the Memoria Press Latin series. I think it starts with Prima Latina.

Science for that age - Joy Hakim's Story of Science series


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Pugnacious said:


> Does anyone teach their children latin? How does one go about it if you don't know the language yourself? Good curriculum? Online Classes(ideal)? How about sciences? Physics? We are still undecided about whether or not to homeschool. There is a very good private school that teaches advanced classes like this in our current area but it is very expensive and we haven't found our permanent house yet(we will before school starts). The house we currently are trying to get is too far away from this school for it to be practical to take them every day. So homeschooling is a distinct possibility. My wife is a teacher by trade(has been teaching 4th grade) so she will be okay but we are looking for the right balance in knowledge. My kids have been attending a private school that uses abeka and both are straight A students(except my son in hand writing). My son needs advanced mathematics. He is always bored in his current math. He took 4th place in a 5 state regional math competition. We are thinking of using Khan academy for math. We prefer basically online/computer work since that is the way the world is going. Can anyone tell me the good and bad about Khan academy?



I sometimes use Khan Academy in my classroom (K-5 public school resource room teacher). I like that most of the videos are interesting and fast paced and you can search for exactly what you want. I don't like that your can't save lessons for students and there is no way to track progress. I recently discovered another site that looks promising and I will probably use to some extent next school year. www.learnzillion.com 
At this site which is free (my favorite word), you can assign lessons to individual students, they can watch the lesson, do online practice and then take a quiz so there is a way to track progress. I believe you can also print reports of each student's progress but I don't know for sure because I haven't explored it that much. I also like the fact that all the lessons are aligned to the Common Core Curriculum Standards which is the way most of the country is going. Hope that is helpful for you.


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## ErinP (Aug 23, 2007)

I'm doing _Getting Started with Latin_ with my 5th and 7th graders. The 7th grader will move on to something else, as he's homeschooled, but this might be all the 5th grader gets... 
My 5th grader loves it. The 7th grader, not so much. But then, he has trouble with language anyway. I guess it just spans multiple languages. 

Are you sold on using a textbook for science? If not, I'd go with AIMS and/or TOPS units for those ages. I've used them both as a homeschool mom, as well as a classroom teacher. They really hook kids on science.


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## halfpint (Jan 24, 2005)

There seem to be more online classes every year. One that a few of my friends have used and like is Landry Academy. You can take a look at their classes here: 
http://landryacademy.com/classes.html
scroll down the page a bit to get to the class list - it is long.
HSLDA has a list of many of the online class providers on their website.

Depending upon where you live, there may be co-op classes or tutorial classes offered. I'm part of a tutorial group (paid teachers who meet certain qualifications, parent's don't need to stay on site) that offers courses primarily for high school students, but also a few middle school classes. 
One of my sons took Japanese through Pimsleur, but my father was also fairly fluent in Japanese and we have good friends who were missionaries in Japan for 20 years that frequently spoke with him. My 3rd son is taking Italian (he didn't want Latin but it is similar) and speaks with some people over the computer using a program called Team-Speak.
ABeka is usually considered a fairly advanced math (although I have not looked at the last editions), so if your son is bored you either need to find a different program or move along faster in it.
Dawn


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## Sandhills (Jun 15, 2004)

We use Saxon for math and physics. One of my sons is currently working in the Advanced Math and is using a DIVE CD. It has an instructor teaching each lesson. He has done really well with this and is almost finished with the book.


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## Sandhills (Jun 15, 2004)

Erin,
Thanks for the links. I use unit studies to teach my youngest son and the TOPS page will be a great resource.


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## Michele of MI (Jul 8, 2009)

We are beginning our 6th year of Latin.We started with Prima Latina and continued through Latina Christiana II for Latin. We will start Henle Latin this year. If you use Memoria press, I would try the First Form series after Latina Christiana I. It was a bit of a struggle with Latina II. A friend who has taught all 11 of her children Latin highly recommends First Form Latin. She said that Latina II has some errors. I did not speak Latin before, but I just learn it with my kids (yes, I do the work too).You might look for a Catholic homeschool group in your area also, because many of us teach our children Latin, and they may be able to help with classes, tutoring or just conversation. Our priest offers free Latin classes for anyone who is interested.


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