My Journey on the Latin Road... so far

Everywhere you look, you'll find articles explaining why you ought to start early or start late in teaching grammar to children. I decided that I didn't want to start my kiddos on grammar at too young an age. My oldest is 10 now, and we started him on a great program in the 4th grade. I loved it, and I still do.

However, when I switched our schooling to a unit study approach, I was overwhelmed by our read alouds. The grammar we used had a long list of great literature, and I can't fault it for that. But adding all the unit study books to that list was just too much for mom.

I believe it is important to have a strong foundation in reading and writing. My oldest son is a great reader, and he's a fairly strong speller as well. But I just didn't feel like we were heading down a solid path with grammar, we needed something and we needed it fast.

After some prayer and searching, my dear friend introduced me to The Latin Road. She has been using The Phonics Road with her children, and I believe I can say she's had great success! If the Phonics Road was that solid, I had to look closer at the Latin Road to English Grammar.

I have to put up a small disclaimer, in case anyone thinks I'm being paid for this review. I'm not. I did sign up to be an affiliate because I think this is an amazing program. But this review is strictly from my own opinion over these last couple weeks. This may get a little long winded, so you may want to grab your cup of tea now before pushing ahead...

As I was saying, after prayer, consideration, my friend's recommendation, online reviews and even calling to talk to the author, I decided to jump in with both feet and buy not only the Bridge to the Latin Road for my 10 year old, but also the Phonics Road level 1 for my 7 year old! If my 10 yo had completed the Phonics Road, we'd just jump straight into The Latin Road level 1. However, since we hadn't, we are using the Bridge to the Latin Road to be sure he has a strong foundation in grammar.

I'll start with the drawbacks, so far I see only one. The cost. I spent quite a sum of money to get both products. However, and this is a big however, I would do it again! It is that good. If you feel God is leading you this direction, then I would encourage moms to find a way to afford this... stash any extra money, have a yard sale, a baked goods sale, get creative because you won't be sorry.

Let's start with why I chose the Bridge to the Latin Road to English Grammar. As I said, I didn't feel our grammar up to this point was strong enough to go right into Volume 1. So thankfully, Mrs. Beers has already considered that and made the Bridge! This is a fantastic grammar program that covers all the bases so thoroughly that I'm convinced I'll be learning a thing or two, as well! She also has no senseless busywork at all! Everything serves a purpose.

It requires my son to use cursive throughout the program. I'm grateful, because he's gotten lazy in that area. Many people see no need for penmanship today. But I disagree. I think it's still important to express yourself with the written word.

You may like to know what you are getting for your money... The Latin Road to English Grammar comes with a teacher's guide, DVDs, and a student binder, latin cards and verb cards for a fun verb game, as well as pencils for the student (black, red, and blue, to be used according to special instructions in the course...)

The teacher's book is well laid out. There are daily lesson plans and each page of the student notebook is copied in the teacher's book, with all answers filled in. Not only filled in, but in cursive handwriting so that the child can look and see that he's written his work properly. In the picture you can see my son's work next to the teacher book.

The entire Latin Road series is laid out as if the child was training to become a builder. So the first section of the binder is called Framing Codes. You'll find your daily schedule, grammar tunes and some basic learning there. The second section is Sentences to Analyze. And the third section is labeled Designing Codes, where he'll find the Latin Roots.

The first few weeks take the child through the basics of grammar. It fully explains nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, etc! It then moves the child into diagramming sentences. I saw no need for this when I was a student. Until, that is, I started studying a foreign language. Mrs. Beers knew that learning a language would solidify grammar for the student. And because Latin helps to teach a firm foundation in spelling and vocabulary as well as giving a better understanding of the English language, it was a natural fit!

So is it a grammar program or a Latin program? It is both. The Bridge to the Latin Road is mostly grammar, but begins to add in Latin roots! It is a good introduction to her Latin Road to English Grammar Levels 1-3. All of these, however, still teach grammar. It's a great mesh of both!

The section called "Design Codes" is where the student will build a very useful resource full of Latin roots. For example, he will have a page that says "port," and he'll write that the meaning is "carry." Then he'll write words like "report~ carry back again."

Let's talk DVDs... Mrs. Beers understands that it is possible that we haven't all been taught HOW to teach this method. If you've read The Writing Road to Reading, you are familiar with the program's heart and soul, but you may not know HOW to teach it. So she has recorded herself teaching the program. It is like having her sitting in my living room each night, showing me how to teach this to my son. So you'll either want to sit down once a week and take notes in your teacher book, or you can take a few minutes each night to see what you'll teach the following day. I highly recommend using them faithfully. While The Phonics Road and The Latin Road both have DVDs, you probably won't watch the Phonics Road DVDs with your child. But the older kids can watch The Latin Road along with you, if that helps your child in his learning.

A fun part of the program is the Grammar Tunes section. She has come up with words that fit common children's songs. They help teach many aspects of grammar, are catchy, and let's face it, anything set to music is easier to remember!

Why did I buy the Phonics Road, also? Because it looked like a very solid foundation to teach my youngest son to read. He has some glitches in his learning. At the very least, we can identify an auditory processing glitch. Mrs. Beers encouraged me that this program takes children from parts to the whole and trains their brains how to work properly. She said I may have to work a bit slower with the program, but to be patient, it would work.

The first thing I did was set up a special 'Writing Space' for him. The table and chair fit him perfectly. And I think he likes the idea of having his very own space! In fact, my 10 year old is slightly jealous of this fact and wants his own space now as well!

Just like the Latin Road, the Phonics Road offers the DVDs! Again, can't say enough good about this, it helps me on so many levels. After all, I want the best education for the kids, and I have no time or extra income to take a class. But I can pop in a DVD and take some notes. The DVDs also teach Grammar Tunes, like the Latin program.

This program also has the teacher binder and the student binder, a black and a red pencil for the student, a marker and "Handy Dandy Clipboard" with a clear plastic sheet for practice letters, and flash cards. The flash cards teach the child to recite the sounds of each letter or letter team, rather than the letter name. For example, when you show the 's' card, the child says "sss, zzz" representing both sounds the 's' can make, starting with the most common sound. By week 5 they are reading words quite naturally, and by week 15 they are reading the enclosed readers for which they get to make custom illustrations. No more guessing at the words based on the picture included! Also, no more tracing letters! All letters are taught by the teacher showing how to do them properly, and the student follows along using their clipboard and marker.

If you have questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer. You can also click on my link on the right side of the page to see the official website. It is loaded with information that I found very helpful, as well as Mrs. Beers' phone number! She is a wealth of information.

In the end, the program is only as good as it is for your family. It may not be the solution you are seeking. But the only way you'll know is to seek the Lord and see if He is leading you to this. :) God bless!