You study Latin and Greek? Why???*

I get that question (often accompanied by curled lips and rolling eyes) a lot.  The eye-rollers don't really want to know why we do what we do, so I don't waste my breath telling them.  I just say, "Because Swahili is just so pedestrian," or, "Because I promised my Goobs to the Church as payment for my mother's second exorcism," or my personal favorite, "Because we can."

But a real, live, Not Inadequate homeschooler asked me this question yesterday, and since I could detect little to no eye rolling, I will do my best to answer.  I hope a bullet list will work for you, because I'm supposed to be grading math papers.

• JellyMan actually wanted to learn Greek.  How could I say no?
• We try to follow the classical model of education.  Latin and Greek are assumed.  (My reasons for choosing classical over unschooling or school-in-a-box or Oak Meadow or K12 or Charlotte Mason belong in a separate post.)
• These languages are an important part of our religious and cultural heritage.
• They're convenient.  All I need is a book!  I don't have to buy expensive computer programs or waste any of my precious energy tracking down a native speaker to chat with my Goobs on a regular basis, because there aren't any native speakers.  (I hope you'll pardon me for saying so, but quibbling about the proper pronunciation of Latin is about as pointless as correcting someone's Klingon accent at the local Star Trek convention.)
• My Goobs aren't prodigies, but they're pretty sharp.  Adding Latin and Greek (along with piano, logic, and time consuming activities like ballet and theatre) to their day helps to slow them down a little without piling on empty busywork. (My reasons for not graduating them early belong in a separate post.)
• Learning Latin and Greek has given my Goobers confidence in their ability to learn difficult subjects and the self-discipline required to tackle large projects.  Can you imagine anyone who taught himself the Latin grammar before he could shave ever saying, "But I can't learn that!  It's too harrrrrrd!" 
• I get 1-2 extra hours of peace and quiet every day while they study Latin and Greek. It's wonderful.
• It makes me feel a little bit better about our bare-bones science studies.  I tell myself, "Self, they can take biology at every school in the country, but Classics might not be an option at Podunk Patootie Community College."
• The Goobs will be more likely to crush the SAT, which will lower the odds of my still having Goobers in the basement when I become eligible to join the AARP.
• And, of course, we learn Latin and Greek because we can.  We get such a kick out of being able to half-understand the inscriptions on public monuments.

* Anyone who wants a complete answer to this question should read Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia For Greek and Latin by Tracy Lee Simmons.

What's Wrong With Spanish?

Seriously.  Why couldn't JellyMan want to learn Spanish?  I can handle Spanish.  I took years of it.  I have tons of books.  I have Rosetta Stone.  Spanish speaking opportunities abound.  (Okay, they don't abound, exactly, but there is a Spanish club that meets at the base community center every Wednesday.)  But, no.  JellyMan wants to learn Greek.

Okay, fine.

Last year we started out with Athenaze, and it quickly got away from us.  I decided to let JellyMan work through A Greek Alphabetarion and A Greek Hupogrammon, followed by the Elementary Greek series.  I just handed him the books and let him go, and he's doing great - he'll finish Book 3 by the end of the year.  But the poor kid is already teaching himself math, logic, and Latin, and I was bound and determined that he would not have to teach himself Greek forever.  So I started researching and found an online class using Athenaze at the Lukeion Project.  There was much rejoicing - JellyMan would finally have access to a real, live scholar!  Sweet!  And then yesterday we realized that the live class format might prove problematic for a boy living in, say, Hawaii.  Sure, JellyMan wants to learn Greek, but he doesn't want to get up at 3:00 in the morning to do it! 

And so here I sit, dejected, feeling lazy and uneducated (not to mention fat, but as you know, I don't like to dwell on my shortcomings), trying to find a solution that does not require me to learn ANCIENT FRICKIN' GREEK OF ALL FRICKIN' THINGS.  The University of Hawaii has a classics department - maybe I can find a student willing to tutor JellyMan in exchange for beer money.

Thoughts on Foreign Languages

Every once in a while I make a PLAN.  Like a math PLAN.  Or a science PLAN.  Or an English PLAN. These PLANS start wherever we happen to be and extend through twelfth grade, always with the assumption that the particular subject outlined in the PLAN is the most important subject and deserving of every hour in the day.  Of course, they're all deserving of every hour in the day, but we have to eat and sleep and play Rock Band 2, so we will not see every PLAN through to completion.  That's okay.  The PLANS are just something to keep me occupied while The Goobers finish math - instead of chanting, "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up..." and tearing at my hair, I jot down all the beautiful possibilities.  It's better for everyone that way.  

Before I share the newest PLAN (made just this morning!) I'd like to share a few vague thoughts on foreign languages:

1. Latin is awesome.
2. So is Greek.
3. And Hebrew.
4. As is Spanish,
5. French,
6. German,
7. Italian,
8. and Japanese.
9. But we're only human.
10. And my brain is dying.
11. So we're only doing Latin and Greek.
12. Plus one other language if The Goobs want to.
13. The third language can be a modern language.
14. I don't insist upon it.
15. This is because I took years of Spanish.
16. I am not fluent.
17. In fact, the only time I approached anything resembling fluency is when I had a Peruvian professor who spoke only Spanish.
18. I had to communicate in Spanish six hours a week, and I learned more during that semester than I learned during all my years of Spanish classes combined.
19. I can't provide my Goobs with a Peruvian Spanish professor.
20. It bums me out.

Okay, now that that's out of the way, I can share the PLAN.

JellyMan isn't interested in modern languages, so his foreign language PLAN looks like this: 

8th: Latin (Henle 1); Greek (Elementary Greek 2 and 3)
9th: Latin (Henle 2); Greek (Athenaze 1)
10th: Latin (Henle 3); Greek (Athenaze 2)
11th: Latin (Henle 4); Greek (Xenophon); Hebrew (Hebrew: A Language Course) 
12th: Latin (Vergil); Greek (Homer); Hebrew (Hebrew: A Language Course)

Anemone wants to learn French, so her foreign language PLAN looks like this:

5th: Latin (Henle 1)
6th: Latin (Henle 1); Greek (Elementary Greek 1)
7th: Latin (Henle 1); Greek (Elementary Greek 2)
8th: Latin (Henle 1); Greek (Elementary Greek 3)
9th: Latin (Henle 2); Greek (Athenaze 1); French (Rosetta Stone)
10th: Latin (Henle 2); Greek (Athenaze 2); French (Rosetta Stone)
11th: Latin (Henle 3); French (Rosetta Stone)
12th: Latin (Henle 4); French (Rosetta Stone)

Poor Anemone was supposed to start French this year, but she bogged down at around lesson 5 in First Start French and I just don't have what it takes to help her through it.  I felt incredibly guilty about it and bought her the Instant Immersion French computer program, thinking she could just play with it whenever she wants to.  So far she hasn't wanted to.  Ugh.  I hate when I let my Goobs down!

Have you really read this whole post?  You're amazing.  You deserve a nap.  Just remember that I'm sharing this foreign language PLAN with you for kicks.  Don't hold it against me, okay?  I don't want anyone (that means you, Mom) coming to me when Anemone is in 11th grade and saying, "I thought Anemone was supposed to have completed Athenaze 2 by now!" when she is only just getting around to learning the Greek alphabet, because I won't hear you.  I'll be too busy being thrilled that she finally got around to learning the Greek alphabet.  

Rock Band 2 is just so time consuming.

Saturday Mom Confession #11 (or) I Met My Match in Athenaze

This is really more of a Homeschool Mom Confession than a regular old Mom Confession, but since nearly all of you are homeschool moms yourselves, I know you'll totally get what I am saying here.  And what I'm saying is, I'm lazy.

L-A-Z-Y.

And I have come to terms with it.  I just do not have the work ethic required to learn Attic Greek, and I'm okay with that.  Unfortunately for me, JellyMan says he most certainly IS going to learn Greek, and there is nothing I can do to stop him so I might as well just get my lazy butt on the computer and find an easier program than Athenaze for him to start with.

Aye aye, cap'n. 

For the sake of honesty I must point out that JellyMan said nothing of the kind because he is extremely polite.  What he really did was sigh to himself while he struggled valiantly with Athenaze until I took pity on him and got my lazy butt on the computer to find an easier program for him to start with.

So I searched and I searched and I hemmed and I hawed and I finally convinced myself that learning Koine Greek instead of Attic Greek was better than learning no Greek at all.  So I went over to Rainbow Resource Center and ordered the Elementary Greek Year One set.

The set comes with a text, a workbook, a cd and a set of flashcards.  (The answer key to the workbook is in the back of the text.)  The lessons are clear, with plenty of grammar, vocabulary and memory verses, and I don't foresee JellyMan having any trouble doing the work on his own.  Even better, the simplicity and brevity of the lessons means I am much more likely to work through the book myself - I might learn something after all!  I also purchased A Greek Alphabetarion and A Greek Hupogrammon, both by Harvey Bluedorn.

JellyMan will probably burn right through these books; I bought them mainly for Anemone to use after she finishes Latina Christiana II. 

I feel bad about not being able to tackle Athenaze, but in my defense, I am quite busy enough with Saxon math and Henle Latin.  I'm only one woman!  Maybe Koine Greek will suit our family better; I'll post an update in a few months to let you know how we're doing.