by Dwane | Feb 10, 2024 | Latin, Visual Latin
From time to time I get questions about the complicated Latin endings. Students want to know if there is a place to find them all. Turns out, there is. If you go here, and scroll down, you will find some Latin charts I made some time ago. The charts are free. Here...
by Dwane | Sep 3, 2021 | Education, English, Greek, Latin, Visual Latin, Vocabulary
People are often confused by all that I offer. I get that. It’s confusing. Here’s what’s going on. Visual Latin is a professionally filmed series. I do not personally sell it. It is available here from Compass Classroom. Once they have...
by Dwane | Nov 23, 2024 | Tip of the Week
I tend to be a bit scatterbrained. I misplace things often. Wallet, keys, phone, kids, students, pens, lego bricks. You know, the usual stuff. Years ago, I learned a trick from a book. (I cannot remember the name of the book, as it turns out.) Whenever I put...
by Dwane | Nov 16, 2024 | Tip of the Week
These days, I do not rely on Google. I learned the hard way. Twice Google shut my website down. The second time the company shut my site down, they locked me out until I signed up for a monthly subscription. I wish I had that kind of power. I teach languages for a...
by Dwane | Nov 14, 2024 | Latin, Motivation, Online Classes, Q&A
by Dwane | Nov 10, 2024 | Tip of the Week
After sending an email last Saturday, many of you wrote to wish me luck opening a new store. I received this note from Erik: Mr. Dwane, Just wanted to quickly thank you for all the great tips throughout all these years, and wish you all the best with the opening of...
by Dwane | Nov 2, 2024 | Tip of the Week
It’s election season in America. Soooo… I recommend turning off all social media, all news, and all talk radio. The 24 hour news cycle is negative by nature. Negativity sells. Fear sells. All advertisers know this. In the newspaper business years ago, there was...
by Dwane | Oct 26, 2024 | Tip of the Week
I am running on empty these days. Pretty tired quite often. Even now, as I type this tip of the week. As most of you know, I decided to open a Lego store (Bricks and Minifigs) in Birmingham, Alabama. Vestavia Hills, actually. A little south of Birmingham. Long...
by Dwane | Oct 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
The key fob on our van is slowly giving out. Replacing it will be expensive, so I am waiting. These days, to extend the life of the key, I place it next to my head whenever I press the lock, or unlock button. Sometimes, I will push the button while holding the...
by Dwane | Oct 5, 2024 | Tip of the Week
If you travel much, even for short trips, it is smart to keep a travel-only toiletry kit. This is one you never unpack. Have one set of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and so on, in your bathroom at home. Keep a separate set exclusively for travel. When you...
by Dwane | Sep 21, 2024 | Tip of the Week
If you’re trying to practice a new language, you can read Wikipedia articles in your target language. You’ll pick up relevant, real-world vocabulary across all kinds of topics. Another bonus: Wiki articles are generally clear and well-structured. It’s a...
by Dwane | Sep 14, 2024 | Tip of the Week
To register for classes on my site, you will need an email address. Sometimes, younger students share a family email address. Since many sites (mine included) often require unique email addresses, this creates a problem. There is an easy solution. You can create...
by Dwane | Sep 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
In this video, I also recommend Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. Here is the free digital version on Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/familia-romana/page/12/mode/2up...
by Dwane | Sep 11, 2024 | English, Latin, Vocabulary
In a Latin class today, we talked about the word for bad, malus. From malus, English gets all kinds of bad words. No. Not that kind of bad words. The following English words trace their origins back to malus: Malice – the desire to do evil Malicious – intending to...
by Dwane | Sep 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
I didn’t post all summer. Maybe I should start calling this the “infrequent word of the day”. Anyway, now that school is back in I’m back. One of my favorite words is estivate, also spelled aestivate. To estivate is to sleep during the summer...
by Dwane | Aug 31, 2024 | Uncategorized
I used to lose my keys all the time. I can be a bit scatterbrained. Then, I started attaching my keys to lanyards. Honestly, I still lose my keys. But, not nearly as often as I used to. If you are having trouble keeping up with your keys, try attaching a bright...
by Dwane | Aug 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
Etymology is the study of the history of words. It also happens to be a passion of mine. In fact, a few summers ago, Compass Classroom and I created a rather ridiculous etymology show called Word up. When you look up a word in a dictionary, you get its definition....
by Dwane | Aug 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Years ago, I learned this tip the hard way. If you ever rent a car, take a video of the vehicle before you drive it off the lot. I didn’t. And, I ended up paying for a scratch I don’t think I put on the car. Before you drive off with the rental...
by Dwane | Aug 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
This is not really a tip. This week, I am here to ask for some help. Several years ago, I read a book called Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement. I recommend it. In the book, the author mentions the average age of a new...
by Dwane | Aug 3, 2024 | Tip of the Week
Here’s a tip my wife taught me. If you are staying in a hotel in the U.S. and you want filtered, purified water, but don’t feel like paying for bottled water, take a water bottle to the hotel gym. You will almost always find free filtered water in the...
by Dwane | Jul 27, 2024 | Tip of the Week
I have been teaching Latin for almost three decades. People often ask me, “If I want to learn Latin, how should I do it? To quote Hades’ minions in the movie Hercules, “If. If is good.” The truth is, you do not have to learn Latin. Do not let people bully you...
by Dwane | Jul 20, 2024 | Tip of the Week
If you are my age, you may remember Dilbert and his pointy-haired boss. Seventeen years ago, the author of the comic strip, Scott Adams, taught us how to become better writers. He did it, brilliantly, using only two hundred and sixty-four words. Here is what he said:...
by Dwane | Jul 13, 2024 | Tip of the Week
Writers of grammar books tell us to avoid the passive voice. Instead of writing, “The last piece of cake was eaten”, we should write “She ate the last piece of cake.” I agree, and I tell my students to do the same. Learn to write in the active...
by Dwane | Jul 12, 2024 | Uncategorized
If you have ever worked your way through the Henle Latin series, by Robert Henle, you know the author asks students to diagram sentences. The series was published around seventy years ago. Back then, kids new how to diagram. Schools still taught the skill. These...
by Dwane | Jul 12, 2024 | Education, Latin
In Visual Latin, we learned all of Latin grammar. The complicated Latin endings often overwhelm students. For this reason, I filmed a series of videos. In these videos, I show students exactly how to use the complicated Latin charts I created to explain the...
by Dwane | Jul 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
This summer (2024), I am working my way through First Year Latin by Robert Henle. I am showing students how to parse and diagram sentences from each chapter. This is the third video from chapter...
by Dwane | Jul 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
If you have ever worked your way through the Henle Latin series, by Robert Henle, you know the author asks students to diagram sentences. The series was published around seventy years ago. Back then, kids new how to diagram. Schools still taught the skill. These...
