I received this question:
My daughter is going to be enrolling in Classical Conversations for the very first time, going into Challenge 3 where the class will be completing the last part of Henle 2 and then starting Henle 3. I don’t think she is really going to be ready, and I think it might have been better for her to do the second half of Familia with you this year instead. But she didn’t. So, in your opinion, what is the best way for her to get prepared to jump in and not be too over her head? Should she try to do more Familia over the summer? Or would Visual Latin help her to bridge the grammar gap?
Here is my reply:
I am not sure how to answer this. In my experience, Henle 1 does not prepare students for Henle 2. I am teaching Henle 3 this fall. I am not even sure how to prepare. So far, as best I can tell, Henle 2 will not prepare students for Henle 3.
Years ago, I was leaving education for construction and real estate. I was leaving because of books like Henle Latin. I discovered Lingua Latina and decided to stick around a bit longer. I loved the series then, and I still love it today. It prepares students for almost anything in Latin.
It’s a simple numbers game. First Year Latin by Robert Henle teaches students about 400 words. Lingua Latina part 1 teaches students about 2,000.
Have her read Lingua Latina over the summer. It will prepare her for the Henle books. It will do a better job than the Henle books.
By the way, I will likely be offering a Lingua Latina review class over the summer if you are interested.
