A Guide to Getting Through the Henle Latin Series

by | Latin

If you’re working through Robert Henle’s First Year Latin, Second Year Latin, Third Year Latin, or Fourth Year Latin, this guide is for you.  

I’ve taught the series for years, guiding students through First Year Latin, Second Year Latin, and much of Third Year Latin by Robert Henle. Those classes remain available on my site 24/7. 

My goal is to make the courses as self-contained as possible.  Parents are not expected to teach Latin themselves or supplement the lessons.  I especially designed the Latin and Greek courses so students can work independently.  Parental knowledge of Latin not required.

Every chapter includes an online test.  As students complete each chapter, my site automatically records their scores and tracks their cumulative grade.

 

Who is the Henle class for?

If you are just starting out in Latin, I do not recommend Henle Latin.  Instead, I recommend Visual Latin (naturally) and Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. 

I only recommend the Henle Latin classes for students in Classical Conversations.   

If you know someone struggling with Henle Latin, send them my way.  If you want to join the class, and if you are not a member of this site, click here: https://dwanethomas.com/join/. 

If you are working through Visual Latin alongside First Year Latin, this free guide will help: https://dwanethomas.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/VL-Henle-Teaching-Guide.pdf

 

The Big Picture: What the Series Actually Is

The Henle Latin series is four books, plus one extra grammar reference book you’ll need along the way:

 

What materials will you need?

You’ll only need one book to get started: First Year Latin by Robert Henle.

Later in the course I’ll also recommend Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg. It isn’t required, but I refer to it often because I believe it’s one of the best resources ever written for learning Latin.

I’ll show students exactly how to use it, and I’ll even provide a free digital copy. If you prefer having a printed copy, you’re welcome to purchase one, but it isn’t necessary.

How much time will my student need to dedicate to this class?

Each class lasts about 30 minutes.  Outside of class, I suggest students spend another 30 minutes each day working on the exercises.  Beyond that, students can spend as much time as they like studying Latin.  I will make suggestions.  But, that is optional.  Some people really like Latin and want to go further.  With languages, there is always more you can do. 

 

What age do you recommend for this course?

I recommend students wait until they are 13 years old before joining this class, but I leave this up to parents.  You know your child.  

 

Latin 24/7.  Watch Class Whenever you Want

You can watch class whenever you like.  I record every class I teach, and I only remove classes if I am updating them.  Quite a few students prefer this as they can move at their own pace.  If you are working your way through previous Henle Latin classes and you find yourself struggling, you are welcome to post your questions in the Henle Latin forums, or you are welcome to contact me.  To find the previous classes, go here: https://dwanethomas.com/previous-classes-4/

If you are already a member, you have access to the Henle Latin class, and you have access to every other class I teach.

 

First Year Latin by Robert Henle

First Year Latin is done.  My students and I spent six years working our way through the book.  We worked our way through all of the exercises.  Members are free to watch those classes anytime twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  For example, if you are struggling with Exercise 167, you can go watch the class for Exercise 167.  You can watch the classes right here: https://dwanethomas.com/previous-classes-4/. 

First Year Latin covers almost all of the grammar of Latin.  The book is essentially the equivalent of Wheelock’s Latin, or Visual Latin 1 and 2.  People think I don’t like First Year Latin by Robert Henle, and I suppose there is some truth to that.  It’s not that I don’t like the book, it’s that I like Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg so much more. 

There are better ways to learn Latin.  Lingua Latina is the better way.  But, First Year Latin gets the job done. Students who make it to the end should be able to read the New Testament in Latin, and that’s impressive.  And, by the way, I have read many books on learning Latin, and I have read many Latin textbooks.  Mr. Henle wasn’t trying to make Latin boring. He was writing the kind of textbook everyone wrote in the 1950s. By the standards of the day, it was perfectly normal.

 

Second Year Latin by Robert Henle

Second Year Latin by Robert Henle is also done.  My students and I spend four years working our way through that book and we are finished.  You can watch the classes right here: https://dwanethomas.com/previous-classes-4/.   

Sometimes, people will ask if Visual Latin 2 corresponds with Second Year Latin.  It does not.  Visual Latin 1 and 2 cover the same material found in First Year Latin.  

Second Year Latin mostly consists of Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic Wars.  There is a bit of grammar still to learn at the beginning of the book (Gerunds, as I recall), but most of the book is the story of Rome taking over what later became France.  

 

Third Year Latin by Robert Henle

Third Year Latin by Robert Henle is almost done.  And, I don’t know when I am going to finish it.  My students and I made it through about three-quarters of the book.  One by one, students dropped the class.  I don’t blame them.  I assume they dropped the class out of sheer boredom. 

Third Year Latin focuses predominantly on the writings of the Roman orator and senator, Marcus Tullius Cicero.  

C.S. Lewis once called Cicero the “great bore”.  He was not wrong.  His friend Dorothy Sayers suggested, when it came to learning Latin, we “throw that dreary man Cicero out of the window…”  

As for my students, they didn’t tell me why they quit.  I can only assume they dropped the course out of sheer boredom. 

Eventually, I dropped the class, too.  I most definitely dropped the class out of sheer boredom. 

I may finish the book someday, but for now… this class is postponed indefinitely.  There is virtually no interest in this class.  One person a year might ask me to pick it back up.  And, that’s during a busy year. 

Members can watch what is available right here: https://dwanethomas.com/previous-classes-4/. 

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Almost every Saturday, I send out a Tip of the Week.  The tip of the week is usually something I have picked up along the way that may make your life a little easier.

If you would like to hear from me (almost) every Saturday, just go to the home page of my site and plug in your name and email.   You will also get a free digital copy of my book on learning Latin (and almost anything else).  Just go here: https://dwanethomas.com/ and enter your name and email.

If you want to buy the digital book instead (because you just feel like buying me a cup of coffee) go here: https://dwanethomas.gumroad.com/l/fzixlh

If you are interested in learning Latin, you can go through the classes on my site 24/7.  I recommend the book Lingua Latina by Hans Ørberg.

If you tackle the book and find yourself bogged down, you may find the classes on my site helpful.  To join, just click here: https://dwanethomas.com/join/

If you want a more professionally filmed Latin learning experience, check out the best-selling DVD series: Visual Latin.

Or, if you want to skip Latin, and just jump right into learning English words from Latin and Greek roots, you may enjoy the series Word Up!  Warning.   Word Up! is a bit wacky.  You will learn a lot… but, you may find yourself rolling your eyes, too.

I teach other languages on my site, too.  The current schedule is here: https://dwanethomas.com/schedule/

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