From Around The Web - The Case For Teaching Latin

In her June 17th article entitled What U.S. Students Miss by Not Learning Latin, Annie Holmquisten brings to light this little known event below.

Although it’s not primetime news in the U.S., a 15 year-old student from Athens, Georgia, recently made international waves when he became the first American to win the Certamen Ovidianum Latin competition in Italy.

Josiah Matthews took home $1,000 in cash and other prizes for translating a passage from Ovid and then writing an essay on it – in Latin no less.

According to The Athens Banner-Herald, Josiah got his start in Latin at a young age by overhearing his father teach the language to an older sibling. Josiah now has several Latin students of his own, including one from Australia.

Who knew?!

She then goes on to list seven very good reasons why our children should study Latin.

You can read her full article here on Intellectual Takeout.

My oldest daughter took some latin - we did it ala cart through Rossetta Stone. Rossetta Stone, back in the day, used to be free at the public library. It was an okay program, the kids didn't care for it as much as some of the other learning styles we encountered. But I thought it did a good job introducing the language and providing feedback as they learned. (We studies Japanese, French, Latin, Italian and Spanish.) I was sad when they pulled it from the library. I would have bought our own copies of the Spanish and Latin, but at the time the software was really pricey.  Instead, we picked up Latina Christiana for a little while. Our copy was used from the HomeSchool Store. Finally, though, we used online sites for learning.

She did pretty well and saw some good returns on her efforts in her SAT scores and now while at the University she attends where she is a part of the Honors College. Like Ms. Holmquisten notes in her 6th point

6. Latin is also valuable for further studies in all disciplines.
According to the Bluedorns, the other disciplines which Latin knowledge aids include “history, theology, literature, art, architecture, ad infinitum.”