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Course Descriptions

6/16/2016

4 Comments

 
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
Each of the seminars listed below lasts two hours per week. Classes meet from mid-August until early May.
Beginning Latin I—An introduction to Latin for elementary and early middle-school students. The students are introduced to declensions and conjugations, a good amount of vocabulary, and learn some Roman history and culture. The textbook, Latina Christiana, was designed to lead the student into Henle Latin I. Two hours weekly study outside of class.

​Beginning Latin II—We continue our exploration of Latin with deeper study of the language and with additional vocabulary.  This course is aimed at those who took Beginning Latin I who are 
too young to begin high school Latin I. All students will take the Introductory National Latin Examination in March. The text is Latina Christiana II.
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Latin I—A first-year high school course. Covered in this course are Latin vocabulary, grammar, and syntax as well as some Roman history and culture. Grammar includes the five declensions, active indicative verb conjugations,  and the use of adjectives and pronouns. All students take the National Latin Exam in March. All students must pass a final exam in May to enter Latin II. Work outside of class: 3-4 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List. Suggested student age: 7th grade and up.

Latin II—A second-year high school course. Students continue to develop their grammar skills by learning subjunctive verbs, comparative adjectives and adverbs, indirect statements, ablative absolutes, etc. Students read some Latin poetry and selections from the Vulgate Bible. All students take the National Latin Exam in March. All students must pass a final exam in May to enter Latin III. Work outside of class: 3-4 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List.

Latin III—A third-year high school course. Students read from various authors: Caesar, Cicero, Catullus, Pliny, etc. All students take the National Latin Exam in March. Work outside of class: 3-4 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List.

Advanced Placement Latin—This class meets the standards of the Advanced Placement Latin test for Virgil’s Aeneid and Caesar’s Gallic Wars. We will engage in an in-depth study of both authors. All students take the National Latin Exam in March. Students are strongly encouraged to take the Advanced Placement exam in May. Work outside of class: 4-6 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List.

Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric I (3Rs I)—Aimed at students in upper elementary and early middle school, this class offers a literature-based approach to writing. Mastering the essay is a primary goal of the class. Typically the student reads and discusses a work of literature—Treasure Island, for example, or Animal Farm—and then writes a paper about the book. Students keep a journal for the year as well as engage in other writing projects. Work outside of class: 3-4 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List

Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric II (3Rs II)—Like 3Rs I, this class offers a literature-based approach to writing. Mastering the essay is again a goal of the class. Students do not have to take 3Rs I to enroll in this class. Work outside of class: 3-4 hours. Texts: See Reading List.

World History:  Art, Literature, and Philosophy—This course counts as credits for both history and literature. We will focus on art and ideas and their roles in history. The course will center on European history,  but we will visit other parts of the world as well. This course includes a good deal of reading each week, various essays and papers, and class discussions. Work outside of class: 5-7 hours weekly. Students unwilling to put that amount of time into the course will perform poorly. Texts: See Reading List. (Taught every third year).
 
English History and Literature—In this course, the students receive credit for both history and literature. Because of the combined subjects, the students should expect to do extra work at home. We cover the history of England from the time of the Roman invasions to the present and read the literature produced by this island nation. The fundamentals of writing essays are stressed in this seminar, and papers and in-class essays are a part of the class. Recommended ages: 13—18.
 
United States History and Literature—This course counts as credit for both history and literature. The history part offers a survey of American history from colonial times to the present. The accompanying literature allows students to read novels, plays, and poetry from various periods in American history.
 
Advanced Placement English Literature—This class seeks to meet the standards of the Advanced Placement English Literature examination. Members of this class will examine selected works of literature in depth and will master the analytical tools standard in such a course. Students taking this course are encouraged to take the Advanced Placement test in May. Work outside of class: 4-6 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List.

Advanced Placement English Language and Composition—The object of this course is to give older students who are already familiar with the essay the opportunity to further develop their writing, analytical, and rhetorical skills. Students will study the works of a various writers, ranging from Annie Dillard to Walker Percy. Students will also learn how to analyze the rhetorical devices used by different writers and how to employ those devices in their own writing. Work outside of class: 4-6 hours weekly. Texts: See Reading List.
 
Advanced Placement World History—The object of this course is to provide the student with a survey of world history and to prepare for the AP examination in May. We will use the textbook found on the reading list, but we will also do a great deal of work using online resources. Recommended for grades 10-12. This course requires 6-7 hours of study outside the classroom. Texts: See Reading List.
4 Comments
shari
7/12/2019 04:20:48 am

Where is this located?

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Thomas
4/20/2020 08:29:57 pm

Why Latin? Aside from some limited references in law, science, and medical jargon, what would be the usefulness of teaching such a dead language to such a young crowd? What would the average attention span of this age group be while learning Latin, as opposed to say, French, Russian, or even Spanish? Latin? Seriously? The Roman Empire is dead. In retrospect, I do imagine that learning Latin at that age might be useful as part of an indoctrination to a one-world religion or some other similar motive.

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John
9/14/2020 05:59:47 pm

I had four years of Latin in high school and one year of Latin in junior high. I graduated from high school in 1967. So, I am a geezer. I learned about my native language, English, by studying Latin.
Mary Katherine Kern was my Latin teacher for all four years in high school. She was a single lady who got a masters degree in English at Duke University and there was some Latin thrown in there somewhere. Latin taught me about a different civilization. It was difficult to eke out the stories. I was grateful English is not any more complicated than it is.
When my children went to high school I encouraged them to take the Latin also. You learn a lot of English by taking Latin. Sentence structure, vocabulary, history, grammar, and just how to persevere doing hard things.
I’m not sure you ever really learn your own language until you have to learn a foreign language. For me that was Latin.
I just finished reading Jeff’s article “practice and perseverance: let’s teach our students to write“ in the Epoch Times. One author once was asked about a subject and he paused for a moment, and then he said “I’m not sure about that. I haven’t written about it yet.” Writing is a different way of thinking than merely speaking about a subject.

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Couples Illinois link
2/27/2021 01:43:41 pm

Interesting post I enjoyed read this.

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