Third Form Latin - A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

In February the Homeschool Review Crew learned we would be reviewing products for Memoria Press.

There was a variety of products available for review, and I couldn't believe it when I was chosen to review Third Form Latin!

I wanted Third Form Latin because I have been working on my Latin. Memoria Press highly encourages parents to work through their Latin program to learn the material before teaching it to their children/students. I worked first in First Form Latin, then in Second Form Latin. I approached this new curriculum with delight, but also trepidation! I am/was not quite ready to be working in Third Form Latin as I haven't finished Second Form Latin yet. Memoria Press will tell you always finish the previous level before jumping into the next level! Finish it and make sure you have a solid grasp of all the vocabulary, declensions and conjugations!

So my box arrived.  I pulled everything out to see what was included.

You can see most everything in the above picture. The complete package comes with Student Text, Workbook, Quizzes and Tests, Teacher Manual, Teacher Key (to Workbook, Quizzes & Tests), Instructional DVDs, Pronunciation CDs, and Flash Cards. The vocabulary flash cards are kind of hidden in the upper left-hand corner. They come as flat sheets, and you can split them all up at once if you want, but I'm only splitting them up a sheet or two at a time as I need them.

I started my time with Third Form Latin by reading the Introduction in the Teacher's Manual and taking a week to do a quick review of some of the Latin I had covered in First and Second Form Latin. It was humbling to me when I read that the First, Second, Third and Fourth Form Latin sets are for grammar aged students (Grades 2-7). I thought this was high school material! The website actually says Third Form Latin is for grades 6-11, so that made me feel better.

I'm struggling so to remember all this Latin vocabulary and the various declensions, different tenses, different cases and genders, etc., etc. And then I remembered that the brains of early grammar students soak up memory tasks like sponges. I wish I had that kind of brain now!

In week 2 of my time with Third Form Latin I started in on Lesson 1, which was, again, more review, as was Lesson 2 (and I needed it!) In general, I thought I would use this format while working on the program: 

1. Watch the DVD of the instructor teaching the lesson for the week (on Monday);
2. Read the student textbook chapter for the lesson of the week;
3. Do one workbook page per day Monday through Friday and review vocabulary flash cards;
4. On Tuesday through Friday, listen to the pronunciation CD as part of the day's work;
5. On Friday, take a test or a quiz.

That was my plan, and then Lesson 1 had six worksheet pages! Saturday homework... Then Lesson 2 had seven worksheet pages! I'm not sure how the creators of the program intended this to be used... Initially I assumed one lesson per week, but that had to morph.

So my new plan was one worksheet per day, with a test or quiz on the day of the last lesson worksheet, and start the next lesson the next day with the DVD video.


Each Lesson has a saying that gets memorized with the lesson, in addition to reviewing previous sayings from previous years. I have a funny story about that. When I was almost done with Lesson 1, I ran into a friend that I know knows some Latin. Pleased with myself, I recited my saying of the week to my friend, Brett, to see if he knew it translated to, "I think, therefore I am." He had trouble with it, but eventually translated it. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that instead of saying, "Cogito ergo sum" I had been saying "Cogito est sum", which translates to mean, "I think, you are, I am." What? No wonder Brett couldn't translate it! I laughed out loud when I realized the mistake I had been making.

The Teacher Manual gives a lesson overview broken down into four numbered sections:
1) Greeting, Recitation, Review
2) Latin Saying
3) Vocabulary, and
4) Grammar - Syntax

After the teacher works through this plan each day, the student does the workbook page(s) for the day. The teacher is instructed to do a Final Oral Drill, as in previous Forms, even though this material is not included in the printed materials.

One thing I particularly love about Memoria Press Third Form Latin is the way if you've done the workbook pages, you are able to do well on the tests and quizzes!

As I initially fired up the DVD to watch the Introduction video, I found myself resistant -- the instructor in Third Form Latin is not the instructor I knew from First and Second Form Latin (Glen Moore)! I don't do change well! However, I was liking the new instructor, Kirby Owen, before the Introduction was over. 

I especially like that he speaks a little bit more slowly than the other instructor, Glen Moore. I really had difficulty keeping up with Glen Moore during recitations! So, new instructor, Kirby Owen? Check! I approve! (Don't get me wrong, I love the Glen Moore, too. I was just surprised at how easily I got over changing to a new instructor!)

I want to highly encourage all home school moms to consider studying Memoria Press Latin and teaching it to your children! Latin trains the brain and gives the student grammar and structure that helps them throughout life! It will help them with understanding the English language, it will help them throughout middle and high school, and the vocabulary structure and roots will help them score well on college entrance exams! Or, if you are just a language lover like I am, study it just to study it! I am studying Latin to do something for myself. I'm kind of a "Geek", but I love studying Latin! 

Memoria Press gave members of the Homeschool Review Crew a wide variety of products to review:

• Traditional Spelling I
• Traditional Spelling II
• Music Appreciation I
• Prima Latina
• Latina Christiana
• First Form Latin
• Second Form Latin
• Third Form Latin
• Fourth Form Latin + Henle I

To see reviews of these various products, please click the link below.