Latin

Latin, which is often referred to as “the lost tool of learning”, at once substantially benefits our children in English and provides a meaningful foundation for learning any other Romance language, including the Spanish and French our students are offered in upper middle school and in high school.

Noted below are a few of the more prominent benefits that our Latin program is already providing and will continue to provide in the future.

1. Research-based evidence suggests that Latin expands reading skills, vocabulary, and facility with language.

2. Latin provides understanding of how language works, with particular application to the structure of English.

3. Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes have the keys to unlock the meaning of countless English derivatives and cognates.

4. Latin exposes students more substantively to Western culture. For centuries in Western culture all young people who attended schools, or those who were privately educated, followed a liberal arts curriculum, with particular emphasis on the Latin language. Some of the greatest books ever written, to which translations cannot do sufficient justice, are in Latin.

5. Latin measurably improves both students’ foreign language aptitudes and native language phono-logical measures over those not taking Latin.

Elementary students in second through fourth grades (2014-2015 will include Latin in first grade) have a two-day per week exposure to Latin with our Latin teacher, Ms. Gregg.  Each class currently takes Latin for thirty minutes twice a week. 

We are pleased that the Lord has enabled us to begin this Latin offering. We trust that He will continue to bless this exposure to the benefit of your children.

 Leanna Gregg

 Latin Teacher