First and Second Declension Adjectives

[kristenva1]

In First Form Lesson XVIII, the Teacher Manual recommends that the students memorize the adjectives in horizontal rows. I have noticed that when most of my students in our homeschool group complete their workbook pages on the adjectives, they still fill in the charts vertically for each declension as they did the nouns they have already memorized.

How much should I stress that they do it horizontally for the adjectives?

[pschaeffer]

We recommend learning the adjectival forms horizontally to help the students differentiate between nouns and adjectives and prepare them for pronouns. Later, when they learn the 3rd declension, knowing the endings horizontally will help them remember that agreeing in person, number, and case, does not necessarily mean the same ending.
However, some programs suggest learning horizontally while others do not. I would say that if they already have them memorized "vertically", don't enforce confusion.
The best way to encourage the horizontal method is by doing frequent recitation and insisting from the beginning that they recite them horizontally.

Paul