Could Ludere Latina be used as a "bridge" course?

My son completed Prima Latina in 1st grade, and LCI in 2nd. Although he has the material down cold, I am concerned that LCII would be a bit much for third grade. I don't want him to forget all that he has learned by taking a year off, so I'm thinking of having him use Ludere for 3rd grade as a refresher workbook (along with reviewing the LCI DVD), before doing LC II in 4th. Does this sound reasonable? If not, do you have a better suggestion?

Thank you,
Wendy



P.S. I have to let those at Memoria Press know that Leigh Lowe is well-loved. My little guy said that he plans to marry her when he grows up, because she is beautiful, nice and VERY smart. He was quite disappointed when I told him that she is already married, but he said that her husband is very lucky.

I'm afraid I can't answer your Ludere questions, since I don't have it myself... I *was* going to encourage you however that LC2 might be just fine to do with your 3rd grader. I recenly began using it with my son who will be a (young) second grader in the fall. It's clear to me that we'll be taking it a little more slowly than we did Prima Latina and LC1, but even so, I think it's completely useable.

At the very least, I would continue with regular grammar "recitations" (and prayers and vocabulary) for whatever period of time you take off from your LC studies.

We're also enjoying reading through Salvete (from Cambridge -- it's out-of-print, but by keeping an eye out at Amazon marketplace and eBay, I was able to find reasonably priced copies of both volumes and the teacher's manual) as a supplement. It's a reading course for middle elementary students. I would consider it weak on its own, because there is almost no grammar (and what their is is introduced in a less than systematic manner), but as a supplement to LC, it's been thoroughly enjoyable. Ds feels like he's really *reading* Latin, the stories are appealing to a young boy, and it covers a lot of Roman life and culture.

I just thought I would mention that as another option. It's worked well for us to do alongside LC2, so we don't notice (and get bored by) the slower pace we're using for LC2.

[Leigh Lowe]

Thanks for the question...
Ludere Latina is really just a supplement of games and activities for Latina Christiana and does not offer any instruction. It is intended primarily as extra practice and review.

I agree wholeheartily with abbeyej that you should consider trying Latina II. If your son has been successful with LC I, he should be prepared for LC II, even if you decide to alter it a bit for your young student. If you are concerned about pace, I think the more fruitful course of action would be to use LC II for two years rather than taking a year off Latin grammar.

HTH,
Leigh

P.S. Thank you for the compliments on the DVDs - it's nice to have an audience that's easy to impress