LC or Henle for 10th grader?

[ereks mom]

I have no Latin in my background whatsoever, so my high school son (10th grade) and I are learning together. So far, we have:

*piddled with Latin Primer in elementary school
*used & loved David Florian's Tabula Latina: Phenomenon of Language in 8th grade
*tried Ecce Romani in 9th grade (inductive format did NOT work well for us)
*switched to John Traupman's Latin is Fun, Book I (3 more lessons to go) -- but recently came to a screeching halt when we encountered imperfect & perfect tense verbs!

I'm told that the reason we're having trouble is that, unfortunately, the programs we've used do not emphasize the importance of knowing the infinitive (which conjugation) & stem of each verb, and drilling conjugations ("chants").

We will finish up the last few lessons in Latin is Fun Book I, but after that, I don't know. I do know that we can't continue until we get the verb tense thing worked out. I am thinking of "backtracking" so we can get a better grammar foundation.

If I do that, which would of the following options would you recommend?
*start with LC I and move on to LC II (completing both by the end of this school year - 10th grade)?
*start with LC II and then move on to Henle I for the remainder of the school year? (And if this is the option, how far should we get in Henle?)
*move right into Henle I ? (Again, how far should we get in Henle by the end of the school year?)

Are there other options I should consider?

Thank you for any help you can give!

[Maria]

ereks mom,

Have you checked out [URL="http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/start_latin.html"]this[/URL]? It may be of help to you.

Given your son's background and grade level, I should think you'd be able to start [I]Henle I[/I], no problem. How much you get done would depend on what pace you set. In other words, if you follow Memoria Press's method, you'd finish the first two units in the first year. On the other hand a lot of people complete the first seven units the first year and then the last seven units the second year. You could join the Henle Latin Yahoo Group for help if you choose this latter pace. In this case, simply send an email to [email]HenleLatin-subscribe@yahoogroups.com[/email]. However, you may find that both the first pace is too slow and the second pace too fast. In this case, just go at your own pace. The important thing is that you learn Latin.

If you choose to go with [I]Latina Christiana[/I] you definitely don't want to start with [I]LC II[/I]. It would be better to start with [I]LC I[/I] and then move on to [I]Henle I[/I] without doing [I]LC II[/I].

Hope this helps,
Maria

[ereks mom]

and I am considering joining the Yahoo study group. My son enjoys Latin -- used to say it was his favorite subject -- and was doing GREAT ('A' average) until the fiasco with the imperfect & perfect tense.

I had looked at the chart you linked in your post, and had figured that Henle would probably be a good fit for us, but just wasn't sure, given that I am not proficient at Latin myself.

Thank you so much for your help.