Why We’re Beginning Latin in Our Homeschool

Why We’re Learning Latin

Latin can sound like an extra subject, something to add if there happens to be room in the schedule. I see it differently. There are so many places where Latin supports things the children are already learning and will continue to learn as they get older.

A tremendous amount of English vocabulary has Latin roots, particularly the more advanced vocabulary students encounter in literature, science, medicine, law, history, and theology.

Once children begin recognizing those roots, unfamiliar words are not always completely unfamiliar anymore. They may recognize a piece of the word, understand where it came from, and have a better chance of working out what it means.

Latin also gives children a very deliberate introduction to grammar. They have to pay attention to nouns, verbs, adjectives, endings, and the role each word is playing in a sentence. I like the idea of grammar becoming something they actually understand rather than simply a set of rules they use without thinking much about them.

Latin in Science, Plants, and Birding

One of the things I especially like is how often Latin appears in the natural sciences.

Plants, animals, and other living things are identified scientifically using Latin or Latinized names. Common names can vary by region and language, but scientific names give people studying the natural world a much more precise way to identify a particular species.

You see this with plants all the time. Garden centers, seed catalogs, and gardening books often include the scientific name alongside the familiar name of a plant. The same is true in biology and nature study.

It also shows up in birding. Bird guides commonly include scientific names along with common names. The American Robin is Turdus migratorius, the Northern Cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis, and the Eastern Bluebird is Sialia sialis.

I am certainly not teaching Latin so the children can memorize the scientific names of every bird or plant they encounter. I do like knowing that when they see this terminology in a bird guide, gardening book, nature study, or biology course, it will not seem quite so foreign.

That is one of the things I find interesting about Latin. It starts as its own subject, but then you begin noticing it everywhere else.

Latin as a Foundation for Language Learning

This is probably the part that interests me most.

Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian developed from Latin. English is not a Romance language, but a significant amount of English vocabulary comes from Latin, either directly or through languages such as French.

Studying Latin gives children practice looking closely at how words are formed and how languages relate to one another.

They begin noticing roots, prefixes, suffixes, and word endings. Instead of seeing every unfamiliar word as something completely new to memorize, they can begin recognizing patterns and relationships between words.

I do not expect Latin to somehow make every other language easy. I do think understanding how a language is constructed can be very helpful when learning another one. It gives children another framework for thinking about vocabulary and grammar rather than simply memorizing words and phrases.

Why We Chose Memoria Press Latin

I have been hearing about Memoria Press Latin for years. Several seasoned homeschool moms whose opinions I trust have recommended it to me at different times. It was not just one person or one conversation. The name kept coming up.

So when we decided it was time to start Latin, Memoria Press was already on my mind.

I wanted the children to actually learn the language, not just memorize a few Latin words and prayers. I like that the program builds from vocabulary and basic grammar into more serious Latin as they get older. I also like knowing that there is a clear path forward rather than having to figure out what comes next every year.

We are just getting started, so I am not going to review a curriculum we have not used long enough to really know yet. I will come back and do that after we have some experience with it.

For now, I can tell you why I chose it: homeschool moms with a lot more years of experience than I have recommended Memoria Press Latin to me more than once. Sometimes that is a pretty good place to start. That same kind of thoughtful planning is part of why I care about intentional learning and contribution-focused childhood rhythms and how they shape our children over time.

Latin Is Still All Around Us

Latin is often called a dead language, but it does not feel particularly absent once you start looking for it.

It is in the names of birds and plants. It appears throughout science, medicine, law, and theology. It is tucked inside thousands of English words and sits behind entire modern languages. For Catholics, it is also woven through centuries of the language, music, and history of the Church.

That is what makes me excited to begin. Latin is one subject on our schedule, but I have a feeling we are going to start recognizing pieces of it in quite a few other places. And as with so many things in our homeschool, I suspect the children will learn more than I originally expected.

If you enjoy reading about the ways subjects connect across family life and education, you may also like why our son trains in three martial arts and how different experiences can enrich a child’s learning in unexpected ways.