Home School High School Latin- Can Parents Teach What They Don't Know?

Many home school moms express disbelief whenWheellocks' Latin and couldn't even BEGIN the
I tell them we taught Latin in our homeschooling.first chapter in that one. I believe that Latin Road
It is possible if you do it one step at a time. Evenis for 5th and up, but you'd have to check the
if you don't speak Latin casually around the dinnerwebsite.
table, you are capable of doing this! Teaching LatinWe were afraid when we started Latin! I would
is like following complicated directions in a recipe.look at the book and, well, it was all Greek to me!
The reason is the great curriculum that is availableBut we kept plugging away and we eventually
for home schoolers. Home school curriculum"got it."
generally assumes that the parents don'tNow, looking back having graduated two sons
necessarily have a background in the subject, sofrom home school, Latin was a great idea. My
it is designed to be self-teaching. Self-teaching is aoldest son loved it because he is mathematically
valuable life skill that we want to encourage in ourminded and Latin is a very logical, mathematical
teens.language. My youngest son took his three years
Teens who learn to teach themselves in highof Latin and was able to place into Junior year
school are better prepared for college life. InLatin in the university. He has continued to take
college, professors assume students can read andLatin every quarter throughout his undergraduate
distill large quantities of information without a lotcareer. The skills they developed in learning Latin
of hand-holding. Self-teaching curriculum giveson their own served them well in all their college
students the responsibility to figure things out,studies - not just Latin.
using the tools at hand. Mom and dad take a stepLatin is a great subject for home schoolers. You
back and let their child work through the issues.don't need to be afraid of it at all! In addition to
We used Latin Road, and they assume that 1)being the basis of many other languages, choosing
you're homeschooling and 2) the teacher is aa self-teaching Latin curriculum can provide
mom who doesn't know Latin. We looked atbenefits well beyond high school.