Introduce your child to Latin and the culture of Roman Britain.
As a home schooling parent, I was faced with the question of which language to teach my two children. They were already introduced to speaking basic German and French, as well as Pennsylvania Dutch phrases, but I felt that maybe I should give them a more serious study into a classical language: Latin.
My search began. Almost immediately I felt as though I was embarked on an impossible mission to find a book that would introduce elementary-aged children to classical Latin. Many Latin books were geared towards high school and college students and I didn’t have the time needed to prepare my own Latin curriculum from scratch. Some Latin textbooks were religious, and I feel that I need to keep religion out of our educational activities.
Just as I was about to walk away from the idea of teaching my children Latin, I stumbled across Barbara Bell’s Minumus: Starting out in Latin (Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-65960-4) on Amazon.com. This was the book I was looking for.
Minimus is an instructional picture book that teaches children how to converse in Latin while, at the same time, it shows how people lived in the Roman Empire. This book covers such topics as basic introductions, food and dining, work, and even military commands. Connections are also made between Latin words and modern English which helps children in their language arts studies by showing them how to break down words and find root words.
For parents who have had no experience in speaking Latin, Minimus presents little challenge. The Latin words are written phonetically. You may still need a Latin dictionary to further help with pronunciations, and there are free online Latin resources available for use.
