Homeschool problems

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Homeschool_gal77

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So I’m homeschooled and the syllabus is have doesn’t give us a study guide to study for tests. So what I did was I went to the quiz, but covered up all the questions and just looked at the top in what it said to do. Ex: I take a latin course and it said at the top of each section a different thing to do. So decline, translate, match the vocab, and parse the following nouns. I tried to not look at the questions, but I did see one question, but I already knew the answer to it and how to do it. I thought if I just looked at the first test- that would be the layout for the rest, but the next test I took was different because in this test I had to identify parts of speech- which I didn’t know. So whenever I take a test I would just look at the top of the sections and then study all the vocab, all the declensions, and how to parse nouns, but i did not know which vocab or which declensions would be on the test. I just looked back over the past week and studied the all vocab and all the declensions we had in that week. Would this be cheating? Another example: I am taking a quarter assessment now so i looked at the test, but tried to cover up all the specific words and declensions I needed to know and saw decline, translate, vocab, and parse the nouns. So I’m studying all the vocab in the first quarter, all the declensions in the first quarter, etc etc.
 
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I’m pretty worried cause I just realized now after taking quizzes and making a very long study guide. Each test could be different, but they don’t give us a study guide so its not like I would even know the layout or what I should do. I don’t really even have a teacher that I could ask what to study for.
 
Thing is, the study guide is called the coursework. If you study well each lesson, do the work, you will learn.

Our view of education has moved from one where the goal was to learn the subject, dig in, explore and absorb to “teaching to the test”. Get a study guide and you are going to memorize what is on the test, but, not truly learn the basics of Latin.

Take my word for it, learning the basics of Latin will serve you well all through life.
 
Well, partly. The second quiz I took had to identify parts of speech. I didn’t know what that meant. I looked up what it meant and it turns out I already studied the parts of speech- I just didn’t realize that was what I was doing. It didn’t really come up as I was creating the study guide. Having a study guide given to you would be helpful so I actually know what I’m studying. I think the best way to describe what I’m doing is: I now know the layout of the test, but I do not know the specific things that are on the test. When I went to public school teachers would tell me that it would be an essay test. They also told me what I could make the essays about. Ex: the past revolutions and wars. So i knew that I had to study all the revolutions she gave us to study, but I didn’t know which one I had to write about.
 
Maybe a Latin tutor would help?

When I homeschooled (back before the earth cooled) and we had an assigned teacher who corresponded with us via mail (again, olden days). Sometimes another human is needed to help learn.
 
Ugh! Latin destroyed my GPA in undergrad. 🙂 It didn’t help that I spent the first semester trying to decline my Latin nouns with Spanish verb endings… or that I couldn’t keep my tenses straight (imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, etc). Not to mention 90 different ways of declining an adjective, depending on gender/number/how it’s used. 🙂

So-- ignoring the sin question-- what course are you using?

What you need to know is not just the answers to the test, but you need to know your English grammar forwards and backwards as well, so that your Latin grammar makes sense. We’re so used to taking English for granted, we can consciously think “I’m speaking in the future tense” when you’re talking about something that will happen, but you don’t consciously identify imperfect/perfect/pluperfect/future perfect in the same way, etc.

So, learning a foreign language is a good way to understand what’s going on in your native tongue. But if you don’t have a good grasp of the mechanics of your native tongue, it makes it difficult to comprehend the shades of difference in a Latin word conjugated one way versus another one. It just turns into meaningless endings.

If you’re not solid, it doesn’t matter if you pass the test or not. Your reality will be, you’ll have a weak and imperfect grasp of Latin. If you are solid, then you’ll be able to use it fluently when you need to, and it will benefit you for whatever purpose you’ve chosen to make the effort to study it.
 
If your parents are homeschooling, perhaps they can be the ones to review the tests and make study guides and let you know the kinds of things you will be asked to do on tests.

If the course provider can’t give you more direction, your parents need to do so.
 
I’m using two books called first year latin. It says Henle and Loyola press on the side. It’s pretty good I think. My study guide does have declining the words which i need to know. I think the first art of the book brushes on the tenses, but is majorly focusing on declensions, rules, gender, and learning the vocab. I’m guessing further into the book gets more into that stuff. I’m also only on my first year of latin.
 
That will be kind of tough for me. I have a single mom and she works a lot. I could ask her for future reference, but she has a lot on her plate. I will ask her tonight and we can make a plan for it. Thanks for the advice!
 
I can probably get a latin tutor next year. I’m wrapping up this year and i plan to be finished by the end of July. I could probably ask for more help next year.
 
Henle is solid, but it’s pretty rigorous, as I understand. We used Miller’s and Wheelock’s in undergrad.

You might pick up something like Cambridge Latin Course (meant for high school students) (or even Minimus, which is the elementary-kid version) if you find yourself struggling, but don’t want to drop it entirely, and you just want something a little fluffier and slower.

If you get a good grip on your Henle, you’ll be able to handle anything anyone will throw at you. But if you find it more frustrating than fulfilling, and you don’t have any plans of being a Classics major, you might bump down a level or two to get something where you still get a good introduction to Latin, but perhaps in a gentler way.
 
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I will look into those. I think ill stick with Henle, but I can definitely use those if i want to do extra in the summer or just so I can understand it better. Thank you!
 
Are you homeschooled through Seton Home Study School, by any chance? Reason being, that’s what I’m homeschooled through and the explanations of the Latin tests sound a lot like the ones I take and what I’ve found is that your parents, being your primary teachers, can give you permission to do them open book and the test will still be valid without any danger of cheating.
 
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I do not do seton hall, but i will ask my mom about open book tests
 
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