Eccentric Eclectic Woman: Memoria Press First Form Latin Review

My family had the privilege of trying the First Form Latin from Memoria Press for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.

Memoria Press is a family-run publishing company that produces simple and easy-to-use classical Christian education materials for home and private schools. It was founded by a woman named Cheryl Lowe in 1994. They currently have preschool through ninth grade in most of their curriculum and some through twelfth grade. They also cover subjects in: Classical Core Curriculum, Latin, Classical Studies, Christian Studies, Logic & Rhetoric, Phonics & Early Reading, Penmanship, Literature & Poetry, American & Modern Studies, Writing & English Grammar, Science & Math, Greek, Modern Languages, Educational Resources, eBooks, Special-Needs, and Art & Music.

First Form Latin is a Latin grammar course for grade 4+ students that have finished Latina Christiana or students that are grades 5+ if they have not. It comes with a Student Text, Workbook, Quizzes & Tests, Teacher Manual, Teacher Key, Pronunciation CD, Flashcards, and Instructional DVDs. This course was designed for teachers with little to no background in Latin. After completing First Form Latin Memoria Press has the next course in the series called Second Form Latin. There is also a course that is for grades 1-3 called Prima Latina and a course for 3-5 called Latina Christiana that you can have your younger children do before this course, but it is not required.

The First Form Latin Student Text is a 9×7.5 inch soft cover book that is 121 pages long. It includes 34 two page lessons on facing pages. These are very concise and informative to teach the lessons in the workbook. There are also Appendices that include: Conversational Latin, Prayers, Latin Sayings, Grammar, Classical Pronunciation Guide, Oral Drills, and a Vocabulary Index. On this page there is a Student Text Sample and a Table of Contents of the Student Text in PDF format.

The First Form Latin Workbook is a spiral bound consumable workbook that can only be used by one student. This workbook consists of 190 pages with 5 units of 34 lessons total. The lessons begin with word study and grammar, sometimes vocabulary and sayings, conjugations, form drills (Latin to English and English to Latin), and end with enrichment usually. The exercises are about 4-6 pages long. It also has Pronunciation rules at the very beginning of the workbook and after all the lessons it has an Appendix with Grammar Questions and Vocabulary Drill Sheets. On this page there is a Student Workbook Sample in PDF format.

The First Form Latin Quizzes and Tests is a soft cover booklet that has reproducible weekly quizzes and unit tests that ensure material is being mastered. The pages are perforated so they can be torn out easily if needed. On this page there is a Sample Quiz in PDF format.

The First Form Latin Teacher Manual is a soft cover teacher and parent guide to First Form Latin. It is 121 pages. It consists of Teaching Guidelines: Introduction, Lesson Overview, Games and Review Activities, Developing a Syllabus, Preparing to Teach the Lesson, Sample Lesson Plan, Pronunciation; Student Text with Lesson Plans, an Appendix with Conversational Latin, Prayers, Translations, Latin Sayings, Basic Grammar with English-Latin Comparisons, Verbs, Basic Sentence Patterns, Parts of Speech, Parts of the Sentence, etc.; Oral Drills, Vocabulary, and Endnotes. The Lesson Overview Schedule consists of 5 parts: Lesson, Workbook, Oral Drill, Quiz or Test, and optional Lingua Angelica. The Lesson Plans have an opening with a Latin greeting from both teacher and student, Recitation of: grammar forms, Music and Prayers; and Review which could include Grammar Questions, Cumulative vocabulary drill with flashcards, Cumulative vocabulary drill sheets, form drills, and / or Latin Sayings. Then the lessons go on to include: Latin Saying, Vocabulary, and Grammar - Syntax. The pages of the Student Text are in miniature on the page for each lesson. On this page there is a Teacher Manual Sample in PDF format.

The First Form Latin Teacher Key is a spiral bound answer key for the workbook, quizzes, and tests. This has inset pages from the student workbook & quizzes and tests booklet with a with the answers in an easy-to-read, 2-color format. On this page there is a Teacher Key Sample in PDF format.

The First Form Latin Pronunciation CD is all vocabulary and grammar forms and the complete verbal ecclesiastical pronunciation (the way the word sounds when it is spoken) for each lesson. It has 32 parts. You can listen to a CD Sample here.

The First Form Latin Flashcards are a large stack of 3.5 x 2.5 inch pre-cut cards to help with study and memorization. It includes: vocabulary, Latin sayings, and grammar forms. These contain all the words the First Form Latin program. On this page there are Sample Flashcards in PDF format.

How The Flashcards are Laid Out:

Vocabulary (Latin, lesson number, and any derivative, on one side; English on the other)
Latin sayings (Latin and lesson number on one side, English on the other)
Grammar forms (cue word and declension or tense name on one side; Latin forms and lesson number on the other).

The First Form Latin Instructional DVDs are a set of 5 discs having a total of about 9 hours. Lessons take an average of 15-20 minutes per lesson. The teaching is done by Jessica Watson. There are on-screen notes, illustrations, diagrams, recitations, and more. This makes it easy to educate yourself in Latin. On this page there is a DVD Sample.

Teela reading the First Form Latin Student Text.

How We Used This and Our Thoughts:

We love Memoria Press and their classical christian curriculum! We have a bunch of their other studies and have found them all wonderful. We've been very blessed to have been able to also receive a number of their curriculum to review here.

First Form Latin is a fabulous curriculum for kids to learn Latin. We did this curriculum for my daughter Teela who is in 5th grade and has finished Latina Christiana last year. We did this on an average of three days per week. This classical christian homeschool curriculum is fantastic!

I found the Teacher Manual very convenient and thorough. I loved how it was laid out and how it explained things. The information is given to me, the parent and teacher, so I could teach the student in a way that we both comprehend all the information. I also liked having all the answers of the workbook, quizzes, and tests in the Teachers Key at my fingertips so I didn't have to seek them out myself.

Both DVDs and CD were very helpful tools. We started out watching the lesson for the day on the DVD. The DVDs helped me learn along with Teela. The DVDs I found especially great because of the illustrations and diagrams they used as well to clarify and explain the point better. These lessons are the perfect length as well which helps the learning happen without information overload. The CD we used to teach the correct pronunciation of the vocabulary in the student books and flashcards.

Teela working out of the First Form Latin Student Workbook.

The Student Text can be easily followed along with the DVDs and Teacher Manual. I had my daughter read the text and work from the Student Workbook after each lesson and if there were Quizzes & Tests she needed to do I would have her work out of the booklet for those. If we needed to review something it was easy to get the lesson back up on the DVD and find where the specific thing was talked about or look it up in the Teacher Manual.

Teela working with the First Form Latin Flashcards.

We also thought the flashcards were very handy to have with the set. This deck is huge and covers all of First Form Latin vocabulary. We used these as a further study and memory aid reinforcing learning the First Form Latin vocabulary. I love that I didn't have to punch out the cards or cut them out myself because this would have taken me a long time. I am glad that these were pre-cut. I also liked the fact that these had the lesson number on each card so we could reference back to it if needed.

We highly recommend First Form Latin by Memoria Press! It is a great Latin curriculum. I look forward to using other curriculum books from Memoria Press with my children in the future and after finishing the First Form Latin moving onto Second Form Latin.

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