The Latin-Centered Curriculum

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you were asking for, and I'm certainly no expert, but my son and I both make the most progress when we're just consistent with our lessons. And this is something I've learned from teaching my oldest, because I certainly didn't do this in school myself. ;) But I think consistent daily work is the key, especially for languages. (And keep in mind that I'm not claiming to do this perfectly myself.)

My Latin studies go best when I put *some* time into them every single day with lots of review work. We make memory cards that we can flip through for study for my son, so I started doing the same for myself. When attempting to memorize new material, our goal is to read through the material several times a day until memorized. (We do three times a day for poetry, etc., but we do something more like five to ten times a day for learning a new declension or something of that nature since it takes so little time.) Once the material is memorized, we try to mix things up some by choosing different vocab words to decline/conjugate. We're also going to add to our review by asking for more specific information instead of just declining a noun or conjugating a verb (i.e. name the genitive plural of puer, or name the third person singular of amo) so that we can get to the point where we don't have to mentally decline puer completely to figure that out.

So to me, it's not really about what you think you remember from what you studied today. It's more about picking the books up again *tomorrow*, reviewing the grammar and vocab, and building onto what you've already learned even when you're not sure you actually learned anything. :) I often feel like that, but then a week later I feel that way about the new material and the stuff from last week is coming to me much easier.

I hope that maybe that helps some.

Hi, Carie!

Right now I'm not quite sure what you need right now. Is it a problem with remembering what you've learned? Is it a problem with understanding? Is it self-discipline? Is it all of the above, or is it something else entirely?

All I can really suggest is that you buy some study books and study guides and put them into practice. I'm not sure what you need, but I can list the books that I use. For learning how to study that is customized to how my brain works, I refer to You Are Smarter Than You Think! If you know anything about Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences you will love this book -- and learn how to study!

Also, you need a plan about what to study and in what way. If I were you, I would create my own syllabi or overall plan or find a premade one. Keep it flexible in case the pace turns out to be too slow or too fast. I use Henle First Year and the Memoria Press guides to it. It works for me.

Good luck with everything. I hope this helps a little.