Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Latin & 4 Years Olds: An amusing combination!

Perhaps I'm just being an overly proud parent, but I felt compelled to share my son's experience with Latin here. In order to help reinforce the grammar and vocabulary I have been teaching my 4 year old son the Latin as we learn it in class.

He's grasping the grammar fairly well thus far and is getting a huge kick out of the noun cases and suffixes; his name is Augustus and he was positively tickled to be able to decline his own name in Latin. There is another little boy in the class named Augustus (what are the chances, eh?) and my son told me in the car with great pride Tuesday afternoon that his class has "duo Augusti." As a result, my husband is teasing me for dooming our son to becoming a "dorkus maximus." :grins:

I am very pleased that we are starting the 3rd declensions now, so I can get him to refer to me as "mater" (and its associated cases) instead of "Sara" or "Saram." (It is hard to get on his case for calling me by my first name when he's actually using the accusative correctly; after all, I'm pretty sure I would have figured an accusative to be tattling on someone at the age of 4).

Anyway, I am probably just being overly silly with my ramblings on this subject. :smiles:

4 comments:

E Pluribus Unum said...

Awwww! Sara, that's so cute!! How wonderful!

~Rachael

E Pluribus Unum said...

Sarah?

As in Sarah C.?

Tu es mater Augusti quattuor annorum, parens bona, matrona nupta in coniugio?

WOW.

I love my students! You guys have all my respect and then some! Bring it Sarah, prep the next generation of Latinists!!

Mox,

EM.

E Pluribus Unum said...

oh my goodness that is so cool!! you have a smart kid! :) love it!
-Brandi

Sara C. said...

Aw, thanks! When I can borrow my brother's digital camcorder, I will definitely post a video of his Latin "skillz." :)

He especially liked doing the dialogue translation from pages 46-47; he now wants to get a dog so it can visit him at school too.