A questioned that I get asked all the time. Why my kids are learning Latin?
One of the reasons I’m homeschooling the kids is having flexibility in learning. Did you know English language is heavily influenced by Germanic language and Latin vocabulary? I remember when I was first learning English, I was looking up a word in the dictionary, almost all the time there was a Latin form. I didn’t understand the reason then, but I understand it now. Science and Law has so many text words in Latin and this is because our English language is changing all the time. The Latin language never changes. In English for example, the word “cool” was only used to describe the temperature years ago. Now, “cool” also means neat or great. Neat can also mean tidy and clean. Latin is helpful to scientist because the Latin words they use to name things do not change.
English is my 3rd learned language as I learned it from age 9 and have been speaking and studying the longest. Considering the language is my strongest, I still struggle with so many grammatical, vocabulary and just understanding the concept of the Western origin language. Well, there are probably other reasons that can contribute to in why I struggle in this, but I’m not going to discuss my problems here. I did find a solution that would help with my children in learning and understanding the language from the core and not repeat the same mistakes I made. The study of Latin.
Here are my top 5 reasons why we study Latin:
- Mental Acuity– Latin helps exercise the brain. It helps them to be detail oriented and to think in a systematic manner. Latin is the only language that is like math. This is because Latin has much more in common with the structure of mathematical logic.
- Study of English Vocabulary– Over 60% of the English words come from Latin. Just last week we were traveling in the plane and Nico asked what is lavatory mom? Eleni, immediately said, lavo in Latin means I wash, English derivative is lavatory so it must means bathroom. So many root words like this gives the kids new meaning and purpose of the language. I now have kids getting excited of knowing where these vocabulary originally comes from and I’m excited that this teaches them to be more precise with the words usage and would make them a better speaker and writer.
- English Grammar – Latin are particularly excellent at training students to identify and think about parts of speech and precise functions of words, which is about 80% of grammar.
- SAT– Helps score higher in reading comprehension, vocabulary and problem solving.
- Foreign Language– Helps the child for the study of other foreign languages like, French, Spanish and Italian.
I think the above is enough benefits so why not? We are on our 2nd year and loving it.
