Setting Up Your Latin Resources

Finding success in your Latin studies starts with setting up your Latin resources well. While there are many ways to set up your resource, I thought I'd share how we set ourselves up for success.

It's easier to show you than to tell you, so check out the video and then there are closer pictures to follow!

Spiral and Tab Your Henle Books

I tab the first-year Latin book by lesson on the side, and then I tab the unit vocab reviews at the top. I also tab the glossaries in the back with the Latin to English and English to Latin sections.

The blue grammar book is tabbed by topic. It pretty much just makes the outline of the book visible from the outside.

Create a Quick Reference

A quick reference is basically a journal that holds all of the information that you need to memorize in a temporary location outside of your brain until you can get it memorized! It's such a great tool for helping you get through exercises a little faster and with a lot more accuracy.

Quick Reference Latin Resource

In the quick reference, I made one spread (two pages) for each lesson. On the page, I included the basic grammar introduced in the lesson and the vocabulary.

Quick Reference Latin Resource

In later lessons, I continued to include the basic grammar from previous lessons so I wouldn't have to flip back while I was working. It was totally imperfect. (Can you find the mistake on the left side of the page below?)

Quick Reference Latin Resource

I switched from translating moneo from "I work" to "I praised" - yeah...that was a transfer from lesson 9. Oops!

Make a Binder of Grammar Resources

We fell into deep waters when we hit verbs—specifically lesson 17. Well, at least I fell into deep waters. My son started copying charts like he had done in Essentials. He had a much better understanding of verbs than I did! So I created some charts to help me learn my conjugations and declensions.

Mastery Chart Latin Resources

The charts are great for reference or copying. Here are some FREE printable charts to get you started conjugating verbs:

Latin Verb Conjugations Free Printable

I’ll send you the 40 page resource including worksheets practicing forming the six different tenses with 1st Conjugation verbs.

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    Mastery Chart Latin Resources

    I also have a section in the binder of blank black-and-white copies of the charts so we could practice our conjugating!

    Mastery Chart Latin Resources

    I also printed the charts with the 2 to 1 feature (where you shrink the pages so that two pages print on one). This allowed the charts to be used as a quick reference. The colors at the top show how each of the four principle parts are used to build all of the variations of the verbs.

    Mastery Chart Latin Resources

    Our Latin Mastery Charts are available if you'd like them for yourself!

    More Latin Helps

    So that's the basics of how we set up our resources for studying Latin. If you're looking for more help with your Latin studies at home, check out these resources, or come join us in the Latin with Andy membership site where all of our resources are included and Andy shares his love of Latin with others!

    24 Comments

    1. Emily on July 17, 2017 at 9:53 am

      Does the “Latin with Andy” subscription follow Henle? If so, how many Henle books does it go up to? Thanks!

      • Betsy on July 17, 2017 at 9:55 am

        Yes it does. Currently, we’ve just posted videos through the first 7 lessons of the first Henle book. We’re adding lessons as soon as we can, but we’ll finish the first book by April of 2018, and then start working on resources for the second year of Henle.

        • Karla K Breeden on August 3, 2017 at 6:17 am

          This is our schedule too! I’m super excited that my son will have Andy added to his Latin assistance! 🙂

    2. Meredith Henning on July 20, 2017 at 2:37 pm

      This is awesome Betsy!!! Thanks for all the great ideas for successful Latin studies <3

    3. Amy on June 6, 2018 at 1:49 am

      I love the idea of the Quick Reference Guide using a spiral notebook as I have to write down anything and everything I want/need to remember! I’m wondering though, do you include the exercises in that notebook? Or do you use the Latin Workspace? Or something else perhaps?

      Thank you!

      • Betsy on June 6, 2018 at 10:24 am

        I have a separate notebook for my exercises, or you could use the Latin workspace. The nice part about having a quick reference is that you can leave it open in front of you while you’re working. It really helps keep the grammar in front of you!

    4. Wendy on June 28, 2018 at 7:25 pm

      Hi, before subscribing I just wanted to confirm that the site covers all of the Henle book 1 concepts?
      Thanks!

      • Betsy on June 29, 2018 at 8:17 pm

        Yes it does! We’re currently working on Henle 2 resources.

    5. jenna schneitman on July 19, 2018 at 1:23 pm

      Did you take your Henle books to a local printer to spiral them or did you do it yourself?

      • Betsy on July 19, 2018 at 8:26 pm

        I took them to Office Depot!

    6. Teressa Morris on August 31, 2018 at 10:41 am

      Good morning~
      Can you tell me where you found your rounded blue tabs in your 1st year Latin book? I appreciate how they can easily be seen behind the tabs in front of them.

      Thank you!

      Teressa

      • Betsy on August 31, 2018 at 3:30 pm

        I’m pretty sure I got them at Staples. I only used them because I ran out of the other size, and I found those on clearance!! Here is something like them, but I don’t think they make them anymore. Sorry about that!

    7. Karen Mitchell on March 29, 2019 at 9:11 am

      So excited for these helpful ideas! My son starts Challenge A in the fall. We will be joining Latin with Andy then. Our Henle Latin First Year and Grammar books are spiraled and tabbed, just as you showed. I am curious, though…what size binder did you use for your Latin verbs?

      • Betsy on March 30, 2019 at 4:14 pm

        Wonderful! It’s just a basic 1″ binder.

    8. Sally Regina Lopez on May 25, 2019 at 1:12 pm

      Hello we will be entering Challenge B in the fall. However that means we will be doing a crash course of Latin A over summer. I knew it was gonna be a challenge for my Son and after exploring the web for helpful tips on learning Latin I am overwhelmed. I keep coming back to your cite it seems to be the most helpful. The charts above are they on the cite Latin with Andy? My Son is a visual learner and I believe they would be of great help for him. Any words of advise would be greatly appreciated.

      • Betsy on May 26, 2019 at 4:43 pm

        Yes! The charts are included in the Latin with Andy membership. Don’t worry too much about crash coursing in Latin. It is something that just takes time and if you feel pressure to accomplish a lot in a little bit of time, you’ll burn out very quickly. Just get started and work on it some. The understanding just comes with time! The true value of learning Latin is not the amount of passages you can translate instantly, but the endurance that comes from strenuous study! Blessings on your journey!

      • Laura Moffitt on July 10, 2019 at 9:29 am

        Just wanted to make another suggestion…If you are just entering into CC at t;he Challenge B level, I would just focus on rules and vocabulary (since this was the primary focus of Latin for Challenge A students)! All the best!

    9. Courtney on June 16, 2019 at 7:13 pm

      When having it spiral bound, is any of the text affected or is the margin wide enough?

      • Betsy on June 19, 2019 at 7:21 pm

        Margin is wide enough! We didn’t have any trouble.

    10. Justine Kresl on July 12, 2019 at 3:56 pm

      Thanks for the great info. How do I get the 2:1 verb sheet? I think that would be very helpful!

      • Betsy on July 15, 2019 at 7:07 pm

        It is just a setting when you print. Look in the scaling section of your printer screen…I have a Mac, and it’s in a drop-down menu under “layout”.

    11. […] Einrichten Ihrer Latein-Ressourcen Erfolg im Lateinstudium beginnt mit einer guten Einrichtung Ihrer Materialien. Es gibt zwar viele Möglichkeiten, Ihre Ressource einzurichten, aber ich dachte, ich würde Ihnen mitteilen, wie wir uns auf den Erfolg eingestellt haben. Es ist einfacher … Familienstyleschule … […]

    12. Debra Laney on August 10, 2022 at 1:03 am

      Hi
      May be a minor question but wondered what size of tabs is good to use for our Henle book so they don’t look too cluttered but easy for our kids to see them quickly? Thanks.

      • Betsy on August 18, 2022 at 2:29 pm

        I used tabs that were pretty small…about one inch wide and made sure they didn’t stick out too far. I’m not sure that they make the exact kind anymore, but I think you’re right! It’s easy for things to become cluttered quickly!

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