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.
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.
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?)
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.
The charts are great for reference or copying. Here are some FREE printable charts to get you started conjugating verbs:
I also have a section in the binder of blank black-and-white copies of the charts so we could practice our conjugating!
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.
Our Latin Mastery Charts, along with the rest of our Latin resources, are available on The Rooted Minds Learning Community if you'd like them for yourself!
Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.
Does the “Latin with Andy” subscription follow Henle? If so, how many Henle books does it go up to? Thanks!
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.
This is our schedule too! I’m super excited that my son will have Andy added to his Latin assistance! 🙂
This is awesome Betsy!!! Thanks for all the great ideas for successful Latin studies <3
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!
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!
Hi, before subscribing I just wanted to confirm that the site covers all of the Henle book 1 concepts?
Thanks!
Yes it does! We’re currently working on Henle 2 resources.
Did you take your Henle books to a local printer to spiral them or did you do it yourself?
I took them to Office Depot!
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
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!
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?
Wonderful! It’s just a basic 1″ binder.
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.
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!
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!
When having it spiral bound, is any of the text affected or is the margin wide enough?
Margin is wide enough! We didn’t have any trouble.
Thanks for the great info. How do I get the 2:1 verb sheet? I think that would be very helpful!
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”.
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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.
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!