I am thrilled with the content of your book Teaching the Trivium. I have been searching for such a method of teaching and now that I have found it, I am trying to figure out how to implement it! We began homeschooling just this year and I have been diligent in reading all I can in trying to formulate our methods. I have been drawn particularly to the Charlotte Mason methods, Ambleside Online and now to your book. Our children are ages 7 and 10 and I feel we are beginning too late to incorporate all the richness you have brought forth in your text! Our son will begin Latin this coming year but so far we have only been working on root word studies with both of them. I suppose my question is….how can a regular mom, with regular demands upon her life, do so much towards teaching her children? (I am speaking mainly on learning Greek, Hebrew and/or Latin here). I am not well versed in the knowledge of foreign language and I often question the need to learn so much of same when there are so many other things to impart to our young ones. Sincerely, JA

I think you’ll find there are a lot of regular moms here, self included. Harvey and I first met in a Greek class in college in 1973 — I quickly dropped out as it was too difficult for me. Harvey has always taken over teaching the children Greek up until they were old enough to teach themselves. I did the Latin with them, although I know it was a struggle at times to keep up, what with all the other things on my plate at the time. We never tried Hebrew, except that Johannah learned the alphabet in order to write her Little Bitty Baby Learns Hebrew. So, if you are thinking that you MUST teach the children Greek, Latin, and Hebrew all at the same time with no help, then, yes, that would be overwhelming.

I suggest you pick one language, and start with that. Latin is easier than Greek, although, for us, Greek seemed more important. Perhaps you see more value in Latin and so would want to start there. Find a curriculum which is self-teaching so you can learn it along with the children without the help of an instructor. Then later, if your husband is willing to help in the language department, perhaps your family can tackle a second language. It is the rare family which will master all three languages beyond the dabbling stage. But as far as being a regular mom, I can only offer myself as an example. I have no particular aptitude in languages or logic (it took me 5 passes — 5 kids — through the Critical Thinking books to finally get it). Science and history were adventures the children and I went on together. Literature was learned on a couch — I wonder exactly HOW many hours I read aloud over those 25 years.