How to Find Time for Latin

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How do you find time for Latin in a busy homeschool day?

You’re convinced that Latin is important. Whether or not your kids ever reach the pinnacle of Latin success and actually read Roman literature in the original Latin, you’re going to at least start on the journey. The only question is, where do you find time for Latin?

A normal homeschool week has reading, writing, math, history, science, art, music, co-op, sports, dance, and other activities. Perhaps if you give up sleep, you might be able to fit Latin into your homeschool.

But who wants to give up sleep and deal with tired, crabby children and day?

Prioritize Latin

Quite frankly the best way to find time for Latin is to make time for Latin. That means you must sit down and re-prioritize your homeschool. Latin needs to claim its place among the vital skill subjects. The ones you do regardless of all else: reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Now it’s Latin, reading, writing, and arithmetic.

It’s the only way to fit Latin into your day. If you give it a place with the content subjects such as art, history, science, nature study, geography, or music, Latin will never get done. It will end up shuffled into the no-man’s land of tomorrow.

How many times have you said that to yourself? Tomorrow I will do that awesome science experiment I read about. Tomorrow I will scrub my house and organize my closet. Tomorrow I will bake that awesome Pinterest cake I saw. Tomorrow Latin will get done.

Once in a while, we may actually do that science experiment or scrub our house. However, I know I rarely actually do many of the things I promise I will do tomorrow.

Don’t do that to Latin. Make it a priority today. Put Latin first thing in the morning. Add the Latin chants you need to memorize to your morning routine.

Enjoy the content subjects in the afternoon or late mornings. Read books about nature study, music, and history. Spend an afternoon concentrating on history projects or science experiments.

Keep Latin in its place with the essentials. Study Latin in the morning when you’re fresh, either just before or just after math. You’ll never make the mistake of postponing Latin until tomorrow.

Keep Lessons Short

Along with prioritizing Latin in your school day, keep your lessons short. That means don’t spend an hour or more on Latin unless you have an enthusiastic high school kid.

Complete a short drill to master the conjugations and declensions. Focus on making small baby steps in Latin every day. Latin is like homeschooling and parenting. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

You simply can’t spend 24 hours cramming Latin into your brain and walk away speaking Latin. The foundation must be laid slowly and surely.

Spend a few minutes Latin every day for a short period of time and you’ll be amazed at how far you progress over a year. The goal is to enjoy the educational journey we’re traveling. Learn and model learning for our children. It’s not to burn our kids out before they’re teenagers.

Commit to doing Latin every single day you do math. You’ll find the time for Latin and be amazed at the progress you make as you slowly inch forward in your studies.

How do you find the time for Latin in your homeschool?

Join us for 5 Days of Latin
Day 1: Why Study Latin
Day 2: Top Ten Tips for Teaching Latin
Day 3: Latin Curriculum Roundup
Day 4: How to Find Time for Latin
Day 5: 40 Latin Resources for Your Homeschool


4 Comments

  1. Definitely keeping Latin study early in the morning when you are fresh makes a huge difference! I also like the idea of prioritizing Latin with all the other core subjects. If you want to get it done, it’s important to bump up its priority. Great tips!

    1. Prioritizing Latin with other core subjects has made the difference for us. When it’s connected to math, Latin is studied more consistently! 🙂

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