Latin!

Wow, two posts in less than a week?  What's going on?  I don't know!
In my previous post, I mentioned I was thinking of changing our Latin program and that evening I bit the bullet (or debit card as the case may be) and bought the Big Book of Lively Latin 1 download.  Holy cow!  When they say big book, they mean it.   It's seriously huge.  I've barely printed off half of it and my 1" binder is bulging.  We started working on it the next day, and guess what?  IT IS FABULOUS!  Indy loved it.  He begged to do more!  He begged to do Latin the next morning!  I have to say, it is rather fun, though I can't really pinpoint why.  I'm learning right along with him and enjoying it too.  Indy likes the worksheets (who knew?) and the audio vocabulary.  He actually asked to do the audio vocab a second time to make sure he got it.  Huzzah!  The format is engaging and not too much to handle at one time, which I think he really likes.  I only wish we'd been using this from the beginning!  The only issue we're having seems to be technical.  For some reason, on two different computer, trying 3 different browsers, the video lessons won't work.  It's very frustrating, because that's one of the reasons I wanted Lively Latin, but the company is trying to see if they can figure out why and I have to say I'm impressed with their customer service.  If you're looking for a Latin program, be sure to check this one out.  You won't be sorry.

Back in the saddle and griping about books and maybe some changes

Whew, we've had an entire month off school and now we're back!  I was worried it would be hard to get back into the routine, but we fell right back into it.  Huzzah!  This week we're learning about Robin Hood and Richard the Lion Heart (who was not a great king if you want to know the truth).  Our book of the week is Robin Hood (A Stepping Stone Book).  We've read several of the Stepping Stone Books and the more of them I read, the less I like them.  I know they are aimed at children reading them to themselves, but Indy's not at that point yet, so I have to read them to him.  They are sooooo basic in their writing and grammar.  I find it insulting to be honest.  Some of the sentences aren't even complete, but fragments.  This drives me insane.  I'm not even sure I want Indy reading them once he gets to that point.  The stories are also pretty much dumbed down and that's really irritating too.  I think I only purchased 2 other Stepping Stone Books that we haven't read yet and I'm not sure we will.  I may get different books to replace them.  Sigh.
I'm also thinking of replacing our Latin program.  Indy really, really likes Minimus (mostly because of the comic strip at the beginning of each lesson and the fact that it's based on a real family who lived in Roman Britain), and I think it's cute, but I don't have a Latin background and find it hard to teach.  I've heard a lot of good stuff about Lively Latin and like the samples I've seen online, so we may switch to this and use Minimus as a supplement once our Latin knowledge has increased.   Indy really enjoys finding words in English that are actually Latin or Latin based.  It's become like a game.  I'm glad I decided to introduce it this year.  If we can keep it up, one day he'll rock the SAT's.  :)