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Throughout history, the study of language was was divided into two distinct studies: Methodical Grammar and Historical Grammar. In the former, the grammaticus (Grammar teacher) taught the formal rules of Grammar. In the latter, the grammaticus guided students through the writings of the master orators, poets and historians so that students could hear and see how history's greatest speakers and writers used the language. Only the CLAA provides students with both branches of grammatical studies, without which there can be no "classical" education. Our "A" courses treat of methodical Grammar and our "B" courses historical.
In Grammar I, students receive a systematic introduction to the rules of Grammar, learning the content of the first part of the classic Grammar of Emmanuel Alvarez, S.J.. The content of our course is also influenced by the Latin Grammar of the famous Roman Varro, the Elementa of Aelius Donatus, who was St. Jerome's Latin teacher, the Brevissima Institutio by the English schoolmaster William Lilly, which was Shakespeare's Grammar school textbook and the writings of Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian.
Grammar I students are immersed in real Latin, learning how to read Latin words in the very first lesson and beginning to read the Latin New Testament in the second lesson. We do not use artificial readings, or school translations, but teach the children how to truly read and speak Latin.
When students complete Grammar I, they begin a dual study in Grammar II. Here, they continue in methodical Grammar, studying Latin Syntax and beginning Greek Grammar. However, students also begin the study of historical Grammar with the letters of the Roman orator Cicero, who is the authority on correct Latin speech.
In Grammar III, students begin the study of classical Poetry--both methodically and historically--as they studied Cicero in Grammar II.
We invite you to examine a few sample lessons available on the right. If you have any questions, contact us.
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See Sample Lesson
Grammar IIA provides students with a systematic study of Latin syntax--the art of sentence building. Having become familiar with the eight parts of speech in Grammar IA, students now learn how to rightly arrange them in true Latin construction. In this course students receive instruction and rigorous exercise in the precepts of Latin construction.
GRAMMAR IIB
See Sample Lesson
Grammar IIB provides CLAA students who have completed Grammar I with a rigorous introduction to Latin vocabulary and reading by immersion in authentic classical Latin prose--that of the epistles and philosophical treatises of Cicero. Students read a number of Cicero's familiar epistles and begin the reading of Cicero's treatment on Old Age (De Senectute).
To enroll in Grammar IIB, students must have completed Grammar IA and be progressing in Grammar IIA.
Note: Students in Grammar IIB will need a copy of Charlton Lewis' Elementary Latin Dictionary and a copy of the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible. Both of these books are available in the CLAA Bookstore. The Latin texts to be read are provided in the CLAA student lessons.
"Grammatices amor et usus lectionis non scholarum temporibus sed vitae spatio terminentur."
"The love of Grammar and the habit of reading end not with the schooldays but with the end of life."
-Quintilian
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COMMON QUESTIONS
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Recommended Reading: Why We MUST Study Greek and Latin |
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Question: My husband and I do not know Latin or Greek. Will our children be able to handle the CLAA's Grammar courses?
Answer: Yes. Face it, hardly any of the families using the CLAA program have had the privilege of studying the classical liberal arts. Like you, they are seeking something better for their children than they received themselves. At the same time, you cannot give what you do not have. The CLAA Grammar courses are written and taught so that students and parents with no background in classical languages can get along just fine--with hard work, of course.
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Question: What pronunciation is used in CLAA's Grammar courses?
Answer: Our Grammar courses are intended to make students masters of language in general and the classical languages in particular. Therefore, we begin with classical Latin pronunciation, which was the reason for many of the rules in Latin, then quickly move to Ecclesiastical Latin since we are reading the Latin New Testament. We follow the principle that, for the sake of style, every writer ought to be read with the pronunciation he himself used since that is the pronunciation he intended his writing to be heard with.
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Question: My child has already had one year of Latin using another program. Should he/she begin in Grammar I or II?
Answer: We have tried to admit students from other Latin programs into our higher level language courses and they simply were nowhere near being prepared for CLAA studies. No matter what program a child has studied in before ours, they will need to begin in Grammar I.
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Question: Is it necessary for my child to complete lessons online?
Answer: Yes. CLAA students are in touch with their instructors daily and we provide detailed assistance and immediate feedback online. On the other hand, every lesson is available in a printer-friendly format and can be studied away from the computer.
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Question: At what age should a child begin the CLAA's Grammar I course?
Answer: We have students doing well from ages 6 through 15 in Grammar I. Remember that Grammar is first in a series of classical liberal arts courses in our full classical study program, so the earlier the better. If a child is not yet able to work independently, a parent can assist with reading lessons, reciting memory work and completing online activities. The CLAA Petty School is intended for younger children being prepared for the CLAA.
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Question: When do students begin Greek?
Answer: In Grammar I, students survey all of classical Grammar--focusing on Latin. In Grammar II, students go deeper into Latin Grammar, translation and composition, and meanwhile begin the study of Greek. Because the system of Grammar used in Grammar I is universal, students will move rapidly through Greek grammar since many of the principles are already known from Grammar I.
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Question: Will my children have help with pronunciation?
Answer: Yes. Our video prelections allow the child to listen to Latin and Greek readings as they are studied. Also, each Grammar lesson includes audio recordings which allow students to hear their Grammar rules recited. Students and parents have live support help available daily through our Support Services.
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OUR STUDY MATERIALS
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CLAA students are provided with instruction that was effective for centuries in Christian schools. Drawing from the very textbooks studied by the writers on our library shelves, our students learn Grammar as it was taught by those who used it everyday. The methods of study are those time has proven to be most effective and the results are unquestionable. if you read Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian or any other classical author speaking of language instruction, you will find the CLAA to be a living example of what they're talking about.
Our Grammar lessons rely on several timeless texts. The first is the Introduction to Grammar by Emmanuel Alvarez, S.J., used for centuries by Jesuit academies and recommended by the Ratio Studiorum of 1599. The second is Father Jacob Pontanus' Progymnasmatum Latinitatis. Third is Lily's Grammar, which was the royal Grammar, used in England by nearly every English student between 1550 and 1700--including John Milton, William Shakespeare. The third is Camden's Greek Grammar, which employed the same system as the Latin Grammars for the efficient teaching of Greek. Readings are original texts from the New Testament, Cicero, Caesar and the Church Fathers. While these texts may be dated to the 15th-18th centuries, they continued a traditional of classical language instruction that was very ancient. The CLAA's materials and methods are not experiments but proven sources of classical language mastery.
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REAL CLASSICAL STUDIES
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The stuff being sold under the banner of "classical" education is shameful and embarrassing. Authors are writing books that have no historical foundation and that are completely unproven and are marketing them with an air of historicity that deceives unknowing parents and schools. True classical studies have specific goals and require specific methods because of those goals. Cardinal John Henry Newman faced the same trouble in his day that we do in ours and wrote the following:
"Nothing is more common in an age like this,
when books abound, than to fancy that the
gratification of a love of reading is real study.
...there are many, who certainly have a taste for reading, but in whom it is little more than the result of mental restlessness and curiosity. Such minds cannot fix their gaze on one object for two seconds together; the very impulse which leads them to read at all, leads them to read on, and never to stay or hang over any one idea. The pleasurable excitement of reading what is new is their motive principle; and the imagination that they are doing something, and the boyish vanity which accompanies it, are their reward. Such youths often profess to like poetry, or to like history or biography; they are fond of lectures on certain of the physical sciences; or they may possibly have a real and true taste for natural history or other cognate subjects;—and so far they may be regarded with satisfaction; but on the other hand they profess that they do not like logic, they do not like algebra, they have no taste for mathematics; which only means that they do not like application, they do not like attention, they shrink from the effort and labour of thinking, and the process of true intellectual gymnastics. The consequence will be that, when they grow up, they may, if it so happen, be agreeable in conversation, they may be well informed in this or that department of knowledge, they may be what is called "literary"; but they will have no consistency, steadiness, or perseverance; they will not be able to make a telling speech, or to write a good letter, or to fling in debate a smart antagonist, unless so far as, now and then, mother-wit supplies a sudden capacity, which cannot be ordinarily counted on. They cannot state an argument or a question, or take a clear survey of a whole transaction, or give sensible and appropriate advice under difficulties, or do any of those things which inspire confidence and gain influence, which raise a man in life, and make him useful to his religion or his country."
Cardinal John Henry Newmann
On the Idea of a University
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