Olim Once Upon a time Level I {Review}

If you've been around this blog for a while you will know that I have been trying to learn Latin. So whenever the Crew are given the opportunity to use a new Latin program we are in there boots and all.  For the last month Nathaniel and I have been looking over Olim, Once Upon a Time, in Latin level I by Laurelwood Books.

We received two books from Laurelwood books:

• Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Reader I -  This is book one in the series.  It is A5 in size and has a soft cover. 57 pages.
  
  • It contains three fables (The Three Little Pigs{Tres Parvi Porci}, The Tortoise and the Hare {Testudo ET Lepus} and The Crow and the Pitcher{Corvus ET Urceus}). 
  • Introduction and how to use the reader
  • Latin pronunciation guide.
  • Each story is first told in English and then retold in Latin.
• Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Workbook I-   This is the workbook and accompanies reader one in the series.  It is slightly wider than A4 in size and has a soft cover. 80 pages.
  
  • It contains translation exercises for the three fables (The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare and The Crow and the Pitcher) in the reader.
  • Digging deeper notes
  • Digging for treasure notes
  • Notes for the teacher
  • Latin pronunciation guide and Roman numeral guide.

The series was conceived and written by Mary Ellen Tedrow-Wynn.
Edited by: Susan Schearer
Illustrated by Rachel Schanzenbach.

The first step is to read the story in English to become familiar with the story they will be translating. The stories are written in simpler English to facilitate the translation into simple Latin. Each page is beautifully illustrated.

Readers available in this series:
All readers have optional workbooks available for purchase.

• Reader I - The Three Little Pigs, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The Crow and the Pitcher
• Reader II - The Good Samaritan, The Ant and the Chrysalis, and The Lost Sheep
• Reader III - The Feeding of the 5000, and the Lion and the Mouse
• Reader IV - The History of Creating the World
• Reader V - We Know a Tree by its Fruit and Daniel part I
• Reader VI - The Prodigal Son

Readers VII to X due out later this year.

• Reader VII - David and Goliath
• Book VIII - Daniel part ii
• Book IX - Daniel part iii and The Miser
• Book X - The Wise Man and the Foolish Man, The Ten Maidens 

The second reading of the story is completely in Latin.  On the side of each page is a full vocabulary list to facilitate the translation and workbook exercises.

About the Workbook
In the workbook the translation exercises work both ways.  You translate Latin into English and English into Latin. This reinforces the new words you are using.  Interestingly this is the same method Nathaniel Bowditch used to teach himself Latin and other languages.

As you work your way through the exercises you will come across Digging Deeper sections.  In these sections you are given a short lesson in the grammar and rules of Latin that apply to whatever you are working with.

Olim, Once Upon a Time, In Latin Workbook I covers the following in Latin:

• Nominative & Accusative Cases
• Etymology
• Verbs
• Singular & Plural  Verbs
• Number, Case & Gender
• -Nominative
• -Accusative
• _Genitive
• _Dative
• -Ablative
• Perfect and Imperfect Past Tense
• Infinitives
• Adjective and Adverb
• Prepositions and Negatives
• Asking Yes or No Questions
• More Infinitives and Derivatives
• Answer Key

 

Littered through out the workbook is a Digging for Treasure icon.  This icon gives the student clues to solve the puzzles in the Treasure Chests.  These are bible verses which are written in Latin.  Each clue is needed in order to perform the translation from Latin into English. The layout is easy to use and spacious which makes writing in the book easy for the student to do.

Over all I thought ...
The pronunciation guide was very heavily used by us as I do not know any Latin and this is new to me.  I would love to have access to an MP3 download of the stories read in Latin as this would certainly make learning to pronounce Latin a lot easier and having the ability to follow along in the reader and practice by repeating what we hear would make process of learning Latin pronunciation easier. 

The Digging Deeper sections were well presented and we had no trouble understanding these.  We worked through them slowly and at a pace that allows us to fully grasp what we are learning.

I am thrilled to have an easy Latin reader and the workbook.  Nathaniel and I are both enjoying our journey learning to read and write in Latin.  I highly recommend these reader/workbook sets to anyone looking for Latin readers. The best part of having the reader is that it demonstrates that Latin is alive and you can read it in a book and read stories you know in Latin.  

Blessings
Chareen

If you want to try them out, Laurelwood Books is offering 

a 20% discount, good until August 15, 2016. 

Discount code: blogger121.