Vocabulary Victory: Latin

Q. What's the best way to beef up my daughter's vocabulary?

Teach her Latin. Most educators believe that the fundamentals of English are well enough in place by about third grade to start a second language. And actually our "first" language, Latin, is more important for youngsters to know than Spanish, French or German, since it's the basis for most all western languages. But since relatively few people know how to teach Latin any more, falsely believing it to be a "dead" language, it's not often taught systematically in organized schools.

But there's a growing interest in Latin instruction, especially among homeschoolers, because of its amazing power to build a student's vocabulary. The study of Latin is tied to higher scores on the language-based parts of standardized tests, and is a tremendous foundational tool for any young person.

The reason: Latin teaches the roots of a host of English words. Equipped with that skill, a child's spelling improves immensely. Latin grammar also aids kids with English grammar, which is important since so few English teachers use basics such as sentence diagramming any more.

If you can afford it, find a Latin tutor for your child, any time during the K-12 experience, but preferably before the college admissions tests of high school.

Or you can tutor your child in Latin, and learn it right along with your child, with Prima Latina by Leigh Lowe (www.VeritasPress.com). It's billed as a primer for adults and children with no background in Latin, and the pupils can be as young as second grade. There's a student book, teacher book, audio CD, and a three-DVD set.

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Homework: There are lots of ways to home-school or "after-school" your child in a specialized subject such as Latin, which is rarely offered in public schools or most private schools. It's never too late to start, either. A good introductory textbook for this purpose that appears geared more toward the middle-school or high school student is Latin Grammar I by Anne Myers, available from the bookstore at www.ClassicalFree.org