Note: In 2008, I took a job as a Latin and American Literature teacher at a large Christian school. The goal was to pursue my calling and do what I loved (teach) while paying the bills and finishing my doctoral dissertation. Practically my first official task was to select the textbooks and develop the scope and sequence for the high-school Latin program. The school already had middle-school Latin and one of the reasons I was hired (instead of a pure literature teacher) was to establish a high-school Latin program. I prepared this textbook review as part of that process. Looking back, I’m impressed by this. I’d forgotten how thorough and clear it was. It should be clear to anyone who reads it how heavily my approach to Latin pedagogy leaned on grammar and vocab study. That kind of study is not easy work, and it’s hard to sell to students these days (and perhaps rightly so, but that’s a different conversation). But I still believe if you’re going to study a dead language, the best way to do it is the old-fashioned way. Those Renaissance schoolmasters knew what they were about when it came to teaching Latin to young people. (DL, Sept. 8, 2021)

Goal:

The purpose of the examination process is to select a multi-year Latin curriculum for grades nine through twelve. Upon adoption, the first-year course will be held in 2008-09, with successive courses added each year until the complete cycle has been implemented.