Latin Summer Camp and More

UPDATE: The summer camps are scheduled and open for registration. Also, the fall and spring courses are also opened for registration.

I am busy this week putting together Online Summer Camps for high school and middle school students. These are going to be fun yet educational courses that meet everyday Monday to Thursday for one to three weeks. I'm planning for Latin, SAT/ACT Prep, history, and apologetics. I'll have the final schedule and registration information finalized and up by Friday.

In the meantime, here is a peek at what to expect:

Latin I Camp – Introductory Level
Class dates: Mondays through Thursday, June 21 to July1, 2010
Total classes: 8
Starting time: 10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central)
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Fee: $120 for entire 8-class course. $20 early registration discount before April 30, 2010
Prerequisite: LEVEL 1 is for the novice, the student who has never looked at Latin and who is thinking about learning Latin, or for the less experienced student. Skills introduced are how to use the Latin-English dictionary, how to talk about Latin (what does declension mean? etc.), how to talk about Latin in terms of English grammar (Can the student diagram an English sentence?), i.e. basic skills for learning a language are the focus.
Course description: This camp serves as a fun introduction to the Latin language through music, poetry, and art. We will also look at the various current uses of the Latin language in scientific identification and in the Church. We will view some examples from ancient and medieval sources to see how the “old ones” used wrote it. There will be singing of chants and reciting of poetry, which will require some memorization. The focus of this course is NOT grammar or linguistics, but the focus will be on a natural and inquisitive investigation of Latin as it was and is used.
The student who takes this camp is encouraged to take Latin I in the fall.
Homework: Homework is estimated to be 1 hour per day.
Course materials: Latin-English dictionary

Latin II Camp: Grammar Intensive
Class dates: Mondays through Thursday, July 5 to July 22, 2010
Total classes: 12
Starting time: 10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central)
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Fee: $180 for entire 8-class course. $30 early registration discount before April 30, 2010
Prerequisite: LEVEL 2 assumes the student has at LEAST learned the 1st-3rd noun and adjective declensions as well as the 1st-4th verb conjugations in the Present Tense. In other words, can the student (from memory) decline a noun into all its cases and conjugate a verb into all persons of the present tense? If the student can NOT do this, he or she should not take Level 2 UNLESS he or she is up for the difficulty and work that will be involved. This will be a fast-paced camp, requiring out-of-class memorization and translation. The skill set of greatest concern here is grammar and understanding how each word in a Latin sentence functions grammatically, so the student can translate correctly later.
Course description: This camp serves as an intensive review of grammar for the student who has already had a couple of years of Latin or as an intensive introduction to the student who wishes to dive in. There will be much emphasis on the memorization of grammar rules and grammar charts as well as vocabulary, but mnemonic devices will be established during the course sessions and repeated each session to aid the student in memorization, i.e. the student will not be left alone to memorize or flounder!
As a backbone for this course, we will memorize a speech by Julius Caesar and the Creed. We will analyze the grammar of both the speech and the Creed so as to understand completely the grammar used in each. This approach will serve as a great foundation for the student wishing to continue learning Latin.
The student who takes this camp is encouraged to take Latin II in the fall.
Homework: Homework is estimated to be 1 hour per day.
Course materials: Latin-English dictionary

Latin III Camp: Translation Intensive
Class dates: Mondays through Thursday, July 26 to August 12, 2010
Total classes: 12
Starting time: 10:00 am Eastern (9:00 am Central)
Duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
Fee: $180 for entire 8-class course. $30 early registration discount before April 30, 2010
Prerequisite: LEVEL 3 assumes the student has at LEAST learned the 1st-5th noun and adjective declensions as well as the 1st-4th verb conjugations in ALL Tenses (active and passive) or has completed LEVEL 2 Summer camp. Can the student (from memory) decline all nouns and conjugate all verb forms correctly? Can the student describe a given noun or verb correctly? The skill focus in this camp is translation and composition. Can the student correctly translate sentences? Can the student correctly compose sentences? It will be fast-paced with translation and composition expected outside of class.
Course description: This camp offers three weeks of translation. The student should have a good understanding of Latin grammar and have studied Latin for a couple of years (or been enrolled in Latin Camp II). We will translate a minimum of 15 lines of Latin per hour course, and the student will be expected to translate these by the end of the course as a final exam. There will be some discussion of grammar as it is needed to understand the texts, but the key in this camp is to understanding the meaning of actual Latin texts, such as ancient poetry and prose as well as Church music and documents.
The student who takes this camp is encouraged to take Latin III in the fall.
Homework: Homework is estimated to be 1 hour per day.
Course materials: Latin-English dictionary

PS The picture is of St. Jerome, Patron Saint of Latinists.