Kennedy's Revised Latin Primer

My children (8 and 13 years old) and I (their mother) are Americans and new to learning this ancient language. It is NOT a language commonly taught in the US, thus attaining quality Latin books for the purpose of learning is rather a chore. Those few people who are familiar with Latin have raised their brows when I’ve told them we are using Kennedy’s (I bought this Revised as well as the Shorter), since (as many reviewers here state) it is a very technically heavy piece of Latin tutelage, especially for beginners. That being said, this book has proven to be indispensable in our studies; the book already turns to page 64 without effort, we refer to it so often. We are learning with a tutor in England (the beauty of technology!) on a weekly basis, and his style of teaching is strictly Classical. My 8-year old is grating against the unfamiliar teaching style, while my 13-year old is progressing quickly. I’m taking lessons as well, to support to my children’s learning (mostly explaining things to the 8-year old) and to expand my own intellectual capacity. As a working mom, I’m finding the rigor of Latin to be a refreshing shift from my professional life as well as from the responsibilities of single parenthood. I know this may sound odd, but learning Latin in our little family trio has been a bonding experience as we conjugate verbs, from the present to the pluperfect, as we make meals or take a walk. Who knew we’d so thoroughly geek out on this ancient language? This primer is an absolute “must have” in our Latin toolkit. According to our tutor, it is in keeping with the original. Its revisions are mostly along the lines of making the language more accessible to the contemporary ear, but content has remained largely untouched. That this book has continued to be in print for over 120 years I believe attests to its value as a learning tool.

So far the methodology seems straight forward. Easy to follow.

Excellent reader experience

This book, while perhaps not the most exciting you’ll ever read, is an absolute jewel and necessity for any student of Latin. It helped me so much at university and was my best friend during that time!

The book is well organized , making it easy to access topics.