Purpose of this Blog

I am a chronic beginner in learning Latin.  I came to study it late in life along with my children as we homeschooled.  Except we never stuck with it very long because it seemed so daunting that we were easily discouraged.  But for some reason I remained dogged about learning it, even though it frightened me so.  I wound up taking classes with my teenagers as we homeschooled high school.  By that time though, I was in my late 40's and felt like my brain just didn't retain things like it used to when I was younger.  I have to study harder and I forget thing more easily.  But I keep trying!  So here is my next attempt.  I plan to work through this textbook, A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John F. Collins.  I invite anyone to join me, if they like.  I plan to be gentle but steady in my progress through the book.  I probably won't start into this project for real until September of 2014.

I don't even attend a Latin mass.  I counted up all the times I have been to a Latin Mass, either Novus Ordo or Tridentine, and I think I came up with eight times.  I am very attached to my own parish and it does not offer a Latin Mass.  As a family though, we tend to go to what is billed as the 'traditional choir' Mass at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings.  That choir tends to include some Latin hymns or prayers, so we do get a little exposure to Latin that way.

Over the years, I have dabbled in learning German (high school),  French (high school and then six weeks spent in France after graduation) and Italian (after college I took some adult education courses and then traveled to Italy a couple of times).  Lately, I have been dabbling in Spanish.  But in none of these languages have I ever become proficient or fluent.  Alas.

How I hope to use this blog:

1) This blog will contain my own notes on each lesson
2)  Helpful links that flesh out the lessons
3)  Some of the tougher items (at least for me) from the exercises for each lesson
4)  If anyone joins me on this quest and has questions they post in the comments, I might turn that discussion into an actual post in order to clarify or restate things.
5)  For me, I know that in order to retain all this stuff, I will need to work on it for short intensive sessions several times a week.  I can't just learn Latin once a week.  My brain simply won't remember things from one week to the next.  So I hope, ideally, to post at least 3 times a week.
6)  Also, if anyone joins me, I would try to move through the book steadily but gently over the course of an academic year.  That's the general idea.  But if it turns out we need to slow down, that's fine too.  I'd want to work as a supportive group of likeminded students.

I end this first post with this: