Reading skills are fundamental to all learning. One of the values of Latin is that studying it improves a student's ability to write and to read.  This fact means that studying some Latin is a nearly ideal vehicle for teaching basic skills. At all levels of study, I want my students to leave my class not only discovering that learning languages is rewarding, but also with improved reading and writing skills. This is an ongoing course that can be entered at any time.
      My goal as a teacher for beginners is first and foremost to engage a young student in the subject. It is necessary to balance content with some fun.  This balancing is especially important for the first sixteen lessons. 
     In my 30-year Latin teaching career in U.S. public schools, I have taught classes for beginners all the way up to teaching students who are advanced enough to read Vergil's Aeneid for IB and AP exams. Many of my past Latin students know Mr. Davidson makes learning Latin fun and rewarding. 
     If you are serious about having your child develop English vocabulary and reading skills, then this class will be very useful. Homework will take about 10-15 minutes in preparation for each class.  Student progress will be assessed through short in-class quizzes, and bi-weekly test of ten minutes designed to gauge student progress. 
     I shall be managing this class through an eight-week program of two classes at $20 per class, $40 per week.  A separate class owill be offered for students who elect to continue past these first sixteen classes.  Here are the topics for the first four weeks:
                        Week of APRIL 3 - APRIL 9: Meaning of Latin prefixes.
                        Week of APRIL 10 - APRIL 16: Focus on the meaning of Latin roots.
                        Week of APRIL 17 - APRIL 23: Learn Anatomy in Latin (hands, finger, foot, etc.).
                        Week APRIL 24 - APRIL 30: The Roman School (How Roman students learned.)
Note - I have listed four weeks of detail. Two classes meet per week. The weekly topics include two classes for each topic.  Eight classes are being described here.  In each of the first 4 weeks, the eight lessons will also include short anecdotes from Roman history and work with some English vocabulary that derives from Latin.  The goal is to make learning Latin fun and interesting. Materials will cycle every 8 weeks. There is no end date for this class. This ongoing class does not finish after a set number of classes so that student may join at any point.