As some of you read a while ago we, Z and I, reached a Latin compromise. I thought it would be The Great Latin Compromise of 2012. Instead it is becoming The Great Latin Debacle of 2012. Z is stubborn, which is not surprising, it's genetic. He gets it from, well, everyone, every side of the family is known for their ability to hold their ground. I consider this a good thing most of the time. He is not easily swayed by others and has no problem speaking his mind when appropriate.
I've always known that homeschooling high school will be something different. As Z would say, it's unique, like everyone else. I want him to have special experiences that help define who he is. I remember years ago, eons ago, picking classes for high school. I took every history, creative writing, and art class I could, because I wanted to bask in those subjects. I'm still interested in them. I also took four years of Spanish, partially it was the most exotic language (French didn't hold the same appeal for me), partially because the teacher made the class fun. She brought a passion to the teaching of a language that was part of her culture.
Which brings me to my next point, passion, Now Z isn't passionate about math at this current stage, but he knows he'll have to study it for four more years. He's also not passionate about Latin anymore and has brought it up recently. Yesterday, prompted by a question by another homeschooling mother, I brought it up again. There is only so much time in the day. I'm also in a believer of guarding creative free time. Z is currently exploring computer programming in his spare time. He's watching tutorials, reading books, and practicing.
With only so much free time and this fresh conversation, I am considering dropping Latin. Well I'm not, I'm enjoying my study, but Z wants to drop it as a part of our high school study. That would push the priority language to Japanese, which will thrill him to no end. Last fall he expressed an interest in the future to explore Russian and German. Our Japanese study is a three year study minimum, easily stretching to four by adding some literature and cultural studies. Knowing that three languages is probably too much for us, he put Russian on the list first. I was planning on starting in 11th grade and doing a two year study. After our conversation yesterday I'm considering adding a half credit study next year, calling it Introductory Russian.
I stumbled upon a few great websites that would provide grammar, vocabulary, and audio training enough for at least a semester (probably more). That would give us enough exposure to see if he wants to do a full study or try German.
I leaning towards allowing this, even though it means letting go of something I deem important. But we've discussed his desire to learn multiple languages, I understood we were headed this direction anyway. It's just happening sooner. My compromise is that we do a root study as part of the English credit. We haven't done Greek roots yet and we'll just add some more Latin to those.
Once again I line up his classes for next year and I see the cusp of the adult he will become, very art and language centered with technology thrown into the mix. It fits. When I initially discussed dropping Latin yesterday I told him he'd have to choose another half to full credit class. I listed some items I had planned for following years and he hesitated or said no immediately. When I landed on the Introductory Russian, he immediately said yes.
I'm already envisioning our Japanese hiragana & katakana on a posterboard on the wall. (Kanji is later years in our curriculum). I know see the Russian alphabet alongside that. Maybe we'll add some Elvish script underneath that, or perhaps some Klingon, or maybe we'll add our own alphabet we're working on. Even I'm getting a little excited about learning Russian. We'll invite my mom up to watch Dr. Zhivago one day, we'll add in some Russian Fairy Tales. Yeah, this fits.
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