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Visual Latin 1 & 2
- Age: 10+
- 1 Full Credit
Master a difficult subject and make it enjoyable with our entertaining Visual Latin curriculum. Laid out in a clear, natural pace, Visual Latin is a simple addition for your homeschool family. Parents love Dwane Thomas’ unique teaching style and use of humor to solidify memory – transforming students into Latin speakers and readers for over 15 years.
Description
Dwane Thomas is a Latin magician: he’s spent over 15 years turning students into Latin speakers and readers. His secret? He’s one of those unique teachers who makes learning difficult subjects fun and enjoyable. Thousands of children have already been transformed through his magic: let yours be next.
Some unique benefits to Visual Latin:
- Uses a combination of short videos and worksheets for different learning styles
- Keeps children engaged through clear explanations and fun humor
- Includes Latin translations of simplified Vulgate Bible in every lesson
- Combines the best aspects of the natural and traditional methods of learning
Visual Latin includes:
- 3 videos per lesson covering Grammar, Sentences, and Reading (~26 Hours Total)
- PDF Worksheets
- Weekly Quizzes
- Vocab Lists
- Quizlet Vocabulary Flashcards Online
- Teacher’s Guide with Scope and Sequence
Note: Dwane Thomas uses ecclesiastical pronunciation in Visual Latin. For an explanation of the differences, watch this video.
Make sure to visit our Resources page for additional Latin learning materials.
License: This product is licensed for use by one family. For group, co-op, or school use, each family will need to purchase a copy or purchase licenses for each student. For more information, visit our group license page.
Additional information
| Age | 10+ |
|---|---|
| Age/Grade | |
| Credit | 2 HS Foreign Language |
| Credit Amount | |
| Lessons | 60 |
| Lesson Length | About 8 minutes |
| Teacher | Dwane Thomas |
| Format | DVD, Download, Streaming, USB Thumb Drive |
| Runtime | 25 Hours, 48 Minutes |
| Addl Mtls | Student and Teacher Books (PDF or Physical Books) |
| Type |
Lessons
Visual Latin 1
A. Why Study Latin? (11:09)
B. How Visual Latin Works (6:19)
1. Being Verbs Basics | To Be and Not to Be (20:09)
2. Being Verbs Basics | Predicate Nominatives and Adjectives (16:28)
3. Gender | Boy Words and Girl Words (18:12)
4. Singular and Plural | E Pluribus Unum (21:14)
5. Declensions | Meet the Cases (21:50)
6. Adjectives Learn to Agree with Nouns (22:38)
7. The Case Files | Nominative and Genitive (24:24)
8. Counting to 10 in Latin (24:53)
9. Active Verb Basics | Indicative Mood (25:02)
10. The Case Files | Accusative (23:41)
11. The Case Files | Vocative (21:43)
12. Changing Your Moods | Imperative & Indicative (25:10)
13. The Case Files | Ablative (22:14)
14. Meet the Pronouns & Question Words (25:29)
15. Pronouns | Relative (28:11)
16. Accusing Prepositions of Accusative Case (23:02)
17. Verbs | Active & Passive (23:59)
18. The Case Files | Dative (23:52)
19. Pronouns | 1st & 2nd Person Personal (23:25)
20. Pronouns | 3rd Person Personal (24:48)
21. Pronouns | Demonstratives: this, these (22:22)
22. Pronouns | Demonstratives: that, those (26:35)
23. Pronouns | Relative and Interrogative (22:48)
24. Pronouns | Possessive (23:51)
25. Nouns | 3rd Declension – Regular and i-stem (22:22)
26. Verbs | Infinitives – Active and Passive (18:34)
27. Verbs | Infinities – Ability, Negation & Indirect (23:35)
28. Nouns | 3rd Declension – Neuter (19:40)
29. Nouns | 4th Declension (20:14)
30. Adjectives | Positive & Comparative (18:32)
Visual Latin 2
31. Nouns | 5th Declension & Superlative Adjectives (22:24)
32. Adjectives | Irregular Comparison (25:10)
33. 1 to 100 | Cardinals, Ordinals, and Fractions (24:03)
34. Pronouns | Reflexive (18:29)
35. Adjectives | Indefinite & Irregular (21:03)
36. Conjugations and Macrons (23:38)
37. Verbs | Present Tense (20:33)
38. Verbs | Imperfect Tense (14:36)
39. Verbs | Future Tense (17:37)
40. Verbs | Four Principle Parts Review (25:53)
41. Principle Parts (25:36)
42. Supine/Perfect Passive Participle (34:46)
43. The Other Participles (35:40)
44. Future Infinitives (38:53)
45. Perfect Tense (30:58)
46. Pluperfect Tense (28:29)
47. Future Perfect Tense (27:53)
48. Volo, Nolo, Malo (36:38)
49. Deponent Verbs (35:38)
50. Impersonal Verbs (30:57)
51. Gerunds (30:05)
52. Adverbs (34:25)
53. Introduction to Subjunctive (32:36)
54. Ut and Ne (38:01)
55. Imperfect Subjunctive (26:23)
56. Gerundives (29:49)
57. Perfect, Fear and Cum (34:03)
58. Pluperfect, Indirect Discourse (31:20)
59. Verbs | Ablative Absolute (29:40)
60. Verbs | Fio, Comparative Subjunctive (26:34)
Sample Lessons
FAQs
Frequently Asked Visual Latin Questions
There are always some basic Visual Latin questions we often hear. We’ve tried to pull all of them together in one place so you don’t have to go hunting about. (Or so we hope…)
Do you have a list of errata for Visual Latin?
Yes! View an updated list of corrections for Visual Latin 1 here, and for Visual Latin 2 here.
What age is Visual Latin for?
10 and up. Kids need to be able to read, but other than that, elementary kids love it, middle school kids love it, high school kids love it, college kids… you get the point.
How is everything sequenced out? In other words, what’s a full year of Latin look like?
Visual Latin has two sections to it: Latin 1 and Latin 2. Each is intended to be taught in a single school year (although you can certainly speed up or slow down as you desire). Both sections have 30 classes in each, which correlates to about 1 class a week.
Is Visual Latin good for high school credit?
In terms of the material it covers, Visual Latin Latin 1 (Lessons 1-30) and Latin 2 (Lessons 31-60) are each good for one high school foreign language credit (2 credits total). By itself, however, it will not provide a full 150 hours of work. Some parents are less concerned about this, but others may want to provide extra supporting materials for upper level high school students. For those who do, we recommend supplementing Latin 1 with Lingua Latina per se Illustrata. (The older version of LL without color is the same text and perfectly acceptable.) We have created a free Visual Latin/Lingua Latina Teaching Guide that you can use to match them together over a two-year period. [Note that Lingua Latina is a unique Latin only, college-level book. Visual Latin has been modeled on this book, and in terms of content, teaches exactly the same things.]
If I buy the digital, do I have to download all the files at one time?
No. The download links stay in your account and you can access them anytime.
Does the streaming service expire?
No. This is a purchase in perpetuity.
15 reviews for Visual Latin 1 & 2
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Amanda Bradshaw –
We have been doing Henle for a couple years. We got lost when verbs got complicated. We pressed in, got outside help, and still ended up confused. I didn’t feel like my kids were ready for Dwane’s Henle course and we were a bit burnt out on it anyway so we made the switch to Visual Latin. I love so many more things about it than I thought I would. (And so does my student) Small things like larger text in the exercises. Light things like jokes and fun. Deep things like learning vocab that is edifying (instead of dead bodies in the river in Henle). And academic things like continual review. I can’t say thank you enough.
guesthollow (verified owner) –
I posted this review on my site (guesthollow.com) a long time ago, but am posting it here to share how much I love Visual Latin. 🙂
I’ve become somewhat of a connoisseur of Latin programs. We’ve tried quite a few and I definitely have my favorites (along with some real duds). One of the best programs I’ve recently seen and tried out with my son is Visual Latin. Visual Latin breaks out of the usual Latin program mold and interjects a much needed dose of fun, humor and solid Latin instruction that sticks!
While I have loved learning Latin ever since we started, Otter has been a much more reluctant student. Latin has almost always elicited groans and a general disposition of one attending a funeral, or at least having to eat a heaping plate of brussel sprouts (no offense to you who love that vegetable). It’s always difficult when you love a subject and your child doesn’t. I’ve wanted to somehow inject the my own soul-felt knowledge that Latin is AWESOME, beautiful and a worthy pursuit of time. He wasn’t buying it. He was learning (painfully), but not liking.
Enter Visual Latin on the scene. I was skeptical. “Laugh through Latin…” Hmmm, I doubted it. As much as I love Latin, I’ve certainly never run into any program or material that makes me want to laugh while learning it. Let me tell you right from the beginning, it’s true. We have been laughing through our Latin lessons and for the first time, Otter is ENJOYING them! This program is a gold mine in that regard. He actually wants to….continue. You know that parent’s dream of seeing your homeschooled child who hates a subject change his opinion to actually wanting to spend time doing it, without pouting and even, *gasp*, looking forward to it… That’s what’s happened in our house thanks to Visual Latin. I’ve even caught my college-aged daughter peeking at a lesson and laughing along.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all learning has to be fun. There are certainly some things you just have to do, whether you like them or not. How much nicer it is though, when a way to learn something kindles that fire in you and makes you hungry for more. Provides you with a little humor and smiles to boot? That’s a really special bonus!
While Visual Latin delivers with the laughs, it also delivers with content. From the very beginning you are exposed to grammar concepts, vocabulary and the way Latin works. We’ve just finished with the 10th set of lessons (each set has 3 videos with 3 corresponding worksheets) and Otter is translating controlled vocabulary paragraphs with ease. Visual Latin also has a knack for presenting things in a way that seems so natural and easy to learn. Nothing ever feels overwhelming (think of endless drills/chants/tables that are a drudge with other programs). There really is an easier way. This isn’t to say that Visual Latin is too easy (Otter rates it at a medium level of difficulty), but the creators of the program have a terrific insight to how kids learn and offer up lessons of the perfect duration and presentation (at least for us!). Maybe that’s because the teacher and producer have 8 homeschooled children between them.
For the purpose of this review I was able to obtain the first 10 lessons. Each lesson has 3 videos and 3 worksheets. So with the first 10 lessons you get 30 videos. Each video is usually about 8-10 minutes long. Each worksheet is usually just a single page (with the exception of later translation exercises that may span two pages to make room for a box of vocabulary words). We usually take 15 to 20 minutes to finish our entire Visual Latin lesson, although it can sometimes run a little shorter. You get the idea.
The lessons are broken down into 3 bite-sized pieces of material. First Dwayne Thomas (that’s the guy teaching the lessons in the video) introduces a grammar concept. The 2nd day you see these grammar concepts illustrated in sentences. The 3rd day has you working from a Latin text (abridged stories from the Latin Vulgate). Otter just recently (and easily) translated the following from worksheet 10 C (30 days worth of lessons for us) after first watching it being read in the video and repeating it out loud:
“Est dies septimus. Caeli et terra sunt perfecti. Opus Dei
est completus. Deus est laetus. Opus est bonus. Terra
est bella et bona. Caelum est bellum et bonum. Adam est
laetus. Hava est laeta. Hortus est bonus et pulcher.
Animalia sunt laeti. Est multa herba in terra. Herba est
cibum bestiarum in terra nova. Cibum Adami et Havae est
fructus aut holus. Omnes sunt laeti in terra nova. Opus
Dei est bonus. Deus complet opus. Deus requiescit.”
Compare this to what was being translated after nearly a year with a different program when you FINALLY get to a chunk of text vs. the sentences and phrases you’ve been dealing with all year long:
“Lavinia femina est. Lavinia agricola est. In terrā laborat.
Equī et taurī in terrā habitant. Sunt gallinae et gallī et porcī.
Est frumentum in terrā. Sempronia amica est. Hodiē Sempronia visitat. Heri Lavinia laborābat. Hodiē Lavinia nōn laborābat.
Hodiē amicae in silvīs ambulant. In silvīs explorant. Lavinia et Sempronia in fluviō natant. In silvīs cenant. Crās Lavinia in terrā laborābit.”
Don’t worry if you don’t understand a word of Latin in the examples above. What I wanted to show you is that with Visual Latin you are translating large chunks of text every 3 days from the beginning and understanding what you are reading without spending tons of time trying to memorize vocabulary. The vocabulary is learned in context and retained without a lot of effort. It’s a very similar approach (the immersion approach) that is found in Lingua Latina, a program Dwayne Thomas of Visual Latin recommends, and one that Otter and I have also been working through very slowly. In fact, Visual Latin has really enhanced our study of Lingua Latina and added a bit of insight that has made it easier and clearer.
Another great thing about Visual Latin is that it employs a variety of ways to get the material in your head. You listen, watch, read, say and write Latin. It’s also very approachable. It doesn’t feel like some stuffy Latin scholar is force feeding you lessons. Dwayne Thomas makes mistakes and catches himself and just comes across as real. I think it’s reassuring to Otter to see a teacher make a mistake and then correct it. You can also tell that Dwayne loves Latin. It really comes across in the lessons and is infectious.
Latin is one of those subjects a lot of people aren’t sure how to approach. I’m happy to say that Visual Latin has made it not only very approachable, but even entertaining. It’s given Otter a confidence I’ve not seen with any other program we’ve tried and it’s made our Latin time something we BOTH look forward to. I’m happy to report that we have the rest of the lessons that are available and are looking forward to the next batch (Visual Latin 2) as soon as it is out. I’d be ecstatic if they would consider continuing on and creating even more lessons beyond that!! We’ll continue to use every last scrap of what is created because quite simply, it works and we really, really like it.
A.Z. –
If you want your child to make a good start in Latin we recommend this curriculum. Dwane is a fantastic teacher, with a great sense of humor, my son enjoys the Visual Latin lessons and finds them easy and entertaining. As a language teacher, I know how difficult can be motivating the students, Dwane has a gift. The lessons are interesting and seeing the proud face of your child after his first independent translation is invaluable!
Mandy –
My 15 yr old dyslexic son announced today, “Mom, I like this new Latin program.” After I recovered from the shock of my life, I asked him what made it different from the two more expensive programs we previously attempted?He described how learning verbs and questions in the first lesson made a huge difference. He likes the fact there are no lengthy vocabulary lists but it is all neatly integrated into the text. He likes the fact he gets to circle the answers and “fix” the sentences. He finally understood the conjugation of “sum” despite being taught this twice before by the other programs. [Dwane] does an excellent job of teaching since he is a fluent speaker. He also commented that it helps there is no distracting clothing to contend with. He also liked the fact the DVD was much easier to use than the CD-ROM program we attempted previously that required a lot of distracting keyboard entry. He stated he has to pause the DVD several times to write down his notes but this is not surprising. This child has several “learning disabilities” to contend with – recent testing states he has dyslexia, dygraphia (difficulty writing), ADD that required medication and a 17% processing speed for age. Despite these inherent issues, my son was able to successfully complete Lesson One without the usual frustration and complaints. He was so PLEASED with his accomplishment! He is FINALLY learning a foreign language after five years of failure! While my son uses an English pronunciation, he comprehends the ecclesiastical pronunciation we use at home as well as the DVD. Not sure how this will affect his Spanish studies in the future (did I mention this child is determined to learn Spanish?) but we’ll cross that bridge later. I am guessing the complaint about not learning verbs early on comes from his Rosetta Stone studies… Thank you so much for putting this program together.
Deneen –
I thought you might find this encouraging and even interesting that I am a 47 year old home schooling mother of two boys, ages 16 and almost 13. I have never studied a second language and neither have our boys – until Visual Latin. Guess what? We’re all three doing this program. I really can’t believe I’m actually studying Latin. I only decided to do this after I decided it would help the older son if he had somebody doing it with him. I had only planned on my 16 year old doing this for his foreign language credits. I’m really actually enjoying this and it gives my brain great exericse – HA! I have been a medical transcriptist working at home for years and knowing lots of medical terms is really coming in handy learning Latin!! Thank you for such a great first experience at learning a foreign language for all three of us.
Nancy –
My 5 yoB, 7 yoB and 10 yoG watched it with me and were mesmerized (ok, so was I). I am a wish-I-had Latin student (5 years of French) and am looking forward to learning Latin with my last 3 children. You were personable, friendly, engaging, funny, memorable and straight-forward. Your teaching style meets all our needs…visual, auditory and with the words on the screen, note-taking becomes kinesthetic learning. I like that it is with out “takes” just like a classroom!
Lori –
After watching just a few videos, my son went from complaining about having to learn Latin to Latin being his favorite subject. He thinks that Dwane is a ‘funny guy’ and that learning Latin is fun. As an adult I was intimidated by the thought of teaching a language I did not know. Dwane has made teaching Latin painless. I’m learning right along with my son.
Monique –
I must tell you that your approach to teaching Latin is very refreshing! I have a BA in Spanish, and I have been at a loss to find a language program that makes sense to me. Visual Latin is it! Your introductory videos have been very helpful for me to help communicate to my highschooler why I think Latin is so very beneficial. I am hoping to get her interested as well. Thank you again.
Carol –
Dwane, thanks so much for your Visual Latin curriculum. After trudging through a different Latin program for about a year, my kids were pretty pessimistic. Now, they look forward to learning. Thanks for this practical and light-hearted approach. Our whole family is enjoying the learning.
Brett –
We find the instructor very entertaining. He speaks directly to the students and doesn’t is very human. His humor adds to his teaching. His love for learning languages is infectious.
The pace the program moves at is very nice. The variety of lecture, sentence practice, and Latin readings is nice. The short (less than 10 minutes) videos are the perfect length to explain the lesson without being too long and our eyes glazing over. The lessons are very focused and not repetitive to the point of boredom. There is just enough reinforcement to grasp the topic.
Michelle –
Okay, My 14 yo son just told me he has learned more in 2 lessons of VL than he learned in 2 years with Rosetta Stone (online through a school license.) He is starting lesson 5 and is excited about of working with Lingua Latina after Visual Latin because, “now that he is translating for Mr. Thomas he is ready for the challenge of working in a book that is ALL Latin.” Again, this a 14 year old boy who loves video gaming, football… he is a normal teenage boy who now also happens to be REALLY excited about studying Latin! Thank you for a great (and very affordable) program!
Christopher –
After watching the sample videos I was convinced my children would enjoy learning this important piece of their education. The lessons are thorough, nicely paced, and even fun. I consider Latin an essential part of an education meant for college-bound students, and Visual Latin definitely fills the bill.
Lisa –
My children LOVE your videos…. where were you 14 years ago when I started homeschooling?
Jenny –
My teenagers and I are loving Visual Latin. We attempted a so-called simple home school friendly Latin program a few years ago, but gave up. I never thought we would be able to learn Latin. I assumed I was simply too old myself and that my kids would just need to push through a quick Spanish program through our Florida Virtual School just to get credit on their transcripts. I am so grateful to have found Visual Latin!
Abihake –
My 13 y/o daughter and 12 y/o son are learning tons and ENJOYING learning Latin. Just enough info without going overboard and no jingles which my son really appreciates. My husband was impressed when after 4 weeks my daughter spouts out in Latin during a conversation together. I would recommend to anyone who likes a no nonsense approach to learning Latin that is engaging. Children are able to complete lessons on their own and require very little support on my end.