Homeschool Greek, Volume I

Trivium Pursuit

This is a self-contained Greek course for students ages thirteen and up. The Volume I course, “Mostly Nouns and Such,” consists of a 310-page, plastic comb-bound textbook, a 65-page Greek reader, vocabulary cards, and three audio tapes. It assumes that students are familiar with the symbols and sounds of the Greek alphabet. (A Greek Alphabetarion provides the necessary groundwork.) Students need not have prior instruction in English grammar, although it will certainly be helpful.

The course is designed for independent self-teaching. Instruction on a topic is followed immediately by questions. Answers are found just below the questions for immediate feedback. Students are instructed to use a covering page to hide answers until they are ready to check their own responses. They can write their answers or do them orally, except on the examinations. Comprehensive Review and Diagnostic Examinations periodically assess student progress. In addition, students create and maintain a reference notebook as they learn.

Parents need not know Greek, both because this is a self-taught course and because author Harvey Bluedorn encourages students to write or call with any problems.

Greek instruction is correlated with English grammar and diagramming. Because of this, some of the course will seem repetitive to students who already know English grammar, however, the review will not hurt anyone, and the application will reinforce their knowledge. Actually, those with no prior grammar knowledge might be overwhelmed with the grammar since they are learning so much new material at the same time. I suspect that most students will have at least some grammar background and will find it a practical reinforcement and application of their English grammar lessons.

The course has a strong Christian perspective, evidenced by its subtitle, “A Thorough Self-Teaching Grammar of Biblical Greek.” As one might expect from the subtitle, the course focuses on Koine Greek so students are prepared to read a Greek New Testament and work with a Greek Interlinear and other Bible study tools.

All these features make the course very practical and easy-to-use for homeschoolers.

Volume II, “Mostly Verbs and Such,” is in the works. Check with the publisher for availability.