Memoria Press Latin Forms Series

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In eighth grade, I started using Memoria Press’ Forms series for my Latin studies. The Forms series is the curriculum created by Cheryl Lowe that seeks to teach Latin grammar in an easy-to-learn and clearly organized way.  

About the Series 

The series consists of the First Form, Second Form, Third Form, and Fourth Form books. The recommendation is that students begin with First Form in fifth grade and continue all the way to Fourth Form in eighth grade. However, some families use the Form series for high school Latin, beginning with First Form in ninth grade.  

I had prior Latin exposure from using the Henle Latin I book in seventh grade and learning some Latin basics in Classical Conversations in elementary school. After some research into the curriculum, I learned that with a little bit of summer study, I could pick up my study in Third Form instead of beginning with First Form (as you would without prior Latin). Memoria Press actually designed its curriculum to follow very closely with the Henle Latin I book. Because Henle I covers a lot of material, Memoria Press breaks it up into four years of information, only slightly changing the order of some of the topics covered.  

Each Form has a teacher book, a student textbook, a workbook, a test book, an answer key, a pronunciation CD, flashcards, and a streaming option. Memoria Academy also offers live classes for each level. The curriculum is designed to take about 36 weeks per Form. There are usually five units with about six lessons per unit, as well as a unit review. The series is also meant to prepare the student for the National Latin Exam.  

 

What does a typical week look like? 

Each week starts with a lesson, whether from a parent, a live class, or self-paced streaming videos. All the lessons have corresponding workbook pages. There are usually 4-7 pages of work per week. The amount just depends on how difficult the content was for that lesson. There is also a quiz or test every week, as well as flashcards to practice. I would generally read the lesson and watch the video on Monday. On Tuesday through Thursday, I would fill out the worksheets (1-2 per day) and practice flashcards. Then, on Friday I would take the quiz or test for the week. The quizzes are for regular lessons and the tests are for unit reviews. At the end of the year, there is a final review lesson with workbook pages and a final exam.  

 

The Form series for Latin is an excellent way to learn. It clearly teaches the material and lays it out in a way that is easy to understand. The four years tie together, and the previously learned content is frequently reviewed. Fourth Form also uses Henle Latin 1 for extra exercises, which makes it easy to continue your Latin studies with the rest of the Henle books later.