In a message dated 2/8/99 8:10:21 PM, you wrote:

>I think absolutely not.  In the Middle Ages, children were taught Latin
starting
>at an even earlier age.  I think it's our own post-19th century notion of
>children's inherent innocence that makes us feel that they aren't old enough
to
>learn tough subjects.  In trying to "save" them from such scary things as
Latin,
>however, I think we prevent them from truly making the most of the it,
acquiring
>the language at a time when they can really run with it.
>
>Chris LeCluyse

Thanks for the encouraging words.  Actually, we're not trying to teach Latin
starting in 3rd grade.  3rd-4th will focus solely on roots, affixes,
syllabication and spelling. We'll start a little Latin in 5th and carry it
through 9th.  What I was really wondering was whether thinking that we could
teach language structure through Latin in a way that was more effective than
just getting at it through English.

Steve Cohen