Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Colonial American Latin Curriculum

Cheever's Accidence was an elementary Latin grammar, studied by students at Boston Latin School in the early colonial period. According to John A. Nietz, in his book The Evolution of American Secondary School Textbooks, students also studied forms and syntax in more depth in Lily's Latin Grammar, practiced spoken Latin from Corderius' Colloquies and read Aesop's Fables in Latin. You can find a copy of Cheever's Accidence at the Stepping Heavenward blog.

View some sample curricula from the early American period.

The Classics Department at Holy Cross College has an extensive website, Latin in Early America, describing how the Classics were taught in the 17th and 18th centuries in America.