• Latin is a foundational language.  Not only is it the root of approximately 40% of the words in the English language, it is the mother of the modern Romance Languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian).
• Latin is a logical and structured language.  Learning Latin fosters a clearer understanding of the rules and syntax of grammar.  It also promotes skills in problem solving and critical thinking.
• Want to know more?  Click here to visit the website of the National Committee for Latin and Greek.  This site contains many compelling arguments outlining the tremendous benefits of studying this ancient language.

• Web-Based instruction offers more flexibility.  Students taking a web-based course can have their lessons and complete their work at the time that works best for them and for their families. There is no need to leave the house our miss out on other opportunities because of time conflicts.
• Students have more opportunity to adapt the program to their needs and learning style.  Because of the Web-Based approach, students learn at the time of day when they are most alert and focused.  Practice can be customized according to the needs of each individual student.  Activities are available on eMagistra's Blackboard.com site which are specifically geared towards Visual, Auditory or Tactile/Kinesthetic learners.
• A Web-Based Approach prepares students with computer skills that will be essential for college and life as a productive adult.  The software eMagistra uses to deliver its course material – Blackboard.com – is used by hundreds of colleges and universities across the country.  Experience with this program will give students a head start if they decide to pursue continuing education.  In addition, improvement of basic computer skills such as typing and Internet navigating will be useful in any future career – including that of a homemaker!

• Latin is no longer a spoken language.  Parents wishing to provide language instruction for their students may be concerned about teaching pronunciation.  Although pronunciation guides are available from eMagistra, conversation and pronunciation are not major facets of Latin instruction, since the goal of Latin is not to prepare students to be able to speak fluently.  Latin is one of the only languages that can be taught thoroughly without a teacher present to listen to and guide the development of pronunciation.  (Note: Even though pronunciation is not a major focus of this course, many audio clips are available to help students to learn new words and to memorize vocabulary.)
• Language learning requires a great deal of memorization.  Different students learn and memorize information in different ways.  Because of eMagistra's unique ability to provide alternative methods of practice and tools to aid a variety of learning styles, eMagistra can offer a unique flexibility not available in a regular classroom setting.

• Students log into Blackboard.com.  eMagistra uses Blackboard.com, a nationally known educational tool, through which to present its lessons, activities and quizzes.  Because all course material is available on the site, students may choose the practice exercises that are best suited to them, and may access the lessons at their own pace at any time – day or night!
• eMagistra provides unlimited e-mail support to students and/or parents.  Students may e-mail the Magistra (Latin for “teacher”) at any time.  Students also have the option of submitting answers to practice exercises for checking and feedback.  All quizzes are automatically grade by Blackboard.com based on answers provided by eMagistra, however, the Magistra personally reviews every quiz and test to ensure that the grading is accurate.

• eMagistra is proud to use The Latin Road to English Grammar series.  This series, developed by Barbara Beers, is the series we have found to be the most thorough.  Mrs. Beers does not assume that students are familiar with any concept before beginning the program and explains all terms and concepts carefully.  As you can tell from the title of this series, one of the main focuses to this approach is solidifying a knowledge of English grammar while studying Latin.  Some homeschool families who use this textbook consider it to count as a language study, as well as the student’s grammar work!  (You may click here to learn more about this series from Mrs. Beers’ website.)
• The Latin Road to English Grammar series is divided into three volumes.  Because Mrs. Beers wanted this series to be accessible to younger students, while still challenging and informative to older students, she chose to divide this series into three volumes.  Volume 1 contains about half of the material covered in a traditional high school Latin course, and Volume 2 contains the second half.  In other words, once a student has completed Volumes 1 and 2, he has completed the equivalent of a high school Lain I course.  Volume 3 of the textbook series is the equivalent of a high school Latin II course.

• eMagistra offers courses based on all three Volumes of The Latin Road to English Grammar.  In order to most clearly communicate what is covered in each Volume (and therefore in each course) we have named our courses like this:
  
  Latin IA – uses Volume 1 of TLRTEG and covers about half of a traditional Latin I course
  Latin IB – uses Volume 2 of TLRTEG and covers the second half of a traditional Latin I course
  Latin II – uses Volume 3 of TLRTEG and covers the curriculum of a traditional Latin II course
  
  
• We recommend that students seek other options for continued Latin study.  Once a student has finished the material covered in traditional Latin I and II courses, Latin study begins to resemble a literature class, more than a grammar class.  All of the basic grammar has been learned in Latin I and II and further courses focus on translating and discussing Latin written by Roman authors.  Learning in a classroom or group environment is often most effective at this level of study.  This is a great time to see what might be offered by your local community college or university as students may also have the opportunity to earn college credit for these courses.

• Students will need to have Internet access and an e-mail address.  Internet connections and e-mail service providers need not be especially fancy or high-priced.  Depending on the family schedule, a student may even be able to gain the access he or she needs through such venues as a public library.
• Students will need to purchase a copy of the appropriate Volume of The Latin Road to English Grammar.  In the past, eMagistra has purchased these textbooks and sold them to students.  However, we realized that this was not cost effective for our students.  Because we need to pay for shipping charges from Schola Publications to our location, and then for shipping charges from our location to the student’s home, students ended up paying more than they would have, had they simply purchased the textbook directly from Schola Publications.  Also, some families are able to save money by acquiring textbooks in other ways, such as buying them at used curriculum sales or borrowing from a friend.
  
  Click here for more information on the textbooks and other products offered by Schola Publications.
  
  (Note: eMagistra does not earn any proceeds from your purchases from Schola publications and encourages you to obtain your textbook in whatever method is most convenient for you and your family.  However, eMagistra reminds you that The Latin Road to English Grammar is a copyrighted work and strongly discourages photocopying material for which you have not paid.)
  
  
• It is recommended that students keep a three ring binder in which to store course materials.  The first chapter of The Latin Road to English Grammar outlines a suggested method for keeping track of your course materials.  Students and parents may decide if this method is helpful to them or if another method may be more appropriate.  A “Student Notebook Package” is also available for purchase from Schola Publications, but is not required for this course.

• You may subscribe to eMagistra by the semester or by the academic year.  The cost for a semester (19 weeks of access to eMagistra course material) is $200.  The cost for a full academic year (two semesters, or 38 weeks of access to the eMagistra course material is $350 (a savings of $50 per year).
• The price of the textbook will be determined by the source from which you purchase it.  Currently, Schola publications is selling the textbooks for $25, plus any applicable shipping and handling charges.  (Again, eMagistra does not earn any proceeds from Schola Publications sales.)

• eMagistra offers an Early Bird registration fee.  The Early Bird registration fee is generally offered through the month of June for those registering for the following school year.  Dates for the Early Bird registration can be found on the Registration page of the eMagistra website and generally reflect approximately a 10% discount on the regular tuition price.
• eMagistra offers a Referral Bonus program*.  If you refer a new customer who registers for the eMagistra course, pays the tuition fee in full (for either a semester or an academic year) and remains in the program for at least 45 days, you will receive a check from eMagistra in the amount of 15% of your tuition price for one student.  For example, if you paid $350 for a full academic year and then a friend whom you referred to the program registers and pays the tuition fee, once that friend has remained in the program for 45 days, you will receive a check for $52.50 as a thank you from eMagistra!
• eMagistra also uses the Referral Bonus program for siblings simultaneously enrolled in eMagistra.  For example, if two of your children are simultaneously enrolling in eMagistra, we would consider the second student to be “referred” by the first student.  If you are enrolling both for the full academic year, we would charge $297.50 for the first student ($350 – 15% discount) and $350 for the second student for a total tuition fee of $647.50 for both students for the entire academic year!

• Families choose the pace at which they will complete lessons.  Once you have paid the tuition fee, you have unlimited access to the eMagistra course material for the corresponding time frame (one semester or a full academic year).  The pace at which you complete lessons is up to you!  You may complete as many or as few lessons as you choose.  At the end of the time for which you have registered, you are always free to purchase more time in order to continue your studies.
• Latin IA and Latin IB each contain …
  40 lessons introducing new topics, containing audio files, review games, flash cards, study tools and other helpful learning activities, each followed by a quiz to ascertain mastery
  
  5 review lessons interspersed among the lessons mentioned above, each followed by a test to ascertain cumulative mastery of course material
  
  1 final review followed by a final exam to ascertain mastery of cumulative course material and preparedness for further Latin study
  
  
• Latin II contains …
  94 lessons introducing new topics, containing audio files, review games, flash cards, study tools and other helpful learning activities, each followed by a quiz to ascertain mastery
  
  8 review lessons interspersed among the lessons mentioned above, each followed by a test to ascertain cumulative mastery of course material
  
  1 midterm review approximately half way through the curriculum, followed by a midterm exam to ascertain cumulative mastery of course material
  
  1 final review followed by a final exam to ascertain mastery of cumulative course material and preparedness for further Latin study
  
  
• You need not decide ahead of time the pace at which you will proceed with this course material.  Because you are paying by unit of time, not by lesson or course, you are free to decide as you go along the pace that is best for your family.  If you feel you need to move at a slower pace than you had at first anticipated, you are freely able to do so.  If you reach the end of the allotted time and need to purchase an additional semester or academic year, you are easily able to do so.  If you find that you are able to move at a faster pace than you had at first thought possible, you are free to do this as well.
• You may begin a new course whenever you are ready.  If you finish an entire course and still have time remaining in the semester or academic year, you may simply begin working on the next course!  All you need to do is to notify eMagistra that you would like to proceed to the next course and purchase or acquire the next textbook that you will need!

• If you would like to complete both Latin IA and Latin IB in an academic year eMagistra recommends aiming to complete about 3 lessons per week.  At this rate, you will finish all 45 lessons in 15 weeks.  Because the semester is 19 weeks long, this leaves 4 extra weeks.  One of these weeks can be used to carefully prepare for the final exam.  The other weeks can be used as need to fit in family vacations (such as a Christmas break) during the school year and/or catch up on missed lesson time.  This approach is only recommended for high school age students or anyone who is in need of completing a full Latin I course in one year (for example, someone who needs to prepare for a college program).  A similar pace may be followed by students who wish to complete Latin II in a single academic year.
• Most students take a full academic year to complete Latin IA and a further academic year to complete Latin IB.  Because of the outstanding way in which Mrs. Beers has designed her textbook series, there is more than enough information to provide challenging learning for an entire academic year from a single volume of the textbook series.  Most students choose to complete about 1-2 lessons a week, taking the entire academic year each to complete the first two volumes of the series.  This allows for plenty of time for extra practice, playing review games and memorizing vocabulary and grammar forms.  This approach is especially recommended for students in grades 5 through 7, though it has often been utilized by students through the high school years.  A similar pace may be followed by students who wish to take two academic years to complete the Latin II course.

• This program is perfect for students who have already had some Latin instruction before working with eMagistra.  Because of the flexible nature of this course, students who have previously studied some Latin may begin in whichever course they feel is most appropriate.  If they find that they already know a great deal of what is being presented in the first few lessons, they can move through these lessons quickly, completing the quizzes with less study than a student who is approaching the material for the first time.  If, by moving more rapidly, a student is able to finish a course before the end of a semester or academic year, he may move immediately into the next course without waiting for the beginning of the next year.  If a student discovers that he has chosen a level of Latin study beyond where he is ready to begin, he has only to inform eMagistra in order to be re-placed in the previous course.  No time or tuition fees are lost and the ultimate flexibility is provided!
  
  

• eMagistra offers a 30-day, 100% money-back guarantee**.  So many of our students and parents have been pleased with the program that we are confident you will be delighted as well.  However, we certainly understand that every family is different.  If you find that this program is not right for you (even if it is only because your schedule this year has turned out to be busier that you thought) you may cancel within the first 30 days the course is open for a full refund of all tuition fees - whether you paid for a semester or for a full academic year.

• The Fall 2009 Semester will begin on Tuesday, September 8 and run until Friday, January 15, 2010.  This allows for 19 weeks of continuous study.  Students may use this time as they see fit, including taking holiday or other breaks as arranged in the family schedule.
• The Spring 2010 Semester will begin on Monday, January 18, 2010 and run until Friday, May 28, 2010.  The Spring semester also includes 19 weeks of course availability.

** This offer applies to first-time registrants only.  eMagistra will only refund the price of tuition, and is not liable for the cost of any other items, such as the textbook or other course materials purchased.  The 30-day time frame is pre-determined by eMagistra based on the first day on which students are able to access the course, not based on the first day on which a particular student access the course or on the number of lessons actually accessed by the student.  For the 2009-2010 school year, the Fall Semester will begin on Tuesday, September 8.  Anyone wishing to cancel the course registration and receive a tuition refund must contact eMagistra in writing – by mail or e-mail – no later than Friday, October 9, 2009.  Access to course materials will end at the time that the request for cancellation is received.  A refund check for the full amount of tuition paid will be mailed to the registrant within 10 business days.