Latin for Children (Classical Academic Press)

Latin for Children is Classical Academic Press's three-primer Latin series, listed for grades 4-7 on its series page. The Primer A page describes a program designed to introduce students as young as fourth graders to Latin, taught directly to the child, with songs and chants as memory aids.

Last updated: 2026-10-08 · Every Homeschool Editorial Team

At a glance

Method	Classical, grammar-stage Latin with chants (Every Homeschool classification). The Primer A page says the series trains students in grammar, vocabulary, and English derivatives, with songs and chants as memory aids
Worldview	Christian · Ecumenical is Every Homeschool's classification, a term the publisher does not use. CAP says it serves both Christian classical schools and homeschools, and that its materials are used in classical charter schools that are not religious. CAP does not name a denomination on the page linked here
Grades	The series page says grades 4-7, with Primer A for grades 4-5, Primer B for grades 5-6, and Primer C for grades 6-7. The product pages say grades 4-7 for Primer A, grades 5-7 for Primer B, and grades 6-7 for Primer C. CAP's Latin page says grades 4-6, and its FAQ says 3rd through 7th grade
Formats	Consumable print primers, activity books, answer keys, and History Readers; streaming video or DVD; chant audio; online practice, all sold on the Latin for Children collection. The Primer A program page lists a consumable student edition, answer key, streaming video and audio (or a DVD and CD set), consumable activity book, and consumable History Reader
Cost tier	Standard (Every Homeschool classification). The Primer A program is $132.95 as streaming or $152.95 on DVD, retrieved October 2026
Parent intensity	3 (Every Homeschool rating)
ESA-common	Not verified. The CAP pages we read do not name ESA programs or marketplaces; confirm with your program administrator
Accredited	Not applicable: a curriculum, not a school
Established	Not stated as a publication year. The Primer A page says the curriculum has been designed, revised, and continually sharpened since 2001, and CAP's Our Story page says the company was founded in 2001. The Primer A page carries a "Revised Version 4.0 Text (2017)" note and the Primer C page a "Revised version 4.0 text (2020)" note
Website	classicalacademicpress.com

Our scoreboard (1-5)

Criterion	Score	One-line reason
Academic rigor	4	Our assessment rests on CAP's combined table of contents, which lists a 32-chapter grammar progression in each primer, from first-conjugation verbs and first-declension nouns in Primer A to fourth and fifth declensions and the perfect-system tenses in Primer C. The Primer C page says students who finish it are ready for Latin Alive! Book 1
Ease of teaching	4	The series page says the series is taught directly to the child and is a choice for teachers and parents, including those learning along with their students. CAP's Latin page says it designed its Latin curricula with the teacher included
Content quality	5	Our assessment rests on the Primer A page, which describes a 32-chapter primer with grammar explanations written to the student and weekly worksheets and quizzes, and on the table of contents above
Flexibility	4	CAP sells the student edition, activity book, answer key, History Reader, video and audio, chant audio, and online practice as separate items as well as in programs on its Latin for Children collection
Value for money	4	Our assessment: mid-range, with the three digital programs (Primer A, Primer B, and Primer C) totaling $420.85 (retrieved October 2026). CAP's FAQ says a homeschool family may copy student edition pages for siblings of the intended student
Worldview scope	4	CAP says it serves Christian classical schools and homeschools and that its materials are used in classical charter schools that are not religious. The Primer A page says the series is widely used among classical schools, charter schools, homeschools, and co-ops
Visual/design	4	CAP says the revised primers are printed in full color with illustrations and images and paintings of ancient Roman culture (Primer A), medieval European culture (Primer B), and the Golden Age of Pirates (Primer C)
Support resources	4	Video by the author, audio chants, answer keys, test packets, and suggested schedule PDFs for each primer, and online practice for Primers A and B, per the Latin for Children collection and the product pages, and CAP's Ask the Magister question page, which its FAQ and Latin page describe

Who the publisher is

CAP's Our Story page says the company was founded in 2001 and that Dr. Christopher Perrin and the CAP team have spent decades helping schools and families recover the richness of classical education. Christopher Perrin's page says he cofounded CAP and serves full-time as its CEO and publisher. The Contact page gives CAP's address as Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

The student edition pages for Primer A, Primer B, and Primer C list Christopher Perrin and Aaron G. Larsen as Authors, and the video pages say the videos are by author Dr. Christopher Perrin. The Primer A History Reader page lists Karen Moore as Author, and the Primer B and Primer C History Reader pages list Karen Moore and Erin Davis-Valdez. The Activity Book pages list Rob Baddorf as Author.

CAP's Latin page describes a Latin path of Song School Latin, Latin for Children, and Latin Alive, and its FAQ places them at 1st through 3rd grade, 3rd through 7th grade, and 7th grade and up.

The core pedagogy

The Primer A page describes a workbook-format primer with 32 chapters, a proposed timeline of one chapter a week, grammar explanations written to the student, weekly worksheets and quizzes, and songs and chants that help students learn vocabulary and grammar. The Primer A and Primer B pages list 240 high-frequency Latin words each.

Scope, per CAP's combined table of contents: Primer A covers first-conjugation verbs and first-declension nouns, second-declension nouns, first- and second-declension adjectives, second-conjugation verbs and the imperfect tense, the future tense, accusative and ablative prepositions, and the verb eo, ire; Primer B covers pronouns, cardinal and ordinal numbers and Roman numerals, third-declension nouns, demonstrative pronouns, third-conjugation verbs, imperatives, and third-declension neuter nouns; and Primer C covers the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect tenses, fourth-conjugation and third-io verbs, complementary infinitives, interrogatives, imperatives, fourth and fifth declensions, and correlative adverbs. The Primer C page calls it the third and final level of the series.

CAP's FAQ says it provides both classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation in Latin for Children and Song School Latin and recommends classical.

Signature mechanics: (1) Chants. The Primer A page describes songs and chants as the way students learn vocabulary and grammar, and the audio chants are sold in classical and ecclesiastical pronunciations. (2) Video. The Primer A video page says the lessons are by author Dr. Christopher Perrin, and the video pages for Primer A, Primer B, and Primer C give lessons of approximately 20 to 25 minutes that correspond to the weekly chapter; for homeschoolers, streaming access lasts for the life of the product. (3) Activity Book and History Reader. The Activity Book A page describes over 100 pages of games, puzzles, and fun. The History Readers are Latin stories: ancient Greece and Rome in the Primer A reader, the Middle Ages in the Primer B reader, and New World explorers and early American history in the Primer C reader. CAP's FAQ recommends that students in their first year of Latin with Latin for Children begin the History Reader about halfway through the year. (4) Online practice. Online practice in My Library includes Flash Dash and other games and videos; it is sold separately for Primer A and Primer B and is included with the streaming full program or the streaming video purchase.

How a lesson runs

CAP's suggested schedule for Primer A, a PDF, describes a basic weekly schedule of approximately thirty minutes per day over five days, to be modified as necessary by the teacher. In the PDF, Day One presents the grammar chant and vocabulary, introduces the grammar page, has students chant through the paradigm and vocabulary two to three times, and includes the video; Day Two reviews the chant, explains the grammar page, and starts the worksheet and the Activity Book; Day Three starts with quick chanting, finishes the worksheet, checks students' work, and reviews the grammar, for example by watching the video again; Day Four has students chant, complete the Activity Book puzzles, and begin the History Reader; and Day Five has students take the quiz and finish the History Reader chapter. The schedules for Primer B and Primer C follow the same five-day structure at approximately thirty minutes per day.

What they do exceptionally well

Grammar-stage Latin with the teacher included. The series page says the series is taught directly to the child and that it is a choice for teachers and parents, including those learning along with their students. In our assessment, having the explanations written to the student and a video from the author lowers the barrier for a parent who has not studied Latin.

A weekly structure with a published schedule. The Primer A page proposes one chapter a week across 32 chapters, and CAP publishes a five-day schedule for each primer (A, B, and C).

A stated endpoint. The Primer C page calls it the last level in the series and says students who finish it are ready for Latin Alive! Book 1, and CAP's FAQ recommends Latin Alive! as the next step.

What they do poorly

Cost at full purchase. The three digital programs (A, B, and C) total $420.85 at CAP's current prices, and the DVD versions total $481.85 (retrieved October 2026).

Consumable components. The Primer A page and program page describe the student edition, activity book, and History Reader as consumable, and CAP's FAQ says the primers and student editions are consumable, with one student per copy. The FAQ makes one exception: a homeschool family may copy student edition pages for use by siblings of the intended student.

Readers that CAP does not describe as easy. The History Readers are sold separately and in the programs, as the collection page lists, and CAP's FAQ says the readers were not designed for easy reading.

Edition and stock notes. The Primer C student page says the revised version 4.0 text (2020) is available and that the older primer and answer key are not compatible with the revised edition, while the teaching video, activity book, and History Reader remain compatible; the Primer C program page lists the older teaching video among the items that are not compatible, so a family buying older copies should confirm with CAP. The Primer A page says it is printed to order and to allow 2 weeks for printing before an order ships, and as of October 2026 the Primer C student page showed it as out of stock but available to order.

Who it fits / who it doesn't

• Pick Latin for Children if: you want CAP's Latin series for grades 4-7, per its series page, with one primer per school year, per the Primer A page; you are a parent who has not studied Latin and want video lessons and student-level grammar explanations, which CAP's Latin page says are built into its Latin curricula; you plan to continue with Latin Alive!.

• Skip Latin for Children if: you want a single book rather than three primers; you want non-consumable materials; you have a younger child, since CAP's FAQ says it generally does not recommend using Latin for Children in full with younger students and calls Song School Latin a resource for the K/1st-2nd grade range.

Cost honest assessment

Prices retrieved October 2026 from the Latin for Children collection.

Item	Primer A	Primer B	Primer C
Student Edition	$29.95	$31.95	$31.95
Activity Book	$21.95	$21.95	$19.95
Answer Key	$18.95	$18.95	$18.95
History Reader	$11.95	$15.95	$19.95
Video and Audio, digital	$63.95	$74.95	$63.95
Video and Audio, DVD	$86.95	$97.95	$86.95
Chant audio, each pronunciation	$11.95	$11.95	$11.95
Online Practice	$23.95	$23.95	not listed
Program, digital	$132.95	$147.95	$139.95
Program, DVD	$152.95	$168.95	$159.95

At the collection page prices, a student edition, activity book, answer key, and one chant audio total $82.80 for Primer A, $84.80 for Primer B, and $82.80 for Primer C. Test packets (PDF) are $11.95 for one to three copies. CAP's FAQ says the answers do not appear in the student book, so in our assessment the answer key is needed unless the teacher can correct work unaided.

The three digital programs (A, B, and C) total $420.85, and the three DVD programs total $481.85. For comparison, Memoria Press lists its Latina Christiana Basic Set at a current price of $48.30 and its Complete Set at $104.88 (retrieved October 2026).

ESA eligibility notes

The CAP pages we read do not state whether Latin for Children is listed on any state ESA or voucher marketplace. Confirm with the program administrator before ordering, and ask whether the student edition, activity book, video, and online practice are listed as separate items.

Alternatives

• Memoria Press Latina Christiana, a family would compare it if they want a Latin course that, per the publisher, was written for the teacher with no background in Latin; Memoria Press lists the Basic Set at $48.30 and the Complete Set at $104.88 (retrieved October 2026).
• Visual Latin, a family comparing Latin programs can read the program's description on its Every Homeschool page.
• Song School Latin, a family with younger children would compare it, since CAP's FAQ calls it a resource for the K/1st-2nd grade range; the Book 2 page says it prepares students for Latin for Children Primer A.