The BRIDGE to the Latin Road Curriculum Set, written by Barbara Beers, is a grammar curriculum geared towards students ten years or older. The curriculum is contained within two binders. The Teacher’s Guide has a set of six DVD presentations, Framing Codes, Sentences to Analyze, and Designing Codes. The Student Guide has blank pages for Framing Codes, Sentences to Analyze, and Designing Codes. It also comes with a six-inch scaffolding ruler, a No. 2 pencil, and a red and blue colored pencil for scaffolding and marking sentences. The Verb Memory Game for learning irregular verb forms and Designing Cards for learning Latin prefixes, base words, and suffixes are also included. It retails for $159.00.

The DVDs for this course are absolutely essential. The longest DVD is just over thirty minutes long, with average viewing time being around fifteen minutes. Since there are no written instructions, you will need to view them to understand how to teach the lessons. Also, since the pages in the Teacher’s Guide are in black and white, you need them to know what color the sentence markings should be. I never got to a point where I could skip the DVD presentation of the lesson. I did have my son watch the lessons with me. A few times I had him watch the DVD’s on his own, but found he was just copying what Mrs. Beers had written without understanding why he was doing it. Teacher involvement is crucial to the success of the program.

While this is the first in the Latin Road curriculum, the program assumes your child has completed the Phonics Road series. There are numerous times when Mrs. Beers has the child pull from the material, they did the previous year. We used the examples given in the DVD in place of pulling material from the previous year. Some songs or rhymes reinforce grammar rules she asks the children to recall. She does repeat them on the DVDs but assumes the child is already familiar with them. These songs and rhymes are not written anywhere, so you will need to replay the DVD until you have learned it or have written it down yourself.

The DVD presentations explain exactly how your child should fill out the sheets for the week. At times new information, such as markings, was presented almost in passing. I was unsure if this was because the markings had been introduced in an earlier level and it was assumed this was just review for the teacher. More than once I had to replay the DVD because I missed key information. I would have appreciated a physical key having the meanings of different markings as well has written copies of the rhymes.

The BRIDGE to the Latin Road is a solid grammar curriculum. The concept relating the building of sentences to the building of a house makes diagramming sentences sound fun. This unique approach piques a child’s interest level in learning grammar. My son was excited to use his scaffolding tools to build sentences.

Under Framing Codes, you will find the Daily Schedule, which is based on a four-day week. This gives the objectives for the day, which worksheets to complete, and what part of the DVD to view for each day. Framing Codes are where the student learns the various parts of a sentence and begins diagramming, or framing, sentences.

Sentences to Analyze are sentences the parent will dictate to the child. The student will then mark the various parts of the sentence and begin framing sentences.

Also, on the Designing Code section children, learn Latin prefixes, bases, and suffixes to English words. This information will help a child gain a better understanding of English spelling and vocabulary and prepare them to learn Latin later if you choose.

I would recommend this curriculum for the homeschool mom who prefers an audio-visual learning style for herself and does not mind taking a hands-on approach to teaching grammar. If you would rather watch a short video than read a lesson and are not looking for an independent learning grammar program, then you will appreciate the way this curriculum is set up.

--Product review by Destiny Mawson, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2020