When the first colonial boats landed in the Americas, the captains sent the ship’s boys, aged about 9, to winter with the local people. This was so they’d come back as little interpreters: everyone knew children struggled with written Latin but were live language sponges.

Now, we make 9 year olds do only what they are bad at : struggle with meta language and grammar, learn English as if it were Latin. But children are still live language sponges. Give them a rich poem or story and let them absorb and echo its language.

It’s a much easier way to home school.