Farm Fresh Adventures: An Introduction to Latin Vocabulary with Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media {Product Review}

We recently had the chance to review the Picta Dicta Natural World, a beginning Latin program from Roman Roads Media. The program is designed to be an introduction to Latin that is interactive. It is ideal for elementary-age students. We have had some experience with different Latin programs in the past and I was curious to see how this one compared, and to give my youngest son a chance to try his hand at foreign language for the first time.

About the Product

Picta Dicta Natural World is one of the Latin instruction products from Roman Roads Media. Designed to be an interactive introduction to Latin, it is ideal for elementary-age students. It focuses on vocabulary specific to the natural world. The students will learn the Latin (and
English!) for over 400 nouns from the natural world including basic animals, fruits, basic anatomy, landforms, small animals, plants and trees, water, birds, growing things, and more! Starting with the program now, will assist the students later in other subjects like science, history, foreign language, literature, and more!

Because this course comes with different levels of difficulty, your child will be able to start and learn at the level best for their age—even adult! There are Basic, English, Reader 1, Reader 2, Express, and Teacher.

The product license lasts for 14 months, making it a great addition to any school year. It is available for $49 with just $10/ea for any additional student.

There are three programs in the Picta Dicta series--I encourage you to watch this video to get an idea about how they work!

Our Thoughts on the Product

We have been able to use this program on the laptop and the Kindle. It is very basic and easy to navigate. Once you log in, you pick whatever class has been purchased for your students. I had my son and myself for the Natural World, so I clicked it under the seats option for my students (once I set us up) under the learners profile. Under the class, I am able to pick what level for the class I want for my learners. Because my son is a good reader, but still at the elementary level, I decided that the Natural World (Reader 1) would be the best for him. For myself, I picked the Natural World (Express). While we would be learning the same stuff, it would be taught at a grade appropriate level.

The program teaches the topics through visual cues (hand drawn illustrations) AND audio clues (hearing the word with the photo and/or in a sentence). There is also the availability of clues for when your student needs to understand it even more through a dictionary tab!

We decided to just jump into the program. I sat with my youngest as he got started, but it was easy to see he would be able to work on it pretty independently. His level began with matching pictures with English words, just to get him familiar with the definitions and English words. There were 9 levels within his Reader 1 for Basic Animals. They gradually increased in difficulty, as the emphasis on the Latin word increased. By lesson 8, he was having to spell the Latin word for each of the animals he was shown! This meant he had to know what it was, know what the Latin word was, and know how to spell the Latin word! But by this point, he has seen the word enough that he has a fairly good understanding on how to spell the words. I was happy to see that while he struggled a little, he still did earn a star for the lesson. Because we have been doing 1-2 lessons a week AND have had to redo some lessons, we will be just finishing the first unit Basic Animals (9 lessons) this week. I appreciate the fact he can go back and improve his scores for any of the previous lessons and I have found that it helped him practice his memory work.

My son's work through the first 6 lessons

The program grades the student's work, with chance to earn up to 5 stars for the lesson. It is also possible to repeat a lesson to improve a score.

My progress through the third unit

I have been able to get through the first two units through my occasional use of it. I really like the express level, as it includes history and cultural lessons related to whatever is being learned. Sometimes it may be a story. Other times, it’s a history of where the English word was derived.

My favorite random lesson was in the fruits, nuts, and berries unit. I learned that viscum is the white mistletoe berry. It can be mashed up to make a sticky paste that was used to catch birds. It’s also where we get the English word Viscous. I love random things like that!

The biggest challenge for both me and my son, but especially my son was the spelling of Latin words. It was hard for him to remember that e says ay, i says e, u says oo. But because he had seen the spelling so many times before having to spell the words himself, he remembered a lot. I am actually really proud of how quickly he took to the program. He said that a lot of times, it was like he was playing a game of Memory. He had to remember which pictures were NOT the word that was being taught based on what had already been taught. He used the process of elimination for several of the animal names he wasn’t 100% of.

Typing in the spellings

Here is an example for the first lesson for the first unit for Reader 1 compared to the same lesson for the Express:

Reader 1 Unit 1, Lesson 1

The Reader 1 lessons have the illustrations with some basic information relating to the animal. There may also be a brief cultural or historical mention. There also was usually something humorous added. There isn't any Latin introduced yet in this lesson.

Express Lesson 1, Unit 1

The Express lesson includes the word for the animal in Latin (also audio), as well as the word in plural. There is basic facts, as well as longer information relating to the animal in the form of short stories, fables, historical relevance, or cultural relevance. Latin is introduced immediately without the connection of the English word with the photo.

The Express level has 3 lessons for the first unit, while the Reader 1 has 9 lessons for the first unit. The Express level goes much faster, while the Reader 1 level allows for a gentler approach with a lot of practice for mastery.

We both love the fact that we can use this program on the Kindle AND the computer and that it’s totally online—so we can do it anywhere as long as we have the internet! I’ve even had him work on it at the library. I also appreciate that you can have it save your progress and pick up where you left off. This allows you to work on it over time instead of all at once.

Lesson includes showing the Latin word and then the illustrations for you to match

If you get it wrong, it says the word and shows the correct illustration

The program reverses and shows the illustration and definition and asks you to find the word

I think this product is excellent and has been our favorite Latin program we have used thus far. I think this is because it has mastery built into it AND is interactive. The lesson makes note of any words you get wrong and will keep adding them back in so you can have a lot of practice until you get them right.

I would absolutely recommend this product to anyone desiring a basic introduction to Latin and because it is designed for a wide range of levels, I think it would be appropriate for all ages of students as recommended. My son and I like to throw out our new Latin words to each other, especially when we watch shows that have the animals we’ve learned.

I would definitely consider checking out the other two topics in the Picta Dicta line: Vocabulary Builder and Ancient World. I think they are easy ways to quickly gain Latin terminology under your belt. I would think this would be extremely beneficial thinking ahead to college entrance testing as it would help with root words and such.

Want to Know More?

For the last several weeks we have been reviewing Picta Dicta Natural World from Roman Roads Media. We have been really enjoying using this product and encourage you to visit other crew members to see how they used this, as well as other products we are reviewing for the company including: Picta Dicta Vocabulary Builder and Fitting Words Classical Rhetoric (complete program).