Funnily enough - Latin is probably the most useful "dead" language to learn. A lot of existing words have Latin roots. The sciences use it extensively. The language structure forms the basis of French, Italian and Spanish ("Romance languages"). And it's structurally simple - compared to say English or German.

I have to agree, when I took my college entrance exam I smiled to myself, I recognized the vocabulary words from my two years of high school Latin.

Anyone have any interest in being involved in a Latin program for children? The idea would be to schedule it at a time that works both for kids in school and for homeschoolers. Say 3:30 to 4:30 pm once a week. The idea is also to start the kids very young- right after phonics as envisioned by the Prima Latina series. http://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/latin/prima-latina
And then to continue through middle school. We would probably use Ecce Romani. The idea is also to motivate the children by having the programs culminate in exams for the little kids and the big kids sponsored by the American Classical League. I think this can be accomplished by only a nominal fee (am in communication with volunteer classicists and St. Anthony's for a room) so that the contribution could be like $5 a week per family. You may say, why study Latin?
Here are ten good reasons:#1 Latin is the next step after phonics for little ones. #2 Half of our English vocabulary is made up of Latin words and roots.#3Latin provides the root words for all of the modern sciences. #4 Latin is the language of law, government, logic, and theology#5 Latin is the most efficient way to learn English grammar. #6 Latin is the best preparation for learning any language.#7 Latin effectively develops and trains the mind. #8 Latin aids the mind in other ways ...#9 Latin is transformative. #10 Latin is the language of Western Civilization.
The consensus is that for Latin to take, it has to be started in grammar school. The only place around here that realizes this is the excellent Hudson School (the Catholic parochial system having fallen off the cliff in adopting "progressive" idea of the irrelevancy of everything previously valued about 40 years ago.
To work, I would say we need a minimum of three kids age 5 to 9 and three kids 10 to 13. PM me if you are interested. Please pass this on if you can think of any one else interested. And if you think this is ridiculous, well that's ok because de gustibus non est disputandum.