During our first year of homeschooling, I have toyed around with the idea of teaching the children a foreign language.
The problem is that my natural inclination is to teach them French. Because, well, that’s what I took in high school and college. I even picked up some things to start introducing them to the French language, but then didn’t start working on it.
My main problem? I really think that we need to tackle Spanish instead.
Of course, French is a wonderful international language. So, this is not to say that one day I won’t work on French with them. But, for now, I feel like Spanish may be the way to go. And, considering that my Spanish knowledge is what I like to call “Dora Spanish,” I’m going to need a lot of help along the way.
I have been considering purchasing Rosetta Stone next year for our boys to work on, as well as for my husband and I to work on our Spanish as well!
This all left me thinking, and I hoped that our readers could help me with a whole bevy of questions…
Do you teach a foreign language in your homeschool? (If not, do you plan to at some point?)
If so, what language and at what age/grade did you start?
What program do you use? Do you like it or not?
I can’t wait to see what our readers have to say! Au revior!
Angie can be found writing about faith, family, and household management at Many Little Blessings, when she isn’t chastising Swiper for swiping.
photo by dimitridf
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
We’ve just barely started homeschooling, but I have big plans for the kids in terms of language. My grandparents speak German, so we’ll teach them that. I’d also like them to learn Latin, Greek, and maybe a little Hebrew. This is very ambitious–I don’t know if it will actually happen!
We are going to start French with Genius. I grew up in Canada, so had the wonderful opportunity to take French from First grade all the way through 11th. I also came from a home where both my parents immigrated from Germany so learned that as well.
We started tackling Latin this year. I have a review up for Schola Publications on my blog, which is what we have used for it.
We’ll be using Auralog for our French lessons. http://www.tellmemore.com they have a brand new curriculum out for homeschoolers. I will be doing a review on my blog for it soon.
My kids hated Rosetta Stone, although I still think it is a good program. Right now, they are both doing PowerSpeak online. My son is doing Elementary Spanish and my daughter is doing High School Latin. They just love these programs, partly because they get an avatar that they can dress up as they earn “money” through their lessons. PowerSpeak has online programs for elementary through high school in several different languages.
Our oldest is just in Kindergarten, but one of the main decisions that my husband made in terms of homeschooling is that our kids are to learn Spanish. So, we are doing Kindergarten for two years, and we are finishing our first Spanish book this week, and have gotten a second spanish curriculum to use. We have considered getting Rosetta Stone to increase my Spanish abilities.
We are lucky that my MIL is fairly fluent in Spanish, and my hubby speaks relatively well.
I don’t really know if I will teach any other languages. I have considered Latin, but we will have to see what happens as our kids get older.
We’ll be doing Latin with Prima Latina next year (2nd grade) and I’d like to use Memoria Press’ French program starting around 4/5th grade. She has some familiarity with Spanish from Kindergarten (Catholic school) and our homeschool co-op, of course :)
Hi Angie,
I answered your question here:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/CherylinMa/656909/
and linked over to you.
Blessings,
Cheryl
Hey, I read this article and I feel its really important to start teaching your children languages as soon as you can. My husband and I are fluent in Arabic and we use that as a second language in our house (besides English). My husband speaks Russian, and I speak French fluently, and we both know Ancient Greek. We've tried to pass on a lot of our language skills to our children and we feel its been particularly helpful. My daughter researches in French and English for her assignments, my son has done an entire semester of literature study, in his third language. Language is such a valuable tool that can never be underestimated. I strongly encourage you to teach your children Spanish or whatever language you feel comfortable teaching them!
Also a tip for those teaching languages, if it is possible use the languages during daily use not just in the classroom. My family has French breakfasts, Arabic lunches, and Russian snacks. Dinner is of course in English :) Also, labeling in multiple languages works wonders. Label the door in all the languages you are teaching your children and they will start to learn rapidly! Good luck and God bless your homeschooling!