“We believe that a relaxed environment encourages positive language learning. Too much grammar and too much emphasis on perfectly correct speech hinders the enjoyment and progress of learning. Slow and steady practice promotes correct speech over time. For these reasons, we have limited our grammar sections to a minimum and stress communication and enjoyment first.” ~REAL Homeschool Spanish At a Glance Product: REAL Homeschool Spanish Cost: $49.95 Download, $89.95 Hard Copy Use: Homeschool, Family Grades: Any Samples: Find Samples of Curriculum HERE. omschool Spanish? Homeschool Spanish is a R.E.A.L. curriculum designed for homeschoolers that is family friendly. R.E.A.L. is an … Continue reading →

Teaching a foreign language is a challenging job for a homeschool mom who is not bilingual herself. When you teach a foreign language you need all the support you can get or your student will have difficulty mastering the language. Immersing yourself in the language is best but the opportunity for that does not come easily for most. For those who are interested in speaking French or simply have a desire to learn more about France you have an opportunity to for an online immersion from a well qualified and amazing lady. Katie’s Language Café is a new site designed … Continue reading →

Format: Self Taught Textbook/MP3 Pronunciation Guide Available on Website Age: Any age Teacher Prep: Minimal Homeschool Method: Any Learning style: Works well with any learning style Quick Rating: Very Good Cost: Can be purchased at Amazon or Barnes and Noble for about $20.00. What is Getting Started with Spanish? A book which teaches Spanish in bite sized portions making it easy for homeschoolers or other self taught learners to grasp the Spanish language. Each lesson provides new material at a slow rate ensuring mastery of each lesson. The book is comprehensive and complete with additional helps and audio provided on … Continue reading →

Somehow I missed the news last week that Rosetta Stone program had introduced an online learning option called Rosetta Stone TOTALe This program delivers Rosetta Stone directly to your browser and requires a high speed internet connection. Rosetta Stone TOTALe consists of three parts. 1. There is RosettaCOURSE which is comparable to the traditional CDrom version many homeschoolers are already using. It teaches languages through the immersion method which teaches the language in a whole language approach. 2. RosettaSTUDIO allows users to practice with other learners in an online environment and also with Coaches in one hour sessions. Finally homeschooling … Continue reading →

In my last article I discussed teaching kids Spanish when you don’t know a lick of it. Fortunately, several quality homeschool curriculums teach Spanish with little parental involvement. In addition, you can also find tutors and local classes as well. For those of you looking to teach Spanish using a pre-packaged curriculum, here are some you should investigate. Rosetta Stone is definitely one of the most popular homeschool Spanish curriculum’s around. My son is using as a supplement to help with an actual Spanish class and it does a great deal to help him to actually speak the language. That … Continue reading →

“How are you going to teach foreign languages?” This is one of the most common questions homeschoolers hear when people find out that you are going to continue homeschooling through high school. “Resources”, is my answer. The truth is I don’t know a lick of any foreign language, (outside of Latin songs learned in Catholic school and some choice Spanish words my Dominican roommate taught me in college). Whether I have resources or not, having kids learn a language when you have not way of determining results, can be unsettling. But what public school parent knows every subject that their … Continue reading →

I have written before about teaching foreign languages in the homeschool. I think it is one of the more difficult areas to teach as a homeschooler because it is one of the few areas where a background knowledge is somewhat essential if you’re going to think of starting in the younger grades. What has always bugged me about any pre-packaged foreign language curriculum is that they often lead a parent to believe that they will be purchasing a program that will yield fluent speakers without the parent having to know the language. While I wouldn’t say that you must speak … Continue reading →

Learn from my mistake. I might has well have wadded up ten $20 bills and placed them in the trash. I will admit, it was painful. So I’m sharing it here so that those of you who are newer to this can heed the advice of a ‘veteran’ (I’m not sure I have kids old enough such that I could be considered a ‘veteran’ yet. . .) A few years ago when I was looking for something to help teach my daughter French, (clearly before I had a well thought out plan) I took the advice of one solitary friend … Continue reading →

I had been writing about my recommendations for studying foreign languages throughout the elementary years. I have said repeatedly that I don’t think you need to feel like you must spend a lot of money to teach your children foreign language and that the goal early on is exposure. However, I’ve consistently received two comments. One is that exposure is great but that most colleges want to see at least a few years of foreign language on your child’s transcript and the second is from people who have a good working knowledge of the language who disagree with my methodology. … Continue reading →

Awhile ago, I wrote about why I believe that teaching foreign languages to young students is over rated. It’s quite hard to teach your child a foreign language if you don’t speak it yourself. Consequently, I do not advise parents to spend an arm and a leg on a foreign language curriculum in the early elementary grades. You will find that it does very little, if any good towards producing a child that can speak the foreign tongue. Exposure on the other hand is never a bad thing. I do feel like I need to make the point that I … Continue reading →