Hi all! Today we’re talking about our favorite foreign language programs in the homeschool curriculum forum series!
For younger students my favorite program is PowerSpeak. It is an online program with fun games and activities that help foster general vocabulary and sentence structure. My only issue with this is price and the lack of levels available. Currently they only offer elementary level 1 and 2, then the next one up is Jr. High which I thought would be too difficult for my 4th grader.
Pros:
- Fun and independent curriculum.
- No experience necessary to begin.
Cons:
- Fairly expensive, especially if you have multiple students.
- Limited in levels available.
- Only 5 languages available
My next choice is Rosetta Stone. We tried to use this initially when Strawberry Shortcake was in 2nd grade and it just didn’t go well. The curriculum moved way too fast for her, and it assumed a certain level of maturity to infer differences in verb tenses and sentence structure. However now that she’s a bit older we will re-visit this program and see how it goes!
Pros:
- Thorough lessons
- Visual and audio lessons
- Available in 30 languages
Cons:
- Can be costly unless you can find a used version.
So, now comes the fun part!
What are your favorite Foreign Language curriculum, resources, websites, etc? Leave a comment below discussing your choices for this year and why.
Feel free to ask questions or reply to each other too!
It’s my way of doing a forum without actually doing a forum haha!
And hopefully this will help us all as we start the process of researching curriculum, and trying to decide what will be the best fit for our homeschool.
Note: Please keep today’s conversations geared towards FOREIGN LANG., I will be posting one for each subject separately so we can keep our comments organized.
Click here if you missed my previous Homeschool Curriculum Forum posts!
Disclosure: This was not a sponsored post, I may however be affiliated with one or more products mentioned. The opinions expressed in this post were not influenced by the company. They are products I have used and felt like sharing, cuz’ it’s my blog and I can if I want to.
Hello. I am looking for a Spanish Christian curriculum, I’m from Mexico and I’m bilingual, so I’ll be able to teach them to speak it correctly, but I’ve never homeschooled, my son turned 5 in January and we know we will need a class for him or he will forget all about it and them lose interest, but I would love something like missions focused or something like that. Is there anything out there? Thanks!
http://www.milestonebooks.com/list/Rod_and_Staff_Curriculum/
Go to Milestonebooks, Rod and Staff Curriculum — and type in Speedy Spanish (written on 3rd grade level and it is Spanish/Christian curriculum)
Looking for a curriculum to teach my children Irish. Anyone know of one other that Dinolingo?
Hello. Thank you so much for this article. This is very helpful to me because I now know there are also german classes for kids. I have also tried some lessons by skype with a native speaker from http://preply.com/en/german-by-skype and it was also worth trying.
Hi, My daughter is in a dual immersion ( Spanish) at school. But next year I plan on homeschooling her. Trying to find good websites or programs to continue helping her learn Spanish. Her school has Rosetta Stone for the kids. It helps a little, but she gets frustrated when they want her to guess what she is supposed to say. I use Duolingo for myself, which I love. Even though she sometimes uses it, she doesn’t know how to spell very well in either language. Her school teaches spelling and sentence structure in Spanish but not English until 2nd or 3rd grade( in Dual Immersion Program).
I’m thankful for all the help I found here. And will be trying to see what works best for us!
Hi Cheri, I came across this “forum” and wanted to suggest that you check out the Homeschool Learning Series from http://www.CalicoSpanish.com – it’s a great program, designed for parents who don’t speak Spanish to be able to teach it to their children by creating an immersion environment at home. On the flip-side, parents who are fluent in Spanish can use the video stories, detailed lesson plans, music videos, activities, games, etc., as a base to supplement and structure lessons when teaching their children Spanish at home. There’s a video you can watch about the program available here – http://calicospanish.com/homeschool-offer/freelesson1.html – and that will also show you how to sign-up for access to the full first lesson of Level A for free. If you have questions about the program, use the Contact page on the website and they get back to you right away! Hope this helps.
As a language teacher and a homeschool mom one of the most important components of learning a foreign language is often missed in all areas of education. Speaking! Although apps, software, and curriculum can be beneficial lets be honest after 4 years of Spanish education in high school and two years in university I arrived in South America as a beginner level. The solution to this is 1-on-1 classes with native speaking teachers or full country immersion. Since the second isn’t always an option and often us homeschoolers live in more remote areas (Montana) we might not be able to find Spanish teachers. However learning by Skype is excellent. There are many good independent teachers but I recommend: http://www.LOISpanish.com. The teachers are excellent, scheduling is a breeze, and we can do so much interesting curriculum based on the lessons.
Hi everyone!
I know this post is quite old… however I wanted to share my story!
My husband and I are both Britons. When we were young we never had the chance to travel. After our honeymoon, we decided to travel at least once a year, and we also decided to learn foreign languages.
We decided to choose Cactus Language because they are professionals, very flexible and not expensive.
We also decided that our kids should learn foreign language very young, that’s why our children take Junior classes with Cactus. We live in London so there are many venues (Islington, Clapham or Fulham).
They can learn French, Spanish or Mandarin! It’s little groups, (not more than 12 which is really great) and they are in age groups (7-10; 10-12; 13-15) so they made friends.
The classes are running once a week after school, during 10 weeks: it’s just perfect for an after-school activities.
They are really happy with this, and they learn really fast- Cactus teachers are really professionals and good with children.
Also the price is really good, only £13.5 per hour!
http://www.languagecoursesuk.co.uk/courses/juniors.php
Here is their website. Go check it, we are really happy of their service!
Hope this helps 😉
Are there any non-DVD/internet foreign language curricula? I am trying to teach my daughter German, but she’s only 3 so I don’t like sitting her in front of the tv to learn a second language – she’s too young and then there is no interaction or response required, only absorption of information. I am conversational so I would much rather interact with her myself than use a DVD. However I am having a hard time finding any kind of relevant textbook/workbook etc.
Did you ever find any resource for this? I am in the same situation, and would prefer a non dvd/internet approach, although would like to teach my daughters French.
Mamalisa.com has a lot of songs, poems, etc. and we also found the book 52 Weeks of Family German to be helpful.
Also, Alphabet Garten has a resource I have really appreciated in their “Parenting auf Deutsch” ebook.
http://www.alphabet-garten.com/store/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=display&ref=subscribe
I’ve read several comments about language ‘software or apps’ but I wanted to present a different approach. Arranging foreign language classes/lessons for your children through Skype. It is nearly impossible to actually learn how to speak a foreign language through ‘software or workbooks’ alone. That is why so many of us took four years of Spanish/French in high school and when we ended up needing to use the languages we were totally lost. Skype tutoring sessions can help your child learn to speak a foreign language with a qualified native speaking teacher. The classes are fun, easily arranged and offer cultural perspective as well. Check out: http://www.loispanish.com and email me if you have any more questions. I’m heading down the homeschool path with my 4 year old daughter and she loves her Spanish classes.
Personally I use an app to teach my three young daughters some French and Spanish. It’s free, fun with animated animals and keep them focused. Amazingly, they already know many words in French and Spanish in addition to English: “Edu Animals Animated Multilingual”
https://itunes.apple.com/bj/app/animals-animated-multilingual/id1062387065
Young kids can definitely learn multiple languages at the same time. Try it…
I have been using Mango Language online for free through my library. It is a really great program and you can’t beat the price!
I’m learning Russian, Norwegian,and Romanian. They are also languages that I want to teach my daughter as well. I have found limited resources for all three of these languages as they aren’t very common in my area for actual playdates. I’ve found some cartoons on YouTube. I’ve downloaded a few apps as well. Norwegian is one of the harder ones for us. Has anyone come across any resources for Russian, Norwegian, and/or Romanian?