“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 kid learns in school?
So far my son has taken Spanish 1 in a homeschool class and struggled a bit until he began also using Rosetta Stone to practice listening and speaking outside the classroom. At this point he feels he is comfortable enough to take Spanish 2 solo, using Rosetta stone and then perhaps take the CLEP or AP exam to prove that he has learned it to an advanced degree.
Rosetta Stone is hardly the end-all, be-all of online Spanish curriculum. In fact, there are those who found it unsuccessful for the money they paid. I am even looking for something to use in conjunction with it.
So, each family needs to look at all of the programs out there and decide which program will help their homeschooler learn the language well enough that you as a parent can remove yourself from the ratio and allow you child to learn something you don’t know or don’t care to know on their own.
(My next post will compile the more popular Spanish homeschool courses available.)
Read:
A Foreign Language Plan for Upper Elementary Students
10 Good Reasons for Foreign Languages