Foreign Language and HOD

[playschool]

I've noticed that several other curr. encourage teaching elementary-aged children a foreign language or at least getting them familiar with one. Is this something that HOD encourages? How many of you moms teach your elem. aged children a foreign language? Do you think it is necessary to include in your homeschool? I just wonder with all of the demands on us (homeschooling moms) for time, how you manage to fit in another subject? I feel guilty that I am not able to fit this into my day as of yet.

[crlacey]

My DH mentioned that he would like to see this done with DD. He doesn't feel that she needs to do an in depth study or master the language, but that she should be introduced to another language while she is young. I'll be looking forward to hearing others answers.

[Mommamo]

We do an immersion Spanish class with all 3 of my children (even the baby girl!) They are really picking it up well. We also read books in Spanish and listen to CDs in Spanish. I also talk to the children as much as I can. I took 10 years of Spanish in school so I know the basics. We also do the bilingual story time at our library. I don't think I'd do a formal program with my kiddos though. They are 5, almost 3, and a baby.

[Mom2Monkeys]

I'll tell you my opinion, a little of my plan, and a little about what we use...it could get long LOL

We use Power-Glide Jr. Latin this year in 2nd...I'll let my youngers use Song School Latin in K-1 or 2 (starting with just the cd the first yr. or two). It's great to do latin b/c when the child gets older, they could choose from so many languages that they'll already have a head start on. We'll use this one-year course over a couple years. Then we'll let them pick another one, like German since its very close to English as well. Power Glide has jr. all the way up to AP levels in German. Then we'll reintroduce Latin again in the Jr. high years with Power Glides next level of Latin, maybe 7th or 8th, then let them pick another for 8th or 9th and up...in the years we aren't doing Latin, I'll use something like English From the Roots Up Vol. 1 and 2 doing 1-2 cards a week to keep up with latin and also improve vocab. with the latin and greek word roots. My 7 yo LOVES latin and even my 5 yo was telling kids hello/goodbye on the playground in latin at age 4...he even remembered the difference between saying hello or goodbye to one person or to more than one! LOL...)

I personally highly recommend adding a language. I feel latin does so much for us now b/c of the increased vocabulary and improved spelling I'm seeing, as well as it being somewhat like an intro into so many different languages. I've also used Prima Latina, but we found it boring and overly structured, plus its mostly memorizing vocab and rules. Power-glide is somewhat an immersion, but not totally. They learn some words, then hear them used in a story...the story is in english except for the vocab words are replaced by the latin word. Like, "The puella tried to find her roca." which means "The girl tried to find her rock."

[8arrows]

I did teach my older two Spanish and Latin as youngsters, but I am not going to with my youngers. I feel like I spent a lot of time that could have been better spent elsewhere. My boys picked it up so much more quickly in Jr. High and High School. My 10 year old does do some Rosetta Stone on her own on the computer. Out of the programs I tried, we had the best results with Rosetta Stone. I do not know HOD's "official" stand on foreign language as I have not seen that posted.

[Carrie]

This is an interesting topic, and one that we've weighed quite heavily, when deciding whether to add a foreign language study into our HOD guides. What we've finally come to is that while the study of a foreign language can be a great addition to other studies (if you can find the time to fit it in), it is not a requirement in the elementary/middle school years. While we do include many other things at HOD that are not necessarily required learning, foreign language is something that does become a requirement once kiddos get to high school (if they are college bound). So, in our philosophy, it is fine to wait until high school to study a foreign language, because it will become a requirement at that point.

While kiddos do seem to internalize foreign language study easily when they are younger, if there is not a big interest in it on the parent's part, it will most likely be difficult to get to with any consistency in the day-to-day. Each family's goals in this area make a huge difference in how successful a foreign language study in the younger years will be.

So at HOD, we have decided to leave the decision of whether to study a foreign language in the pre-high school years (or which language to study) up to the parent. I realize that CM and Classical philosophies of education are both big on the study of foreign language. However, in the scope of other required things to be learned, it falls further down the list for required learning. If it happens to be near to the top of your list, by all means add it in.

We do study Greek at our house, because it is a priority of my husband's, to be able to read the New Testament in its original Greek. We use "Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek" so that the study is quite independent and everyone can do it at his own level. My husband does the portion of checking the kiddos workbooks, because it's meaningful to him. It was easy to add-in based on his interest. There is also a Latin program by the same company "Greek n' Stuff".

So, if the study of a foreign language (including Greek or Latin), happens to be high on your list of family goals, add it in on your extra 5th day of each week, or get a program that is more independent with short daily sessions. If the study of foreign language is not high on your list right now, I encourage you to stop feeling guilty about not covering it, and remember that your kiddos will still get their chance once high school rolls around.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Vicki]

We talked about Latin today when we read our history reading about Columbus. My little guy was very interested, but we will probably wait a year or so to try it. We will most likely work with our Complete Book of Spanish workbook and our Spanish flash cards.

[playschool]

Thank you for your responding to my questions regarding foreign language study. My dc would love to study a language but due to time restraints I know fitting it in would be very difficult at least at the point where we are now in homeschooling. My dh and I want the primary focus of their education to be on the Bible besides their normal academic subjects. Foreign language is further down the list, although I would hate to squelch a desire that they might have for learning another language. In the future, I may try to work things around to accomodate fitting one in, if the desire is still there. Thanks again!

[Samuel'sMommy]

I am going to try to start gently introducing Spanish to DS in the next year or so. DH and I have always wanted to learn it anyway so we thought it would be fun to all learn together. I'm don't know how indepth we'll go for the first few years, but I at least want him to have a working knowledge of it. There are a lot of Spanish-speaking immigrants in our area and I think it would come in handy. Plus, our church does several mission trips to Guatemala each year so it would be useful if we ever decided to go along.

[funkmomma71]

My dd has expressed a desire to learn Spanish, so I recently purchased some Spanish language storybooks, a DVD , a CD and workbook combo and we will probably borrow Spanish language storybooks form the library as my skills come up to speed. If she does well and continues to express a desire to learn more Spanish I will probably get a more formal curriculum when she is older. We also have taken an ASL class and will continue with that when the class starts again. She really loves the ASL class and seems to retain what she learns rather well. ASL engages her gross and fine motor skills so there's an added plus to taking it.
I also plan on incorporating Latin and/or Greek language learning at the middle or high school level. I took Latin in middle and high school and it still helps me today.

[Evergreen Mama]

Spanish is high on our priorities as mentioned by Carrie needing to be is important in motivating yourself and kids to actually study it. We found a great KID curriculum for the basics. It is elementary in production but the kids love it and they are learning Spanish. It has DVD Instruction as well as Audio instruction for workbooks if you prefer the native tongue to your own. The manuals have the script written for the teacher though.

http://www.language-publications.com is the site. Maybe it will be a good match for you too?