Foreign languages??!!

I know one area that tends to scare a lot of homeschoolers is teaching a foreign language.  To be fair, with some programs, it isn't easy if you don't know the language, and a person will never develop fluency without total immersion (see my post later on exchange students ;) ), but I still think foreign language exposure is very important.

Learning a foreign language helps you understand grammar and syntax in a way you won't appreciate until you are working through translations.  Learning a language helps you learn about other cultures and people groups, and gets you outside of your own preconceived world view.  And learning a language can be fun.

Around here, we start learning French very young.  Why French?  Why young?  We do French because I know French.  It's just that simple.  If I knew Spanish, we would start there, or German, or Russian, or any other language.  If you know even a little of a language, that's a good place to start.  If you know none, that's ok too.  I think it is very important to start kids hearing and being exposed to language young because our ears and specifically designed to process language and sound at young ages.  Those skills are harder as we get older.  Even my preschoolers are exposed to French vocabulary and voices through games and cd's. 

By 2nd grade, we start the curriculum The Easy French to increase their exposure (there is also The Easy Spanish).  This curriculum is a gentle way to start a language and make it fun.  It uses an immersion technique where the student will listen to a conversation with French words sprinkled throughout.  They will understand the words in context.  Then you are given a variety of activities you can complete throughout the week to build up those skills.  We use The Easy French from 2nd-6th grade.  It is great for vocabularly and building pronounciation skills.  It isn't super formal or grammatically-base.  At that point, we branch out and use the French curriculum from Memoria Press.  This curriculum allows my student to learn French a little more formally with grammar instruction to go along with vocabulary learning.  For high school, we have been using BJU French materials in an online class, and have found this combination to be working very well.  I put my oldest in an online class at this point, so that he has the opportunity to hear a variety of French speakers and not just my voice.  The class is live and he participates with a headseat through the computer.  More on online classes later. 

In 5th grade, we add in Latin instruction.  Most traditional, classical schoolers will start Latin first.  There are many arguments for why to teach Latin.  However, Latin is not a spoken language and we lose our ear for hearing the nuances of language as we get older.  For my family, I would rather focus on a modern, spoken language when they are younger to take advantage of their natural abilities, and add in a more formal Latin education in the logic stage.  Once you've worked on learning one foreign language, a 2nd...or 3rd...is an easier process.  We stick with Memoria Press curriculum for Latin--Latina Christiana and First Form, Second Form, etc.  There are lots of other good programs out there, and Memoria Press isn't exciting, but I find it to be straightforward and easy to use, and they have a DVD set that you can buy to go with them.  Since I don't know Latin myself, this is a big plus for me.  In 8th grade, my oldest began online study of high school level Latin with Memoria Press online academy using the Henle materials. 

And to round out our language study, my children will be allowed to select a 3rd language for their high school years--continuing Latin and French as well.  My oldest has chosen Russian, after experiencing that language first hand while we were in Ukraine adopting.  He is using a Pimsleur program paired with Russian in 10 Minutes a Day.  I have been very impressed with how much he has learned through those programs. 

If you are reading this thinking, wow, 3 languages is crazy, keep in mind that for the rest of the world, 2-3 foreign languages is the norm.  Students around the world start learning other languages young and add more languages through their educational career.  And they do it well.  Not only can our students handle this level of learning, they need it to be competitive in this world. 

If teaching a foreign language thoroughly intimdates you, be encouraged that there are so many choices and resources out there from free online resources, to online classes, to video and audio programs.  Do your research and you will find something that fits your family.