Heather, you said it: Relax about it and you can do it. My problem is I tend to over do everything. For example, I would request quite a few titles suggested in the SOTW 1 activity book and find myself busy wading through them. To reduce the stress, I should just do the maps and the coloring pages, or add ONE suggested reading title for each chapter instead of 3 or more as I tend to do. So now I need to really cut down. I have to learn to let go and not do all before I can do TOG. I like what you said below. I feel maybe I don't need TOG yet. I still really want to do SL core 3 and 4 so that we can learn American history before moving on. If I had to quantify it I would say that generally those who made it beyond the fog did so because they had a need, a child in upper levels who needed that rigor for school goals or just because they needed a lot of reading.

I studied French for two years in college and one year in graduate school. I used to be able to speak French quite a bit 10 yrs ago in China before I immigrated to USA. I had a lot of foreign friends who spoke French, English, and Chinese Mandarin equally well. They actually were foreign students in China who studied one year Chinese in Beijing before attending colleges all over China and they had to study their majors in colleges in CHINESE. We sang in Chinese, French, English, and Swahili and they preached in Chinese and knew and quoted their Bible in Chinese from cover to cover. They have contributed so much to my spiritual growth that I feel much indebted to them. They would be proud to know that I will teach my kids French. So which French is gentle and focus more on speaking in the first year or two? I know about L'Art de Dire, L'Art de Lire (which sounds more like learning read French). What is your experience if you have used this? Any other programs? I have decided not to start French (or Latin) until next year because I want my kids to go to Saturday Chinese school at least one year (for the younger one), or one more year (for the older one). So I will spend a lot of time and energy on Chinese this coming school year. Thanks for your encouragement. J

Personally I don't like History Pockets. I bought the Ancient for k-3, but never used it and it is a waste of my money if I don't use it. I consider selling it. We much prefer the SOTW 1 activity book's coloring pages and maps and Greek doll projects. J

Sahamamama, Thank you so much for the detailed response. I should have mentioned that I am native Chinese speaker with native like American English. I came to USA 10 years ago and my dh is American and we see his parents a lot. We speak mainly English at home since I need to teach the subjects in English, SOTW, SL science, R&S English. So English is my kids' native language. Another mom suggests that we do French now since Latin is easier to study later without having to speak it. It makes sense to me. I used to speak decent French (studied in college alongside English). So I am more leaned towards doing French now so that they get the accent better. Thanks for the tips for speaking Chinese more. I have Chinese friends but when the kids are together they talk in ENGLISH, especially after they turn 3 or 4 when they go to day care or to kindergarten. J

Thank you and I think it a good point you made. I studied French in college as a second foreign language while English was my major. J

After drooling over all the Latin and French programs, I have to be realistic about my long-term goal. I DO want my kids (myself, too) to learn Latin. I DO want my kids to learn French. However, since I am teaching Chinese Mandarin, my native language to them now, which takes more efforts than French or Latin because of the reading/ writing part, I will most likely not be left with enough energy or time to teach both Latin and French down the road. So I decide that I have to choose Latin or French to teach well rather than attempting both and quickly get burned out and give up both. KWIM? I do have experience of burning out with two maths. I tried to ask my ds to do both Singapore and MEP daily and I felt that I was always rushing him to finish one in order to get to the next; now we are ONLY doing Singapore. Which do you think I should pick, Latin or French? I want us to do one of the two very well and very committed and if we somehow find the time, interest (my ds wants to learn Greek; we are studying Ancient Greece), energy, then we will make a decision accordingly. But for now, Latin or French? I love this board for all the wonderful ideas. Thank you so very much for having helped my so much!:grouphug: Jade from China ETA: I tried to change the title of this post, but it didn't work, so I posted this again with the title that I really wanted. So please bear with me if this is the same content you read under another title.

Thanks! It is a wonderful site. Thank you very much for sharing and I will tell some of my friends. Jade from China

After drooling over all the Latin and French programs, I have to be realistic about my long-term goal. I DO want my kids (myself, too) to learn Latin. I DO want my kids to learn French. However, since I am teaching Chinese Mandarin, my native language to them now, which takes more efforts than French or Latin because of the reading/ writing part, I will most likely not be left with enough energy or time to teach both Latin and French down the road. So I decide that I have to choose Latin or French to teach well rather than attempting both and quickly get burned out and give up both. KWIM? I do have experience of burning out with two maths. I tried to ask my ds to do both Singapore and MEP daily and I felt that I was always rushing him to finish one in order to get to the next; now we are ONLY doing Singapore. Which do you think I should pick, Latin or French? I want us to do one of the two very well and very committed and if we somehow find the time, interest (my ds wants to learn Greek; we are studying Ancient Greece), energy, then we will make a decision accordingly. But for now, Latin or French? I love this board for all the wonderful ideas. Thank you so very much for having helped my so much!:grouphug: Jade from China

What is the difference? J

That is why I am reading Oxford University press' Ancient Times to educate myself when my kids and I are learning it the first time round with Story of the World 1 and they are 7.5 and 5.5. I totally understand that we as teacher/mom should get ahead of our kids to develop expertise/familiarity in the area that we DO want to teach ourselves. I do plan to oursource science because I am weak in it and don't shortchange my kids. Thanks for the brilliant ideas/wisdom. J

I am interested in the independent feature of this program. Can your kids really do it without you? J

Thanks! For those who are doing/have done L'Art de Dire, how do you schedule it? How long does it take to finish the whole program? I would like to do it twice a week for 20 minutes or so each time. If they like it a lot, we may do it three times a week. If we were not also learning Chinese, we would go every day or four times a week. However, we will do Chinese three times a week to keep going. So French will be two and no more than three times a week. J

:bigear:

I see some people are using this program and would love your advice as to which one should I start with for my 6. and 8 yr olds. I am almost done with phonics for my now 5.5 yr old. I am just planning to add French to our foreign language study, and I want to wait to do Latin till we have done French for a year or two. I plan to do Chinese 3 times a week and French 2 or 3 times a week if that helps with the decision I should make. Thank you! J

This is helpful to know because I am thinking of starting French with L'Art de Dire with my 6 and 8 yr olds. J

What is the youngest age you start L'art de Lire 1? I am looking for a French program and I think this looks good. So would you start a 6 yr and 8 yr olds together? I would love that they can learn together. Where do you order it? The price looks good for Level 1 Package. J

I know more beginner Latin programs than other languages. I would like ideas about Spanish and French. I am still indecisive about languages, so please help me if you have used such programs. What have you used and loved to teach/learn along with your kids for Spanish or French? Also what readers have you used with each language? Thanks, J

You have me convinced!:auto:I am now really more comfortable with the idea of French. I feel excited when I think of it. So this is the sign that French is for us despite all the Spanish around us. Somehow I don't like how Spanish sounds as much as French. I will check my library for loans. You have a good point that the outside resources are not as important as the mom who can enjoy it and have confidence in it. At least we will start with French and if the kids or I are interested we can always add Spanish later on. What do you think of using Learnables French? Is there another program that you tried and loved? Thank you so much for being my sounding board! J

:lol::lol:Can you see me spinning? I love languages. I wish I could teach lots of languages. I am teaching Chinese now. We want to start Latin and a modern language. I see some people ARE doing more than three languages with their kids. I really love that!

The more I think about it, the more dilemma I am in. I really love French. And I really know the grammar and a lot of vocab. So it would be a real advantage for me as the teacher. French sounds very nice to the ears. Spanish is so unfamiliar, I will have to rely totally on outsiders. I feel unsure. I don't feel the personal connection with this language, at least not yet. I wish I liked it more. J

I learned some French (2 yrs in college, and 1 yr in graduate school) and can still read some and speak a little. My grammar is really good. On the other hand, I know no Spanish. The library near us has tons of picture books/readers/books on CD in Spanish and two librarians that speak Spanish and there is a weekly bedtime Spanish story evening as well. The grocery stores have Spanish signs. So you get my point: If we choose to learn Spanish, then we have real people and free readers available. However, I don't love Spanish as much as French. But there are no French resources as readily available as Spanish ones. So what would you do? If I teach/learn French with my kids, then I can teach vocab and grammar very easily. But if we learn Spanish, we can use it more easily and read in it too. What would you do? J

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Do you think you can share your loop schedule and how it helps your sixth grader motivated? Thanks, J

Do you do loom with all subjects or only the subjects that are not done every day? For example, do you NOT loop math, language arts, and DO loop art and other less 3 R subjects? J

Thanks, Diviya. I feel encouraged. I don't speak enough Chinese to my kids. I feel so guilty. I always try to remember to do it. I used to read Chinese stories to them every day. Maybe I should resume that. My older son has very good listening comprehension though. Ma Liping Chinese 2 has long stories in each lesson and ds can understand almost every word/sentence when he listens to the story the first time on the CD-ROM. I think maybe I could continue by building on his listening and speaking now rather than also achieving reading and writing. I am very eager to start Latin. I just love the idea and there are good programs out there for my two boys to learn together. I am thinking of Prima Latin as a spine and Minimus as reading enrichment. What do you think? J