No more ideas? I am bumping this up hoping someone will have some new ideas for me. Even if you are not a bilingual household, what activities would you have your children do for English? I am sure I could adapt them to our situation. I am focusing mostly on expanding her vocabulary but spelling and grammar suggestions are also very welcome. Thank you again. Crossing my fingers... Mabelen

This would be for my 11 yo daughter to do to improve her second language, Spanish. We followed the One Parent One Language approach during her earlier years, I was the Spanish language parent, my husband the English language parent. Now that both my daughters are older (11 and 4) our family and schooling language is English, but I still talk with them in Spanish when it is just the three of us or when we have Spanish speaking company. We also read in Spanish, watch movies in Spanish, etc. During our Easter Break I am having my 11 yo dd do a little bit of Spanish every day. It is always based on a book that I read to both my dds or that my oldest reads out loud to her little sister and myself. So far these are the activities I have had my daughter do: Choose passage, copy and illustrate it, then write a summary (in Spanish, of course). Do a cross word, word search or fill in the blank type of exercises based on vocabulary and phrases found in the book. Read the story out loud then write down any words she didn't know. I give her the translation if she can't guess it from context. Then illustrate it and write the English equivalent. Any other ideas? I am just trying to get her to do a little bit every day, but I want to make it fun and not too repetitive. Thank you for any suggestions. Mabelen

I am having my 11 yo dd do a little bit of Spanish every day. It is always based on a book that I read to both my dds or that my oldest reads out loud to her little sister and myself. So far these are the activities I have had my daughter do: Choose passage, copy and illustrate it, then write a summary (in Spanish, of course). Do a cross word, word search or fill in the blank type of exercises based on vocabulary and phrases found in the book. Read the story out loud then write down any words she didn't know. I give her the translation if she can't guess it from context. Then illustrate each of the words and write the English equivalent. Any other ideas? I am just trying to get her to do a little bit every day, but I want to make it fun and not too repetitive. Thank you for any suggestions.

I am going to use Breaking the Spanish Barrier for my 11 yo dd this summer. I have seen the samples on their website and it has a strong grammar component, which is what my dd needs. I have always talked to her in Spanish and she has spent time in Spain. She has excellent comprehension skills but she needs more practice on irregular verb conjugations. She also needs to work on verb tense/mood choice. I also like that the grammar is introduced in a systematic and explicit way.

I don't have first hand experience but I have a friend whose children attend a French immersion school. There are also some Spanish and Chinese immersion schools in my school district. From what I know, parents are happy regarding the language experience even when they do not speak the language of immersion. I think this kind of program has some definite positive points, I would try to find out more from current parents or parents of alumni if that is possible.

I am not American. I have only lived in the US for a few years now. When I first came here I was confused to hear people say things like "I am Irish/Italian/Norwegian...". Whenever I heard those comments I would think they were really from those countries and I would make assumptions based on that belief. It took me a while to understand that they really meant they were of such and such descent! My ethnic heritage is important in that I was born and bred in Spain. That was the only culture I had experienced until I moved to the UK after finishing college. Spanish is my mother tongue. My siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews are there. I am passing my language and culture to my children, but I don't regard them as Spaniards, even though they actually are legally; I registered their births with the Spanish consulate and they are entitled to a Spanish passport. They have never actually lived in Spain, although they have visited several times, they are not being educated there, they are not living today's Spain. They are only exposed to my own experience of Spanish culture. My husband is born and bred Sri Lankan, and so our children are ethnically mixed. I hope that my children will have a good knowledge of and a fondness for all things Spanish, Sri Lankan and British, because they are all elements of our combined family culture, but I expect that they will consider themselves nothing but American (of Spanish and Sri Lankan descent).

I know I was taught grammar in school from an early age. I remember parsing and diagramming in 4th grade and I absolutely loved it! I agree with PariSarah. A sound understanding of grammar is essential to learn foreign languages, unless you are learning by total immersion.

Kate, you are right: it is up to your husband to take the lead. I also would have liked my children to learn Tamil, but my dh decided against it. In my husband's defense, I have to say except for one aunt of his, everybody else's English is excellent, with a few peculiarities and an accent, but otherwise great. This one aunt can understand English fairly well and can even speak a little. She is the eldest of my father in law's siblings. I tried to get my children to at least learn some. I bought a basic Tamil language computer program and my oldest every now and then plays it and has learned a few words and phrases that way. When we spend time with my in laws the kids get to learn songs and words, but not much more. Don't beat yourself over this. You can only do so much.

We are raising our daughters to be bilingual and multicultural. I come from Spain, my dh from Sri Lanka, and we lived in the UK for many years before relocating in the US, so British culture is also part of our family make up. My children attend private American schools. That is their main source of American culture, since most of our friends tend to be expats from many different countries. Even our American friends tend to be second or third generation or multicultural themselves. This is not something we have seeked out, we are open to all people, but that is how things have turned out. Our family language is English because that is the one common language. I always talk with my girls in Spanish when daddy is not around or when we have Spanish speaking guests. We read a lot of Spanish, we watch Spanish shows, listen to Spanish music, communicate with our Spanish relatives etc.

Pig ears are so good! They do have to be served hot, otherwise they don't taste right, though. Chicken feet were my favorite part of soup when I was a little girl! And elver (young eels) are expensive, but oh so delicious! My, I am getting a craving for some of these... I can't! I am not planning to go home anytime soon! I think I'd better stop reading this thread!

I did not vote because I don't homeschool although I hang out here. My dh and I are immigrants to the US, and that is one of the reasons why I am hesitant to jump into homeschooling. Anyway, my family ethnicity is one that fits multiple categories. I am 100 % caucasian and both Hispanic and European by culture. My dh you would call East Indian. Our children are obviously a mix of both, and I get very irritated when they have to choose one heritage over the other...

I am from Spain, so a lot of the things already mentioned are/have been part of my normal diet: frog legs (crunchy), snails (in a spicy tomato sauce, I love those-better than the French style garlic and butter snails!), tripes (yum!), rabbit (with lots of garlic and white wine, delicious!), brains (those were when I was young and camouflaged in by mom), calamari (to die for, one of my cravings when pregnant!), raw octopus (a delicacy from Galicia), blood sausage (both Spanish and Scottish varieties), haggis, buffalo curd (creamy), horse meat... I think though the best one is probably bulls' testicles (sliced thin and cooked as a thin steak). They actually taste great and are thought of a delicacy for the sick. I can't think of anything else, does venison count as strange?

I do, like many of you said already, only at night to assure good rest for quick healing. Also I never even before would give multi ingredient medication anyway, so that is no change for me, plus I have always followed the directions and dosage religiously.

I would have to say both complement each other? I remember being in 4th grade when we learned to analyze sentences and we learned it both ways. I don't remember for sure which one we learned first, probably parsing? I also know we were required to do both for our University Entrance Exam.

and missed them terribly during both my pregnancies. I wished I could have found nice ripe ones... They are my favorite fruit. Their flesh is white and sweet surrounding big black seeds all inside the fruit. Yum!

There are a couple of different ways. One is using the ASCI code, by pressing the ALT code key and then a combination of number keys to get the special character. If you do a google search you will get the specific combinations. Another way of acheaving the special characters is by having a Spanish keyboard setup. I am pasting the instructions I found on a website: The best option is to install a Spanish Keyboard in Windows. This will allow you to use accent marks in ANY program on the computer, including the desktop, file names, graphics and word processing. The layout on a Spanish Keyboard is different (that is, many symbols are in different places than they are on the English Keyboard). – To install the Spanish Keyboard on Windows XP, click first on "Start" then "Settings" and then "Control Panel." – Once there click on "Regional and Language Options" (If you are in an older version of windows, click on "Keyboard" in the "Control Panel"). – Now select the "Languages" tab at the top of the new window. The large white box contains a list of the languages and keyboards you have installed. – To add a Spanish keyboard, click on "ADD". – There is a long list of Spanish spell-checkers available. Any one will do, but I suggest "Spanish (International Sort)" which will alphabetize lists the correct (modern) way. The program will automatically select the "Spanish Variation" keyboard. – Click "OK" to exit the control panel. Now (perhaps after you restart your computer) you will see a gray square in your system tray (the lower right row of icons on the task bar at the bottom of your screen in Windows). Clicking on this gray square (or using the Ctrl and Shift keys at the same time) will give you the option of toggling back and forth between any keyboards you have installed. NOTA BENE: If you install a non-English keyboard the letters on your actual keyboard (the hardware) will not necessarily indicate what letter is actually typed. To type an accent mark on a Spanish Keyboard, hit the apostrophe followed by the vowel over which you want the mark. The "ñ" is the colon key; "Ñ" is a capital colon. Question marks ("¿" and "?") are the "+" and "_" symbols respectively. The upside down exclamation is the "=" key. I hope this helps.

My just 4 yo dd asked this question a couple of weeks ago. She asked, "Mom, how do babies get in their mom's tummy?". She already knew how babies grow in their mom's belly. We just told her the part of the mom's egg meeting the dad's sperm and forming an embryo that grows into a baby and she was happy as Larry. No further questions, she was satisfied with that information.

My 3 yo broke out in hives when she had a cold a few weeks ago. It happened one night before her bath. At first we thought some bug had bit her, but the same thing happened again the following evening around the same time. I took her to the doctor and we were told it could be just due to her cold. Apparently some children will react to the infection that way!

little less, sometimes a little more. This does not include any weekend or holiday trips, just daily type of outings.

I have let my then 10 yo dd go on a weekend to the beach with friends such as you describe, a 5 hour drive away. My dd had a great time even though she did feel a little homesick. I would not do it if my dh was not on board though.

website: http://www.rae.es You enter the verb on the dictionary textbox and then once you have the definition you click on Conjugar and there it is at your fingertips! It is all free.

the hormones are definitely acting up big time. I just turned 44, but I can't say if perimenapause is to blame when I get short tempered or not. My youngest is about to turn 4. No hormone shifts there, but plenty of personality, if you know what I mean!

right now, the Euro is only about 1.50, so that makes quite a bit of a difference. I can't help with the Latin part. I did Latin at school in Spain for 4 years in High School and then for 2 years in College. I obviously used textbooks geared towards the Spanish school market. My oldest (11 yo) is not doing Latin and has no plans yet, we want to focus on Spanish. I just wanted to say that I ordered some Horrible Books from Book Depository and again the service was fast and excellent.

I would be happy to help with questions as I have time. I don't want to raise the expectations, though. There will be days when I will not be able to help. I tend to log in at the end of the day when my brain is well and truly fried and I have no energy left. The Spanish board would be the perfect place for this.

So sorry to hear about your mom! You have had a really bad year, please be reassured things will get better. You and your family are in my thoughts.