I don't have any advice for you because I never did narrations and never dealt with what you are dealing with. But I would really urge you no matter what you decide on to find a way that does not involve a lot of frustration and aggravation! Especially at those young ages. I think many of us have had the unfortunate experience of 'pushing through' and causing tears and then later wishing we had either waited for more maturity or found another way.

I had considered FF but ended up going with Camridge Latin Course because it was recommended by the local Latin teacher and was much more appealing to my students. I think we would have burnt out on FF because it is dry and there isn't much translating. Cambridge has stories from the get go, and includes history and culture. Used copies are cheap on amazon! But you do need some level of comfort teaching languages I would say.

I agree. Nebel seems to stress scientific concepts that are accessible to kids through their own experiences, so the encyclopedias are a little antithetical to that and aren't in anyway necessary. (Plus, my kids don't really seem to like them much. I'd probably feel differently if I had kids who really ate them up.) Maybe do the first few lessons and see how it goes or see what you feel the need for at that point?

Can you get a library card that has more of a selection, like NYPL (for any NYS resident) and then use the overdrive app?

We enjoy Jose Luis Orozco and Whistlefritz, and some of the songs on the CD Muévate. (All on Amazon prime music.) If you are looking for really specific concepts though, you are probably better off with Basho or other videos on YouTube. (Though Whistlefritz does cover months/days.) Some possible search terms: Los números El abecedario / El alfabeto los días de la semana los meses del año contando/contar hasta 100 And you can always add these terms to help your results: "canción" "para niños" "infantil" "aprendizaje" There are tons of channels on YouTube and I'm sure you'll find some that appeal to you. My two year old has learned all of his colors and #s (1-10) from YouTube. Don't judge. :lol: And don't discount the learning taking place in just the regular preschool songs that kids love. Searching for "canciónes infantiles" will yield you lots of great playlists with "Cucu, cucu, cantaba la rana," "la vaca lechera" "Las ruedas del camión" etc.! The other day it started to rain and my son said "Oh no, llueve! I need to say "lluvia lluvia vete ya!" which he learned from the song. So I think these songs contribute to learning Spanish as much as the educational songs. :)

Good clarification. Spanish would be 'as hard' as most romance languages as far as conjugations go, and easier than most as far as pronunciation go. (As well as the wealth of resources available!)

If you don't have a strong preference, I would ask the kids what they want to learn and why. Do they want to learn something that they can speak with people in? (Spanish and Chinese are widely spoken. Latin is not ;) ) I would also consider what kind of commitment you want to make and what your goals are. Do you just want to dip your toes in? Or do you want them to achieve a high level of proficiency? Spanish and French would be easier to find resources for, for a wide range of abilities and commitment levels. Chinese and Latin are much more of a commitment if you ask me, and don't lend themselves much to toe-dipping. (Although if you just want to speak Chinese and not read or write, then you can learn it a bit more casually.) Regarding the earlier comment about ease of learning, Spanish is easy to learn as far as consistent pronunciation. But there are a lot of verb forms as the students advance. Its kind of the opposite of Chinese which is harder for most Westerners to pronounce, but there are no verb conjugations to memorize. Duolingo is a good place to start. Its free, and they could try out different languages and see if there is one they like.

Good catch and detective work :) I think I fixed the link.

I am running a homeschool Prodigy group buy right now if anyone wants to join :) We still need about 10 more people and we're hoping to close on Sept. 1st. Memberships are $13.50 (12+PPfees) as opposed to $60 w/o the group buy. You can PM me or join the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/304148646606258

Love the advice I have gotten so far. One advantage for middle schoolers to take a class outside of home, as I see it, is to begin to learn to be accountable to someone other than Mom. So I really don't want to turn it in to a situation where I am nagging the parents about their kids not doing the work. I would likely know all parents involved (small town) so I am thinking if I go forward with this I would have a talk with them first about how we would handle the situation of kids not doing their work. Right now what I'm thinking might work is if kids did not do their work outside of class then I would have them sit aside and finish it instead of participating in class. (I would warn them ahead of time of course.) That way they'd get the message that they cannot just show up and move on as though they did the work. Why would parents put their kids in that situation?! Frustrating! My son is dyslexic and I would never have wanted to put him in an environment like that where he would be struggling and not succeeding! I did teach a really loose co-op class years ago with ages 4-18 and realized really quickly the need for strict age guidelines, or at least ability guidelines. There were actually lots of sibling groups and we made it work, but it just wasn't that enjoyable for me to have to plan for so many ability levels! :laugh: I don't think I can make the class longer because the space is rented by the hour. So I mean I COULD do two hours, but then I'd double the cost of the class. Keeping the timing right is going to be tough. No chit chat! Definitely like the advice of keeping the pace and level that I plan. If for no other reason than I want to keep my daughter (who will be in the class) at that pace. So if I'm clear about what abilities the student needs to have, how much work will be expected, consequences of not doing work, and they pay up front for the semester, then that's up to them if they keep up or not. I do think it can be a learning experience for the kids if I have nice but uncomfortable conversations with those who didn't do their work. I certainly know my kids could use that talk from someone other than mom.

I saw the treat idea, fun! Like the idea of the timer too! and the binder! Might have to try a few things and see what works best. Thanks!

Also how do you assign the work in general? Do you put a post it note on the book w/ the assignment on it? Brainstorming for my original question, I was thinking it might work to have one box devoted to the online work with just a clipboard and a checklist in that box. That way its still a discrete contained unit and doesn't detract from the workbox system. Still thinking on it....

I am going to try workboxes this year for my 13 year old son who has a hard time staying on task and my 11 year old daughter who is a master avoider. I don't have room or money for the carts with drawers, but I did get some Storex book bins to use. Prices online are all over the place, but my walmart has large rainbow ones like these that are 5 for $10 and I got some black small ones from overstock that were 12/$24. But there are two things I can't figure out how to deal with. One, shared subjects. What do you do for subjects that the kids do together using the same materials? There are a couple of things like science that we all do together. Two, online assignments. What do you do for things like "practice typing for 10 minutes" or "do your spelling lesson (online)"? ETA I'm trying to avoid having a checklist. My son doesn't like them and it seems like it will kind of defeat the purpose of having workboxes. But I am having trouble figuring out what else I can do.

You guys are awesome, thank you for all the advice! I live in a small town and would likely know (or know of) all of the families. I will put out some feelers on facebook I think and see if there is an interest in a class that would require outside work. It would be a real bummer if kids weren't studying outside of class because it would be impossible to keep the pace that I want. On the plus side I need to teach the content to my daughter anyway so even if I get a couple other kids it would be a benefit to us. I will have to keep thinking on it. One other question...what do you think about sibling discounts? I know it doesn't make sense in that siblings aren't less work, but I also know big families usually don't consider activities unless there is a sibling discount.

As I am planning for next year I'm realizing that the middle school Spanish class that I'm planning for my two kids would be a pretty fun 'real' class to teach. We have a local non-profit that rents out classroom space for a reasonable fee, so it is conceivable that I could actually do it. Now if I were teaching my kids at home, I would plan for 4 days per week. But with parents paying for the class and me paying for classroom space, I'm thinking only once per week would be economically feasible. I could then leave students with work to be completed at home. There is online support for the materials I'm using, audio files, etc. And I could always do some youtube videos for them to watch if I thought I needed to. But actual face-to-face instruction would be just one hour per week. So my question is, does that sound like enough time/support for the kids to learn? I want this to be equivalent to Spanish 1a, so more than just dipping toes in. Does anyone have experience with their kids taking a class that met just once per week, especially foreign language? How did it go? Or has anyone taught a real life class to other homeschoolers? I'm open to any feedback!!