I need a "teach yourself" video-based Spanish program

[astrid]

Any suggestions?

Dd (13) has had 2 years of Latin and would like to move into a living language now. She's considering French and Spanish, but leaning toward Spanish.

 

I'd like a video-based program such as Rosetta Stone, but wow! $500? Do you all really pay that? What can I do to lessen the sticker shock? Those of you who use Rosetta Stone, have you bought it new? And have you purchased all 5 levels at once?

 

Thanks for any information-- these are uncharted waters. I took Latin and French in public school!

 

astrid

[StephanieZ]

We liked NAU's programs that are available on Discovery Streaming. The elementary one was Elementary Spanish and I think the jr high/high school one was Education Espanol. If you use them, it makes for a very economical program. (Use the homsechool buyer's coop to subscribe to DS.)

 

I think you can get a 30 day free trial to DS, so you could do that to check it out risk-free.

[phathui5]

Do you have Netflix? There are a lot of options on there.

[Frontier Mom]

We are in the same boat as you and we chose Switched On Schoolhouse Spanish 1. It was about $80. I saw it at the conference and it seems pretty thorough. They did warn me that at some point I would have to learn it myself or get someone to check some papers in Spanish. I plan on getting some of the people in our church that speak Spanish to look over this when we get to that point.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

We liked NAU's programs that are available on Discovery Streaming. The elementary one was Elementary Spanish and I think the jr high/high school one was Education Espanol. If you use them, it makes for a very economical program. (Use the homsechool buyer's coop to subscribe to DS.)

 

I think you can get a 30 day free trial to DS, so you could do that to check it out risk-free.

 

:iagree: Plus Discovery United Streaming has thousands of other educational videos for k-12:D Homeschoolbuyerscoop has a discount. I purchased mine from there. Plus there are lesson plans/worksheets that you can print out as well. My dh was able to stream it to our TV as well.

[cottagechick]

I just signed up with livemocha.com

 

It's supposed to be like rosetta stone, but free. I went thru the first lesson and think it will be easy to incorporate into our homeschool. I"m still figuring it all out.....but definitely worth a look-see.

[BeeBop]

Check out fluenz.com. It's a couple hundred dollars. I didn't buy yet it as I don't have that money right now, but they have a sample lesson plan on their website. It seems pretty cool.

[crazyforlatin]

I read about Salsa from another thread. This link is for the printed materials (http://www.k12.wy.us/SA/cs/fl.asp) and this link is for the videos (http://dl.gpb.org/vsx/GPBPro/diglib_search/search). It's free!

 

You need to search for Salsa by typing it in the search box.

[Cindyg]

What about BJUP's DVD (or online) Spanish program?

 

Your dd at 13 is too old for Salsa, IMO.

 

She's just right for Elementary Spanish's 7th-8th grade class. But United Streaming has only the 1st year. The second year is inexplicably missing.

 

She's a little young for BJUP's Spanish 1. But you could go slowly. After two years of Latin, she could probably handle it.

[crazyforlatin]

 

Your dd at 13 is too old for Salsa, IMO.

 

 

 

I forgot about that, but yes, Salsa is for a younger child.

 

What about Getting Started with Spanish? There is no video but there are free MP3 files for students to listen to a native speaker pronounce words on his website. It's a gentle introduction however.

[KarenNC]

:bigear:

[MIch elle]

We just bought this after doing the free lessons. It looks perfect for middle school.

[Ravin]

If you're cool with the religious content, Abeka has an excellent video Spanish curriculum. I took it in Jr. high (the high school course at 1/2 pace), and learned very little when I repeated Spanish in high school because it was a very thorough course. No idea how much it costs, though.

 

You might want to check your local library system. Many have Rosetta Stone available to card holders.

[KarenNC]

You might want to check your local library system. Many have Rosetta Stone available to card holders.

 

I believe Rosetta Stone pulled out of most, if not all, public libraries sometime over this past year. I know they pulled out of ours almost as soon as our system gained access to it.

[2cents]

We like the Discovery UnitedStreaming Spanish courses. They have all levels and each level has around 50 lessons that are 30-45 min in length. The worksheets and all supporting material is included. It is a great value! On top of that, you have all of the other educational videos at your disposal. We use it everyday.