For those doing multiple languages...

[JudoMom]

How often do you study them? Do you study each language every day? Alternate days? Alternate weeks? How long do you spend on each one daily? Do you have a primary foreign language with others taking a back seat for a time or do you give equal weight to all?

 

I ask because my older 2 are learning Greek, Latin, and Spanish. I had only planned to do Latin & Spanish this year, but instead Greek was added on to the schedule (long story). I'm evaluating where we are and I'm trying to figure out any changes that need to be made for next semester.

 

TIA :001_smile:!

[mazakaal]

Well, I'm just starting our second language. 12yo ds has been studying Latin for 4 years, and we've just added Spanish in for all the kids. We're doing a very light intro to Spanish with Getting Started With Spanish. We do a lesson a day, 4-5 days per week. It takes us about 10 minutes after lunch. The 12yo also does LP for 20 minutes a day, for 4 days per week.

[Cleopatra]

My dd is studying four languages: Latin, Greek, French and German. She studies Latin & German 5xs per week and the others 4xs per week. I've found that consistency is crucial; the amount of time spent is less important. For example, she was spending 20 min. on Latin, 10 min. on Greek, 15-20 min. on French and 30 min. on German (this year it seems to be a bit more time on each language). Since she wanted to study all these languages, I knew I couldn't overload her so I tended to choose programs that were good programs, but progressed at a slower pace, ie. I choose Hey Andrew over Elementary Greek. If I needed to split one lesson over two weeks, I did. Even with these short study times she is progressing very well in all the languages, but I really believe this was only because she was very consistent with her studies.

 

We tried to add a fifth language, Spanish, this year but I think we have reached maximum capacity and it hasn't been working well. I may try another program or we may just drop it for now. One can only do so much ......... :001_smile:

[Gratia271]

How often do you study them? Do you study each language every day? Alternate days? Alternate weeks? How long do you spend on each one daily? Do you have a primary foreign language with others taking a back seat for a time or do you give equal weight to all?

 

I ask because my older 2 are learning Greek, Latin, and Spanish. I had only planned to do Latin & Spanish this year, but instead Greek was added on to the schedule (long story). I'm evaluating where we are and I'm trying to figure out any changes that need to be made for next semester.

 

TIA :001_smile:!

 

Oldest dd is studying three foreign languages now (Greek/Latin/French), and younger two are studying two (Latin/French). Greek and Latin are studied daily, and French is three days/week. I don't have a primary language with others being subordinated; however, my children are well grounded in one (Latin) before beginning a second one and so forth. That way there is only one "new" language at a time. They do tend to focus the most on the newest one in terms of time expended.

[elise1mds]

I try to add a little bit each week in each language. We study Latin and French. I have him go over all his words, in both languages, once or twice a week, and then we work on each language individually one day a week (like this week it's French on Wednesday and Latin on Friday).

[AngelBee]

Taking notes. We are doing Latin, Spanish, and American Sign Language. However Latin is the main one right now and the other two are at a preschool-maybe 3rd grade level for now....so nothing really extensive.

[abbeyej]

I really think that languages need to be studied (nearly) every day. Now, you could do "lessons" on certain days and then just lighter practice/review on others, so you can stagger the time spent... But *some* amount of time needs to be spent (nearly) every day.

[dani3boys]

My oldest is doing both Latin and Spanish every day. I replaced the vocab he was doing with Latin. My youngest two are just doing Spanish, but we will add in Latin next year.

When we first started homeschooling four years ago I tried to do them both at the same time, but we failed miserably. We stopped doing Latin and focused on Spanish. I figured that once we were doing well in Spanish we could add the Latin back in. In retrospect, I wish we had started with Latin, and then added Spanish in, but what we are doing is working fine now.

[Allearia]

This is great information. We are trying to do Spanish, Latin and Greek and may add Mandarin soon. There is no way we can do four hours of language a day. I was thinking of spending more time daily on the modern languages since oral fluency at a younger age is more important. At least that is the goal.... just a theory at this point.

[Amira]

We spend time on all of our languages daily. It's generally not much, just 15-30 minutes each, but I think it's important to spend time on each every day. Both boys do Latin and one does Tajik and the other does Uzbek, and we'll be adding some Russian when we move overseas soon. But there's also an advantage when you can get your language practice in while you're playing soccer with your friends.

[Laura Corin]

Then Latin and French (Hobbes also played around with Greek).

 

Our Mandarin study varied over time, but was usually at least three hours a week. This was through Saturday Chinese school or tutoring, plus homework.

 

Latin and French were usually around two hours a week each. I just made sure to do the 'lesser' languages twice a week, then the boys also had private study time - I didn't worry about doing them on separate days.

 

Laura

[Dawn E]

We're only doing two--Latin and Greek--but we study them each daily. With EG1 we follow the lesson plans which usually have two heavier days and several review days. We also try to do flashcards daily, though I usually average 3 days. For Latin we are using LCI and our typical schedule is to watch the DVD lesson on Monday, review vocab and grammar Tuesday and Wednesday, complete the workbook on Thursday and do puzzles and games from Ludere Latine on Friday. So far doing them both daily has helped us avoid confusion between the two.

[JudoMom]

Thanks!

 

They've been doing them daily, but I wondered if that was overkill.

[Matryoshka]

For German, which is their stronger langauge, they get 3 hours of instruction and speaking on Saturdays, and then they do their homework Friday nights. They also read for 45 min. a week, but that's usually on Friday mornings. They also watch videos in German over the week.

 

For Spanish, which I teach, they get a class one day, and then do bits of homework and/or vocabulary review almost every other weekday. Without the immersion aspect, we have to work a lot more to make the foundation strong. I also have them watch videos in Spanish, but I'm not sure they get as much out of it yet (other than ear training) because they don't understand as much yet.

[mommaduck]

When they are little we focused on Sign Language. Not so much this year. Latin is daily (DVD/workbook). Greek is once a week (Greek School/workbook supplemented with Rosetta Stone). We used to do Tsalagi (Cherokee) daily, but it's only mildly used in our home at the moment. The children are running with the Greek since they are surrounded by Greek speakers vs their one Tsalagi teacher (mama). We use certain commands and affectionate terms in Tsalagi within our own family circle, when/if there is opportunity at powwow, and with the few friends that are native around here (but one is Lakota, so he responds back in Lakota). The older children had a couple of years of Spanish (DVD/workbook/Rosetta) and they have retained some.

[mommaduck]

mommaduck:

 

Tsalagi:

 

this is very interesting indeed! So how many ppl speak Tsalagi? maybe you want to do it for the heritage side of things, which is a great idea, of course.

 

I think French and Spanish are the most popular, anyway.

Depends on where you live ;) Where I'm at, I don't know anyone. However, three of my siblings live in OK and there are plenty there that do as well as around the reservation in NC. Yes, dh has Cherokee/Creek ancestry and I have Cherokee ancestry. We believe it's important not to let native languages die. (It's also great for messing with telemarketers :D )

 

However, we live in an area with a lot of native Spanish, Greek, and PA Dutch speakers. So I'm a wee bit outnumbered.

[mommaduck]

I know that there are some Tsalagi language based school in OK. Not sure how many of them though. It's like other immersion schools. I think it's a wonderful thing to have. I'm not sure about requiring it, but I wish there were more options for Native languages at higher levels of learning, much like you have for European and Asian languages.

[mommaduck]

Mommaduck:

 

This is great to know that there are Tsalagi based schools in OK.

 

There is a lot of English-only sentiment around, and I don't think it's healthy.

When I was a child, I was learning sign language and Chamarro (Guamanian). My stepdad had a FIT. English only (he even sent through several years of speech therapy to "fix" my accent...funny, as a TCK, I not only can speak without an accent, but can also speak with several). Languages became important to me, both for my own heritage, and to fight his type of bigotry. And look at the world now! Guess who has a greater opportunity in the world...those that are multilingual.

[mommaduck]

Mommaduck:

 

Exactly: I read about the wife of a German prince, who was years older than he was, and she inherited a lot of wealth, but she happened to be a Hungarian aristocrat and so she spoke Hungarian and German and English and French and Italian (or something like that), and she reckoned that her greatest wealth was her language heritage. Or so she said, anyway (easy to say, I guess, if you are wealthy already).

 

Sometimes the combination of languages can be really useful, too.

 

I don't know much about Chamorro, though. Sounds v. interesting.

Chamorro is pretty much a "dead" language. Today it's a mix of the original, Spanish, and English...altogether. I only remember one song from it. I was told that my sisters and I also spoke Geche when we were little. I wish I was still able to. I wonder if I'd be able to understand it whenever I go back home, but last time I was there, I didn't run into anyone speaking it.

[mommaduck]

Mommaduck:

 

You really are multilingual. Geche, was this spoken on Guam, too? I know there is a big airbase on Guam and I reckon that education system on Guam would be quite heavily weighted to the presence of military families there.

But I guess there are similar arguments about Okinawa, too, where the local Japanese want to preserve their culture, which I can understand, too.

Two bases: AF and Navy. Their culture is pretty well mixed ;) Geche is a Gullah dialect found around Charleston, SC ;) Not so multilingual as an adult, I'm trying though. I'm definitely making sure my children have a basis for learning other languages.

 

Person, did you teach Latin in the schools or just as a homeschooler? How old is "J"? My oldest loves Latin.

[Revwife]

We do Latin everyday and Greek and Hebrew 3xs a week, each for about 30-45 mins.

[mommaduck]

We do Latin everyday and Greek and Hebrew 3xs a week, each for about 30-45 mins.

Greek: Modern, Ancient, Koine?

 

(kids are learning Modern, hubby was learning NT)

[mcconnellboys]

This year, I have an hour on M, W, and F allotted to Latin/Greek (so 30 minutes each). I have an hour devoted to Spanish on T,R.

[Loesje22000]

English, French, Latin, are the main foreign languages, Greek, Spanish and German are just fun projects for now.

 

English 5 days a week

French / Latin twice a week, together 40 - 60 minutes; one week focus on French, one week focus on Latin.

 

Our goals (and level) for each Language is different at the moment.

It's our 4th year English; 3rd year French and 1st year Latin. (Last year she did Spanish instead of Latin).

[mommaduck]

mommaduck:

 

I think that even within modern Greek, there is the Greek that is spoken in Greece and the variety in Cyprus. They say the Greeks of Greece don't regard the Greek of Cyprus as being as good as the Greek of Greece. Or something like that. Also I read that the Greek in Greece which the Colonels liked wasn't the sort of Greek that the new government liked, after the Colonels got ousted.

 

(Two cents.')

 

PS: Koine Greek is very useful for New Testament study, and I think it's the variety of Greek that a lot of ppl in churches in North America like to learn.

I know this ;) We have people from all over Greece in our congregation and the differences aren't an issue here. They are learning modern Greek because that is what is taught, what is spoken at church, etc. It's not the Cyprus dialect, though I'm sure they are being exposed to both in conversation.

 

My husband was studying Koine for biblical studies.

[sagira]

So far we only have Spanish, and no formal study of Papiamento, but I've been speaking to them since birth :D In the next year or two I'm adding Latin, and in middle school either French or Italian, depending which suits his fancy. In high school he can study, along with Spanish, any language of his choice. I speak Spanish fluently, as in the ps I went to, we were taught Spanish in fifth, English in sixth, and French in seventh. I continued Spanish and English all through high school. Obviously, English has served me very well :)

Edited November 17, 2010 by sagira

[Ester Maria]

How often do you study them? Do you study each language every day? Alternate days? Alternate weeks? How long do you spend on each one daily? Do you have a primary foreign language with others taking a back seat for a time or do you give equal weight to all?

As of last year my daughters don't follow very rigid schedules, but are rather invited to distribute their weekly work load as they feel the best.

 

I assign the work for about 5-6 hours of English weekly to both of them. The older one does about 7-8 hours of Latin weekly and 4-5 hours of Hebrew and Greek each; while the younger one does about 4-5 hours of Latin and 2-3 hours of Hebrew and Greek each.

That time includes reading, grammar, translations (for classics), vocabulary and doing all sorts of assignments which they hand in later. Once or twice a week I discuss with each girl separately her weekly work and interrogate her on it for all languages.

The oldest one usually divides her work daily, while the younger one prefers to "get it done with" when it comes to Greek and Hebrew so she'll study each only once or twice a week in longer sessions and maybe only review things for a few minutes during the other days; she also prefers doing bigger chunks of Latin 2-3x a week, and do the same with English. As long as she does her weekly load, I'm fine with it.

 

The older one started French this year as well, with a tutor that comes weekly or twice a week, so meanwhile she mostly does homework for that an additional hour or so.

 

When they were younger and when we actually had a fixed schedule, English and classics were done 5x a week each (we school 6 days a week), though not with the same intensity. I'd usually combine intense Latin (cca. 40-50 minutes) with just review / short exercise in Greek (cca. 20-30 minutes) or vice-versa, and English was always about an hour. Hebrew was neglected, we'd usually do it twice a week about 40 minutes, or even only once a week for about an hour, though DH spoke it occasionally with the kids, or they spoke it on shabbatot we spent at friends, and we went to Israel for a few weeks every year so at least all of that helped, but still, up until last year we didn't emphasize it enough.

 

On a more general note, alternating days is nice, though not an absolute must; alternating weeks is something I wouldn't recommend though.

Our primary foreign languages were English (which we basically studied as if it were a native language, with literature and all) and Latin, with Greek and Hebrew getting somewhat neglected a bit.

 

(ETA: I should also add that my daughters actively use English in secular subjects and Hebrew for Judaics too, with regards to the materials, as well in a friends/family context, so all of the informal learning adds up too, even if we mostly speak Italian at home.)

Edited November 24, 2010 by Ester Maria

[Ester Maria]

Ester Maria:

 

Wow, so you guys really are multilingual, right?

 

So Hebrew, too? so would this be the ancient Hebrew, or the modern variety? I think the vowel pointing is kind of different, right.

We're Italian Jews; children were born in Italy (with the exception of the American-born baby) and speak Italian as their first language.

 

With regards to Hebrew, we wish them to be able to navigate through all historical layers of the Hebrew language as well as speak modern Hebrew fluently. Our focus is modern Hebrew, and we read Biblical/Rabbinical Hebrew through that prism, mostly, i.e. starting from the modern language. We use some Israeli textbooks as school supplements too.

 

Vowels aren't written in the modern language, actually, past about 3rd-4th grade. Most of the modern texts our children use are not "menukadim" (vowelled) any more, whereas there are vowels in the Biblical/Rabbinical Hebrew.

 

The vowels are actually the same, what's different is the tradition of reading. We use standard Israeli way of reading for all texts, while the Ashkenazi pronunciation - dominant in the US - is somewhat different, yes.

[justamouse]

We go through one Latin lesson a week, normally Monday, drill all week and the same with French which we just started this year (which I am much more comfortable with). My mom speaks Portuguese to them just for fun when she's around-she actually mixes Spanish and Portugese just to keep them on their toes.

 

The important thing, I think, is the drilling every day. Whatever French they learn that week I incorporate immediately into our daily speech.