What is the general consensus for the best Spanish program for elementary?

[HappyGrace]

I had not planned on doing a modern language for several years but now I'm reconsidering-I don't want dc 11 and 8 to miss that "window" where languages are easier to learn.

 

I am just beginning to research modern language curricula but would love to cut to the chase and have someone just tell me what is generally recommended on here as maybe the top 3 programs?

 

I think I remember reading that Rosetta Stone isn't actually very good? I was hoping for something like that because I definitely need something comprehensive and taught by DVD or computer or whatever-and directly to the student (I don't know any Spanish!)

 

thanks!

[mysticmomma]

also curious

[jenL]

:bigear:

[truebluexf]

We tried La Clase Divertida last year, but weren't fans. I liked the idea, but we were expected to watch the same exact video lesson 5 times in two weeks....it wasn't THAT interesting lol. And the 'cultural' sections were hard to understand, weird, and boring.

 

DS tried out Powerspeak Spanish from K12, and really liked it, so we are going with that next year. It's hands-off for me, and he's been begging me to buy it, so that's a good sign.

[warneral]

I've been trying to get the same information :) My kiddos are enjoying speekee for free for 2 months (part of TOS magazine bouquet) and after that I need to get my act together. I know zero spanish :D

[MamaBear]

:lurk5:

[sagira]

Following this thread. Ds7 has been asking me to buy Rosetta Stone. We're using it to learn Italian and he flew through the Spanish demo. I'm considering it. I like the Italian and find myself looking at a bird and the word uccello appears in my head :)

 

I am fluent in Spanish already, having taken it from 5th through 12th.

[Catiejoy]

I believe a buyer once told me that the consensus was that Rosetta Stone did not develop a true understanding of the language, but was good for developing vocabulary, and pronounciation. (and hence she decided against buying my new unopened RS.:glare: ) I am still looking for the ultimate program, but am very interested in the responses to this post, we have enjoyed the Easy Spanish and The Easy French programs as well as the First Start French (I think the latter because we were familiar with the layout of Latina Christiana series)

[Mom0012]

We are using La Clase Divertida. I picked it because of the "fun" factor -- crafts, cooking, etc. and because the emphasis seems to be on auditory learning. My son has had some language issues and I didn't want to have him working on Spanish grammar and spelling until he's had more time with the English language. Interestingly, since he is an auditory learner, he has done very, very well with this program, whereas my daughter (who is my stronger student) and a visual learner struggles a little more with it.

 

Overall, I'd say our experience has been good. My kids did very well with level 1 and we have just begun level 2. I do agree with the other poster who said it is tiresome to watch the same dvd lesson over and over again, but I know my kids wouldn't learn the material without that. We don't watch it 6 times as recommended, but more like 4.

 

Once we are done with LCD 3, my plan is to begin Getting Started in Spanish.

 

Lisa

[sagira]

I believe a buyer once told me that the consensus was that Rosetta Stone did not develop a true understanding of the language, but was good for developing vocabulary, and pronounciation. (and hence she decided against buying my new unopened RS.:glare: ) I am still looking for the ultimate program, but am very interested in the responses to this post, we have enjoyed the Easy Spanish and The Easy French programs as well as the First Start French (I think the latter because we were familiar with the layout of Latina Christiana series)

 

Do you have a new, opened RS Spanish? Is it Latin American? Homeschool edition?

 

I am planning on using RS with Spanish for Children for the grammar and mechanics.

[Dmmetler]

We're combining Spanish With Children for grammar with lots of reading in Spanish, watching videos in Spanish, listening to music in Spanish, and so on for immersion. We've done mostly immersion until now, although we did try Elementary Spanish last year, which bored DD because "I already KNOW those words".

 

It was kind of fun to watch last night-we got stuck in the Atlanta Airport for 3 hours due to weather, and my DD was playing with a little girl from Puerto Rico. The funny thing was that DD was very obviously trying to speak Spanish, and the other little girl was very obviously trying to speak English. I think they were both thrilled to have a child their age who understood their other language.

[HappyGrace]

Excellent to know that La Clase Divertida is better for auditory learners, because dd is very visual! Obviously with a language, there needs to be an auditory component, but we need some visual as well.

[HappyGrace]

When you are saying "Spanish with Children", are you talking about Spanish for Children by Classical Academic Press, or something else?

[tammyw]

We're always looking for extras (audio cds, Spanish books from the library, etc.) but the absolute best thing for us has been having a Spanish teacher come to our house once a week to do a Spanish lesson.

 

We found her through our co-op newsletter, but you can also check craigslist. There is one other girl, who is the same age, who also comes for the lessons. I pay $20/week for 1.5 hours of Spanish. By far this is the best. But again, we're not consistent enough throughout the week, doing extras, and need to be. We'd love to find more and more on top of that. We do have Muzzy (check your library) and that helps. I find *every little bit helps*. Even watching a movie in Spanish with English subtitles would be helpful.

[Dmmetler]

When you are saying "Spanish with Children", are you talking about Spanish for Children by Classical Academic Press, or something else?

 

Sorry-Spanish For Children by CAP

[2Boys]

tammyw - What a great idea! I too have been trying to decide what to do. We have a rather large hispanic influence in our community. I will have to check that out! Thank you!

[Mom0012]

Excellent to know that La Clase Divertida is better for auditory learners, because dd is very visual! Obviously with a language, there needs to be an auditory component, but we need some visual as well.

 

That is just my opinion. Others may disagree. I am planning to continue with La Clase because it's such a good fit for my son, and I think it's good for my daughter to hear the language, but I feel like I need to add something else in for my daughter, like more written work. There are workbooks in La Clase, but it's not enough. It's almost like she needs a more systematic textbook approach.

 

Lisa

[HappyGrace]

It's almost like she needs a more systematic textbook approach.Lisa

 

This is what I'm thinking with dd, that she needs it systematically-when we tried to do whole-to-parts Latin she was so frustrated. Parts-to-whole was what she needed.

 

We actually did LFC, so she'd be familiar with the layout to do SFC. But I'd want more pronunciation practice and hearing the language than that seems to give. Please don't tell me I will even have to tweak language curricula! Or use two programs! AGH!

[warneral]

Have you seen this? https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1567&c=1

 

I've considered that, the easy spanish, La Clase Divertida and getting started with spanish. Also people seem to like the free salsa videos. I wish I knew which one is outstanding :p

[Mom0012]

This is what I'm thinking with dd, that she needs it systematically-when we tried to do whole-to-parts Latin she was so frustrated. Parts-to-whole was what she needed.

 

We actually did LFC, so she'd be familiar with the layout to do SFC. But I'd want more pronunciation practice and hearing the language than that seems to give. Please don't tell me I will even have to tweak language curricula! Or use two programs! AGH!

 

Hah! Now you're going to have me researching SFC, LOL! Unfortunately, it seems very common to use multiple resources for language curriculum, but I hope you don't have to.

 

Lisa

[Spy Car]

:lurk5:

[Mom0012]

For anyone interested, this site reviews 10 elementary spanish programs http://bringinguplearners.com/spanish-curriculum-options-for-homeschoolers/.

 

Lisa

[Aurelia]

FWIW, we used levels 1 and 2 of La Clase Divertida and liked it, mostly for the projects, and I ordered and plan to start Getting Started with Spanish once it arrives and possibly move to SFC from there. I plan to continue supplementing with Spanish-language books, movies and music.

[kristinannie]

I ended up deciding to go with German since I speak it well and have a passion for it, but I had originally planned to do Spanish. Here were my top 3 contenders:

 

Sube

Sing N Speak

Sonrisas

 

 

I highly recommend ordering the Discovery Teacher's Elementary Spanish catalog for LOTS of fun things to help your kids learn Spanish (games, books, phonics, etc).

[momof8]

Two ideas...Spanish for Children by Classical Academic Press or...

if your library is like mine, maybe they have Mango language learning. We can hop on the computer right from home with our library card and use it for free and they offer tons of choices of languages. You can also buy it if your library doesn't offer it.

[robsiew]

We're just starting Spanish in the fall for my upcoming 5th grader. Since no program I've seen "does it all" I've come up with a conglomeration of my own choosing:

 

1. Getting Started with Spanish along with the videos here. There are three levels of videos so we'll go through all of them.

 

2. When he finishes GSWS, we'll go onto Spanish for Children (with DVD's). These programs both address grammar.

 

3. Interspersed with all of this we'll add in children's videos (cartoons/movies using the spanish track) in spanish as well as I've been collecting children's books in spanish. I noticed some cd's at the library with songs for vocab we'll probably try out too.

 

I don't speak a lick of spanish so I'll be learning along with my kiddo. Eventually I'd like to have "spanish times" during the day/week when we only speak spanish.

 

The new homeschool spanish curriculum at HSBC looks good too, but I think we have enough to keep us busy for awhile. I probably would have looked into that more if I didn't already have a plan. With Latin, I found a strong grammar approach is helpful for me as well as my ds.... adding the "immersion" on top of that seems to be a better fit than complete immersion. If I knew the language I'd probably go that route.

Edited June 24, 2011 by robsiew

[KarenNC]

Satori Smiles has posted her initial review of REAL Homeschool Spanish on her blog http://satorismiles.com/2011/06/23/homeschool-spanish-initial-review/ The sale on it at Homeschool Buyer's Co-op ends on Sunday, IIRC.

 

We've been using it this year and like it, but the above is a review from someone who's not beta-testing it for the author;).

[KarenNC]

3. Interspersed with all of this we'll add in children's videos (cartoons/movies using the spanish track) in spanish as well ...

 

We do this as well, looking for movies that were originally in Spanish and have English subtitles. By going with ones that are originally Spanish-language films, I'm hoping to add in a layer of cultural education as well. The problem has been finding one that are appropriate for my daughter, who's entering 6th grade. I've just ordered a book called "De Pelicula" by Mary McVay Gill http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585103128. It says it lists movies that are PG or PG-13.

[crazyforlatin]

We're almost done with GSWS, which is grammar-focused, and the results have been quite good, if done orally in our case. The next step would be to use Classical Press' Spanish for Children or Galore Park's SYRWTLS, both of which are more focused on grammar than on immersion. I can't teach a language if it's the latter since I'm too old just to absorb a foreign language. I was thinking of the Spanish program that Angela just reviewed, but then I would have to add a grammar program. I may just get it for the fun of it. Another option for me is to use Twisted Doors, which I do have and it does have a wonderful audio CD and it has a lot of grammar, set in a story format about a haunted house. I also have SYRWTLS, so you can see not only do I have several math and writing curricula, I'm branching out with Spanish :glare:.

[sagira]

I'm building up my Spanish collection as well.. I really want this to work.

[FairProspects]

Satori Smiles has posted her initial review of REAL Homeschool Spanish on her blog http://satorismiles.com/2011/06/23/homeschool-spanish-initial-review/ The sale on it at Homeschool Buyer's Co-op ends on Sunday, IIRC.

 

We've been using it this year and like it, but the above is a review from someone who's not beta-testing it for the author;).

 

This looks great! I've been looking for something that is more conversational, rather than grammar-focused. This looks like it might be it.

[HappyGrace]

I wish there were something that was like a combo of the immersion of RS and the incremental of SFC! I may end up having to do both-the RS would get her up and running and the SFC would help her organize it all visually, which she really needs.

 

I like the extras that people have mentioned too-thanks!

[2GAboys]

FYI-unless you speak the language, the recommendation from the TWTM in the grammar stage is that if you should have a tutor two times a week come to converse with your child (not latin of course), otherwise focus on latin now and wait till the logic stage to add other languages. My reading between the lines is that if you do not have the tutor, you are throwing your money away-reading spanish books and watching spanish vidoes are great but the child is not applying what he is learning actively. Just wanted to share my recent analysis of the WTM on the issue of foreign language in the grammar stage-I hate spinning my wheels for nada or my money.

[HappyGrace]

Thanks, 2GAboys-my 11 yr old has already had four yrs of Latin and is entering logic stage. Thank you for the note from WTM-I don't even remember reading that about foreign language! I think the thing to do may be to look for a tutor.

[2GAboys]

Thanks, 2GAboys-my 11 yr old has already had four yrs of Latin and is entering logic stage.

 

Your welcome. My 10 yr old son, rising 5th, finished prima latina last year (boring). We are going to do Lively Latin this year but since he is starting Logic and TWTM suggests continuing that and adding another language. I don't know whether to start him in Spanish now or wait until he has one more year of Latin. I completed a week's worth of lessons in Spanish at powerspeak.com and I learned alot and since it was computer based I thought my son would love it and be able to do it independently. It is more immersion-definatlely not grammar based like our Latin curriculum. I commend you on getting 4 years in-I will start my rising 2nd in latin in 3rd without fail.

[HappyGrace]

Starting in 3rd is good-I would not recommend starting in 1st like we did! This dd was very advanced so the work wasn't a problem at all, but by 4th grade she was going into translating, and it was starting to take too much of our time that we needed for other skill subjects.

 

Have fun!