~Amanda~ Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I want to start my kids in latin this year... DD is asking about french. and I see mention of greek... I'm making myself crazy over this whole foreign language thing. Do you teach more than one language at a time? How do you break it up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 If you don't get answers here, try the bilingual board. Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 DS is learning Mandarin and Spanish at the same time. No problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I recommend starting one this year and adding another next year. Starting from the beginning in 2 languages at the same time will be very difficult for most children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragons in the flower bed Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 I wrote about this on my blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnMomof7 Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 We are only doing Latin right now, but I'd love to add Greek and Hebrew. What we are planning to do is to get established in each language - 2 years - before starting another one. That seems to be the consensus here :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 why is it viewed any different than teaching history and science at the same time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverland Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Last year, my DD11 took Latin (middle school year 1), Spanish (high school year 2), and Chinese (don't know the equivalent level - but her 3rd year). She takes all of these at a private language school. It is NO problem for her, but she is a language sponge. During the summers, she self-teaches using internet resources. I could not properly teach her any foreign languages, so I am grateful for the community resources we have for homeschoolers. She started learning Spanish as a toddler through immersion videos and songs done at home. That probably led to her being able to pick up other languages easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 Dd is learning Mandarin and Latin formally. We may add Spanish to the mix in the middle of next year. It's not been a problem yet, but we did start each language about a year and a half apart. I agree with the PP that it would be hard to start two languages at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janainaz Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I've been wondering this as well. My ds11 has been learning Latin for a few years. My ds6 is going to start either Latin or Spanish in 3rd grade. I wanted to teach ONE language at a time, and so I thought I might go ahead and have my younger ds start Spanish instead of Latin, and then both boys could learn together. I like the fact that Latin ties in with English grammar. But I'm not sure I should overwhelm myself by attempting two languages at once. Plus, I'd like to have one subject that my kids can do together - despite the big age gap (almost 5 years). I'm leaning towards focusing on one language and maybe using Rosetta Stone for Spanish. :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I like the fact that Latin ties in with English grammar. But I'm not sure I should overwhelm myself by attempting two languages at once. Plus, I'd like to have one subject that my kids can do together - despite the big age gap (almost 5 years). I hate to discourage you, but I think it would be nearly impossible to for kids almost 5 years apart to study a language together. They could study the same language, of course, but don't expect them to be moving at the same speed or using the same book. My girls started Latin together, in the same books, and it worked well for years 1 & 2. Year 3 was a struggle, b/c older dd moved solidly into logic stage and had a big jump in ability - - they were no longer served well by keeping them together, b/c they needed differing amounts of instruction and needed to move at different speeds. Life got much easier when I moved them into separate programs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robsiew Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 My ds10 is starting Spanish this next year. He's had 2 year of Latin. We'll just add it in like any other subject... although we plan to speak Spanish more than we do Latin. We really don't speak much Latin around the house. Spanish however, we'll put more effort into speaking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted July 3, 2011 Share Posted July 3, 2011 I ended up with the children learning three languages at the same time. The languages were introduced one at at time and then we just kept going. Latin and French had two lessons a week and two memorisation periods. Mandarin had one lesson a week (with a tutor) and a few memorisation periods a week. I never worried about teaching more than one language in a day - they learned to switch with no problem. FWIW, both boys are now studying three languages at school. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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