Tawlas Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Anybody used this for very young children (preschool, kindergarten, primary)? I'm considering it for my four year old in French. I speak French fluently, but I'm looking for something to hold his interest for a few minutes while I work with my other children. I feel like we've got math and phonics covered and French is definitely an area I'm interested in exploring with him - hence the language program. If you have used it, did you like it? Did your child? At what age did he/they use it? Would he be able to use it for more than a year or two? Did they learn from it? If you didn't like it, or used something else, what would you recommend for this age? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewish Mama of 4 Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My kids hated Spanish Muzzy. The animation on it is terrible, and they just refused to use it. We put it away and got Rosetta Stone (Hebrew & Latin America Spanish) instead. I got workbooks to use for grammar practice (along with still using Rosetta Stone) now that my daughter is 7. I just tried Muzzy again with my middle daughter and she doesn't like it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I used French Muzzy exactly the way you are describing when my kids were preschoolers and they loved it. The Tintin cartoons are also great. I'd put one on for my preschool boys so I could have a few quiet minutes with the older kids, and they'd run around quoting it when it was over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 We used it with my oldest two when they were in preschool. I felt like they got very little out of it. They got more out of watching Disney movies with the French language track, because at least they were interested in the storyline and understood the plot. Muzzy is very expensive for what you get. If you are just looking for a productive way to keep him entertained while working with older children then you might try just letting him watch whatever movies you already have in French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 Muzzy is really overpriced for what you get. My kids didn't learn one ounce of spanish from it because the voices are muffled and hard to hear. You'd have to already know spanish to be able to pick up what they're saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutella08 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Both my kids watched it during toddler & early preschool years and enjoyed it on & off for maybe a 2-year period. The animation looked like it was digitized from VHS but the audio was quite clear -- might be a DVD vs VHS issue? While we were watching, they picked up some basic vocabulary & expressions here & there while repeating. Educationally, it worked ok for us. IMHO, it might work better during early years before kids expect more engaging plot lines & tune out foreign dialogue. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We borrowed Muzzy French from the library last summer, when my kids were 6 & 7, and they watched it, but didn't really like it. It's a weird storyline and it's not always clear what they are talking about. My kids liked the Bonjour, Mes Amis videos with Moustache the cat much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MinivanMom Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We borrowed Muzzy French from the library last summer, when my kids were 6 & 7, and they watched it, but didn't really like it. It's a weird storyline and it's not always clear what they are talking about. My kids liked the Bonjour, Mes Amis videos with Moustache the cat much better. :iagree: My children have really enjoyed those videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest submarines Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 *I* loved the videos, but my daughter was not that much into them. The program requires watching the English version enough times to know the content really well, and then one would switch to a foreign version. She didn't have the patience for this. I can see it working better if a family limits TV, so this way Muzzy would be a treat, rather than a pale competitor with other cartoons. If you would like more samples and don't have it in your library, Muzzy is available on youtube in its entirety in Esperanto. You can get a pretty good feel for the program this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 We watched a couple clips online when my oldest was 3.5 or so. She didn't like it very much, so I haven't borrowed it from the library. She does like Little Pim and any of our children's videos with language tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelanieM Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I purchased Muzzy French a few years back and really, really disliked it. I thought the story line was extremely creepy and was very uncomfortable with my kids watching it. I wouldn't say I'm super restrictive about television, though I am a little picky about the message being presented. The message in Muzzy... yeah, not for us. I think it might be the only homeschool program I ever returned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Now out of idle curiosity I have to know what was "creepy" about Muzzy. What's the storyline? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelanieM Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 Now out of idle curiosity I have to know what was "creepy" about Muzzy. What's the storyline? There was this creepy old guy stalking a young woman, which was very odd and, in my opinion, inappropriate. Then there was a crazy computer cloning/possession sequence that was just weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyoSylvia Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 My son liked it and did pick up French but that was because I reinforced it by speaking French with him. So, without parental reinforcement/repetition of the actual phrases and vocabulary presented, this wouldn't help with language is my guess. I personally didn't think the storyline was creepy. To me, the older guy was meant to be the bad guy, plain and simple. There is a princess in the storyline who is in love with the gardner. It is all just a vehicle to be able to introduce vocabulary and phrases/constructions in a progressive way while still having it be engaging, e.g. the bad guy uses his computer to reproduce the princess and lots of good vocabulary and comparison language is presented as a result. Younger kids wouldn't pick up on too much of the actual storyline in my opinion. One note though, my ds never really watched much kids TV so his tastes might be far different. If you haven't already, you might want to have your child see a clip to see if they would like this sort of animation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 It was a waste of money for us. Watch movies or shows with a French language track instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenbrdsly Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 We like Muzzy, if you can get it for free through the library on really cheap off of Ebay. Here's our experience with trying to teach my son Spanish: http://teachingmybabytoread.blog.com/spanish/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tawlas Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 Thanks for all the responses guys. From what I've read, muzzy probably isn't for us, especially since it's not in our library lol, although I may check it out on YouTube. Thanks for the tips! Might try a video or two with French tracks. . . But I've done it before and he mostly complains that he likes the English ones better lol. But he'd probably get over it eventually! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelanieM Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Might try a video or two with French tracks. . . But I've done it before and he mostly complains that he likes the English ones better lol. But he'd probably get over it eventually! Maybe you could try making a game out of it? Watch a part of the English version, then turn on the same segment in French and see what vocabulary words you can recognize. Just choose something you won't mind watching a gazillion times in case he really enjoys the process. lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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