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Any opinions on Homeschool Spanish Academy (1-on-1 Skype lessons)?


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I am looking at buying some 1-on-1 Spanish lessons through Homeschool Spanish Academy. Has anyone used their services? I will say that the guy I talked to on the phone was really nice and helpful.

 

The thing that draws me to this program in particular is that you work with a small pool of teachers, and they tailor the lessons for you (so they claim). So they should be able to move at the pace best for you. Meetings are scheduled and done through Skype online.

 

Any opinions, positive or negative? Thanks so much!

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My son has been taking lessons for about 5 weeks now and really likes it. Switching teachers doesn't seem to be a problem and they do seem to tailor their standard curriculum somewhat.

 

Skype usually works well. In a few lessons they have gotten disconnected and it's taken some time to reconnect. I don't know why, I'm pretty sure it's not our computer and they didn't seem to think it was theirs.

 

Ron is really nice and tries to help any way he can. The service is very reasonable - much more affordable than a local tutor.

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My son has gone through The Learnables and Visual Link Spanish. He has a good spanish vocabulary and knows a bit about verb conjugations, but was having a hard time bringing it all together. If the kids are able to, the lessons are all Spanish, so he is getting some good speaking practice while filling in the gaps of his knowledge. I have noticed that after the first evaluation lesson, he started on level 2 of the high school program. I don't know how this program would work for someone who has never done Spanish before, but I would say it's worth a try.

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We have loved it. My ds has gone through RS 1-4 but I needed him to have more conversational Spanish and this has done the trick. My ds has really enjoyed his lessons and is now speaking Spanish during his entire lesson.:001_smile:

 

Their computer has gone down during one lesson but they more then made up for it by giving us an extra lesson and not charging us for the interrupted lesson. I had mixed up the times for one lesson and they called us to remind us when my ds was 5 min late. Customer service is great.

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It's been working really well. My girls are working through Breaking the Spanish Barrier 3 with me. I didn't really need grammar instruction for them, so much as speaking/conversation. Although I speak Spanish, they were very resistant to any Spanish conversation with me past a few sentences.

 

I told HSA what I needed from them and they've pretty much been doing just that - reading texts and having conversations. I think it's been a very good addition to our Spanish program, without breaking the bank. (and each girl has their own separate lesson). I think they are very flexible. The girls have had two different teachers so far, and have liked both of them.

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More feedback -- thank you! :) So are you all just doing the "high school" lessons, either once or twice weekly? Given the odd time commitments and spacing I'd need for my dd, I'm thinking we'd have to do a block of adult lessons. Just wondering....

 

I've also thought my elementary kids would probably benefit from this, although I am reluctant to spend the money at this point... at least until the older one is finished.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am searching for a online spanish curriculum for my soon-to-be 9th grader in the fall. Our co-op offers spanish I, but it's at about 60 miles round-trip, and with rising gas prices ($4.00/gallon here!). I'm looking for a good online class that's not as expensive as the Potters School (close to $600! - Spanish I + conversation class).

 

I had a few questions -

1) Can you all explain to me how the class works?

2) Is it real-time, meeting twice a week? Is it one-on-one or class setting?

3) Are there quizzes, tests and a final grade?

4) Is there a textbook used?

5) Also, would you recommend to dc with NO spanish experience?

 

Sorry, maybe I missed these on the website - thanks SO much for your help!

Sangita

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I had a few questions -

1) Can you all explain to me how the class works?

2) Is it real-time, meeting twice a week? Is it one-on-one or class setting?

3) Are there quizzes, tests and a final grade?

4) Is there a textbook used?

5) Also, would you recommend to dc with NO spanish experience?

 

 

Not sure if I can answer all your questions as this is still very new to me, but I'll try....

 

Real-time, one-on-one interaction -- or, if you have 2 kids close is age and experience, you can get a different rate for 2 students : 1 teacher at each lesson. You have a small (3?) pool of teachers who will work with your student, so it won't always be the exact same person, although that 1:1 ratio is maintained. If you do the high school track, you can choose to meet once or twice a week. Personally, I would think the 2x week would be better for progression.

 

No textbook. Conversation and instruction at lessons, homework given. Not positive about the quizzes/tests thing, but I think I remember seeing something about that on the website.

 

No experience is fine -- they just take you wherever you are at and help you move forward.

 

Here are a couple of links:

http://www.homeschoolspanishacademy.com/our-programs.html

http://www.homeschoolspanishacademy.com/high-school

(for this second link, there are a couple of videos on the left side. The one with the 2 kids shows part of a lesson in progress, so that may help you visualize)

 

ETA: You can contact them directly with questions -- they are very helpful!

 

HTH!

Stacey :)

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I agree with everything Stacey said and:

 

-Ron gave us the option of signing up for 1/2 semester or a whole semester. We chose to do a full semester at 2 times per week. Ron had us do a speed test on our computer and helped me get skype set up. Then, at the appointed lesson time, one of the teachers will call our computer. My son will answer with skype and off they go.

 

-they have their own 'text'. In the high school lessons, they will send a lesson in PDF along with a homework answer sheet in RTF. They go over the lesson in a class, then the student will type answers into the homework sheet and send it back. Each homework takes 45 min to an hour.

 

-they do give periodic tests...it just takes the place of a lesson. They seem to come along every 5 or 6 lessons. I think they will give a final grade, but I don't know that yet.

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If you do more classes per week, does that mean you move through the material more quickly, or do you just get extra teaching and reinforcement for the same lesson? IOW, could a student who does 3 lessons/wk over the summer get through a semester or more of credit?
Thanks,
Jackie

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If you do more classes per week, does that mean you move through the material more quickly, or do you just get extra teaching and reinforcement for the same lesson? IOW, could a student who does 3 lessons/wk over the summer get through a semester or more of credit?

Thanks,

Jackie

 

They go as fast as your student can...one lesson, then one homework, then another lesson and so on. If the student doesn't get through a lesson in one sitting, they will come back and finish up the next session. If you finish a lesson in the middle of a session I don't know if they move on to the next one or not in that session.

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  • 1 year later...
Guest fulltimemom

We have done Skype lessons with 121Spanish and have been overjoyed with the quality of instruction.

 

My 2 kids,  13 & 15 are both taking Spanish classes with  121Spanish  and are improving by leaps and bounds.

I noticed them talking to each other in Spanish without any prompting from me, which is a good sign they are enjoying it.

 

The reason I chose 121 is that they have all the E books in Spanish free as part of the course.

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My ds is taking Spanish II with Michele Hobbs on HomeSchoolworks4U http://www.homeschoolworks4u.com/webworks/courses/spanish-ii/

 

The class is only in the third week of the syllabus, but my son likes it more than his Spanish I class with OSU Spanish Online. I sat in on the first class and found Mrs. Hobbs to be very organized, supportive, and knowledgeable of the subject matter. Although she is not a native speaker, she is VERY fluent with the language and has spent years as a missionary in some (cannot remember which) Latin American country.  The teacher mentioned that the first 8 weeks of this course is review.

 

The only con (which may not be a con for some) that DS and I have discovered thus far is that we question whether or not the course moves too slowly.  For example: DS was conjugating verbs in the beginning weeks of Sp1 with OSU Spanish Online, but in this Sp2 course, they are just learning to conjugate verbs. 

 

HTH,

Val

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