URGENT--French for Expat Kids?

[mom2bee]

I have a friend who speaks French with her son, Tom. The mother is French, born and raised and is fluent in the language, but they live in the states and speak English in the presence of the dad/husband about 95% of the time.

 

She wants to find materials to use with him to help maintain and build his French. They need materials that range from the PreK to 4th grade level? He is home-schooled but attends activities outside of the home and takes a weekly French lesson, but his mom wants to do more with him. Now that he is of school age she wants to be sure and develop his skills in the language.

 

Can someone please recommend some materials/curriculums for French kids?

 

She is considering Rosetta Stone for him, but would like some alternatives to consider?

 

Can you recommend something both on the computer and some printed books that you buy?

 

Would the Nallenart stuff be appropriate? The child can read and write in English and French a little already, probably at a mid-to-late 2nd grade level in English and a beginning 1st grade level in French.

[pmeilaen]

Try Skoldo French.

[Lune]

We use:

 

http://www.academie-en-ligne.fr/default.aspx

http://www.ladictee.fr/

http://www.professeurphifix.net/

http://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/exercice/

http://www.ortholud.com/index.html

[Stef03]

I'd recommend using a French curriculum written for francophone kids instead of materials written for kids learning French as a 2nd language.  

We enjoyed the CNED, you can do just French or you can pick other subjects along with it too. It includes online activities for pretty much every lesson:

http://www.cned.fr/scolaire/ecole

 

or Hattemer http://www.hattemerdistance.com/net/fonctionnement_primaire.php?strMenu=smenu3_2

[mom2bee]

Thanks everyone for your recommendations! I will pass them on!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I agree with what the others have said- use a program designed for French kids. 

 

Our school system uses the workbooks "L'ile aux mots" for those grades. 

 

We used Leo et Lea to learn to read French and it was a great program. 

 

For free, there are these two great resources I've found online:

Grammaire CP/CE1

Orthographe (CE1-CM)

 

My only other recommendations for encouraging the children's French are that mom speaks it exclusively with kids and expects them to respond in French, and also listening to a lot of French audio books and/or reading a lot of French books in general.  Most DVDs now also can be switched to French so that kids can watch their movies in French.