On-line SPanish-? what have you used?

[pjssully]

Hi,

I am looking for an online spanish course that is reasonably priced and is not overly time intensive.  May not be possible, I understand but I am looking for my 7th grader and my hope is that he would then just continue with this place through high school.  I am considering The Potter School, since my daughter did French for 3 years there and it was good.  But just so expensive!  I have 4 children and now one will be in college so our budget is limited.  I am open to anything!!

Thanks for any input and wisdom!

pam

[pjssully]

PLEASE!  I know that I am really late for this-but I have been struggling with health issues and I am SO FAR behind on planning for next year.  I know my first post didn't express my desperation, but I am pretty desperate at this point to find something-I know some things are filled.  Anything at all will help.

[audreyinboston]

Have you looked at Homeschool Spanish Academy? http://spanish.academy/  My 2 kids have been using it this year and I really like it.  It is one-on-one tutoring from native speakers in Guatemala using Skype.  I think the price is very reasonable considering you are getting private tutoring and are not in a classroom with other kids.  They offer various levels depending on the age of the learner.  I recommend signing up for 2 times a week to really work on the speaking/listening aspect.

 

I just looked at Potter School for the twice-a-week Spanish class.  I actually think their course price is pretty reasonable (~$646).  If you were to buy 60 lessons from HSA, it would cost $546 (about $100 less).  Yes, online classes are not cheap, most of them seem to run about $500-$600.  You are paying for someone's time and expertise.  This is particularly worth it for subjects you are not able to teach yourself, or if your child really needs to discipline and accountability of having someone who is NOT mom teaching them.

[crazyforlatin]

DD will be trying this class with Professor Gamache, http://www.funclase.com/High-School-Spanish-p/hs.htm.

 

I see that he says $350 in the description but $400 where the price is listed. The book does cost $150, and I haven't bought it yet, hoping to find a used one with a code.

 

OhElizabeth has reviews of this class, and after reading through her posts and asking a few questions, I decided to go with the above rather than Ray Leven's (waiting until DD is older when she is closer to taking the AP test). And, apparently the teacher spends close to 3 hours a week with the kids, which is what DD needs at this point, more exposure to speaking and listening. We do Skype with a tutor. In addition to a structured class, you can add in something like the one pp linked above or 121 Spanish.

 

ETA: Here is the link to Ray Leven's classes, https://sites.google.com/site/spanishlearningonline/

 

I've read excellent reviews here about Ray's class, and he is very responsive to questions, but part of the reason for putting off his class is the price as well. We happen to have enough time to go through Gamache's classes and Ray Leven's honor and AP classes.

[crazyforlatin]

Have you looked at Homeschool Spanish Academy? http://spanish.academy/ My 2 kids have been using it this year and I really like it. It is one-on-one tutoring from native speakers in Guatemala using Skype. I think the price is very reasonable considering you are getting private tutoring and are not in a classroom with other kids. They offer various levels depending on the age of the learner. I recommend signing up for 2 times a week to really work on the speaking/listening aspect.

Does the tutor at Homeschool Spanish use any particular book? Or does the tutor provide links via Skype and the student reads and translates?