Denise in Florida Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Does anyone have experience with either the regular or homeschool Rosetta Stone French? My youngest dd wants to study abroad in France and I thought the daily deal today on Amazon sounded good. Regular French level 1-3 for $199.00 Then I saw that they had level 1-5 Homeschool for $263.00 Any experiences to share? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 If you do a Rosetta Stone search for threads on the high school board, I expect you'll find a lot of disappointment. Using RS is THE #1 regret I have with homeschooling to be honest. We used the homeschool version of Spanish. My oldest couldn't pass a single semester of Spanish on a placement test after having gotten straight As - high As - with their grading system for 4 years. My boys also couldn't understand passages their ps counterparts were doing in Spanish 1. They also can't really understand any more than I can in spoken Spanish (and I only had Spanish 1 in high school many moons ago, plus limited interaction at the ps where I work, and knowledge of French). YMMV, but I don't consider either option you've given to be a "good value." Free would be about right, but even then, there are probably better options IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 We have Rosetta stone (French) and found it utterly worthless; both kids hated it and it just teaches the kids to parrot phrases back, but teaches no grammar or sentence structure. The different versions would have made no difference either. It's up there as my #1 homeschool purchase regret, also, because it was so much money and you can't resell it to recoup some of that cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhschool Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 RS is not a substitute for a real class, but it definitely gives you more confidence, which might make you have an easier time in class. I wouldn't skip a real class, or expect an equivalent proficiency from taking Levels 1-5 to taking High School Levels 1-5, but I would definitely use them as part of an overall language learning experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 We have the homeschool version of Spanish. I like it and my kids like it. The worksheets are okay, and I like my ability to look up and keep track of where they are in the program. BUT they started working on it at 10 and 11, so I'm not trying to squeeze high school credit out of it. We're also using Breaking the Barrier for the grammar component. And they're friends with Spanish speakers, so there's real life exposure. My expectation is that they'll be able to read and write Spanish and communicate with ESL people... at some point. If they do better than that, that's just a bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I hate Rosetta Stone. I've heard the homeschool one is an older version, but I don't know if it's true. Duolingo is better than RS and free, so you might want to try that out first? I think Tell Me More is the best language software out there. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I tried the german when my library system had it free online. (all 34 languages they offered) I had previously studied german, so was familiar with it. I was not impressed. it doesn't talk about grammar, it doesn't talk about a lot of basics. I would never actually spend money on it. mango langauges is free online and has French. (oh yeah - I got it free through my library to look at Spanish, as I'm around so many Spanish speakers. signage here is often bilingual.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 We sent our RS German back. We bought the home schooling version. It had issues as soon as we put it in our computer. The people at RS then said we need to update it. What! Just paid $400 and it needs updating! So we had to download it onto my computer. Why did we buy the cd roms? Anyway, more hassles than it was worth. Luckily they refunded after 6 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 We sent our RS German back. We bought the home schooling version. It had issues as soon as we put it in our computer. The people at RS then said we need to update it. What! Just paid $400 and it needs updating! So we had to download it onto my computer. Why did we buy the cd roms? Anyway, more hassles than it was worth. Luckily they refunded after 6 months. Same issue here. Had problems, they said we needed to pay for an update. I got it running for awhile, then it stopped working. I got busy though, and when I finally had time to deal with it, it was too late to get our money back. I couldn't get it to work again. I bought two languages at a time when we really couldn't afford that. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Not in response to the OP, but I am *always* thankful for those who chime in and share negative experiences, particularly with RS. Sure, you'll always find some who don't like a curriculum, but the bad reviews from real, long term users of RS are an overwhelming majority. It's made worse by their almost 10 year ad blitz, which seems to give it even more (undeserved) credibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hikin' Mama Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Another one who doesn't like Rosetta Stone. I bought and used it when my kids were younger. We just recently finished a year using Breaking the Spanish Barrier and liked it much better. I believe they also have French. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mergath Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I wanted to give RS a try without paying a ton of money so I, er, let's go with "borrowed it from a friend," and like everyone else, I wouldn't use RS as a primary language class. It might work as a vocab refresher for someone who previously studied a language in-depth and already has a good grasp on the grammar, but that's all I'd use it for. I think most people would get much better results with a Spanish textbook and some youtube videos. Not to mention that it would be a couple hundred dollars cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I wanted to give RS a try without paying a ton of money so I, er, let's go with "borrowed it from a friend," and like everyone else, I wouldn't use RS as a primary language class. It might work as a vocab refresher for someone who previously studied a language in-depth and already has a good grasp on the grammar, but that's all I'd use it for. I think most people would get much better results with a Spanish textbook and some youtube videos. Not to mention that it would be a couple hundred dollars cheaper. After seeing oldest's results on his college placement test, middle decided he'd look in the library to continue his Spanish at home. He had 6 weeks he could borrow a book, so did that with several different varieties they had over the 2 years he had left. With his very first selection he told me he felt he had learned more than he had with RS (he had also had 4 years doing RS alongside his brother). Incidentally, he was looking over my shoulder and saw it was a RS thread. He immediately got a "look" on his face and asked, "You're not recommending THAT, are you?" He was relieved when I let him read my first post... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I heard some good things about Fluenz but have not personally tried. We have used RS thru library in the past and were not impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Same issue here. Had problems, they said we needed to pay for an update. I got it running for awhile, then it stopped working. I got busy though, and when I finally had time to deal with it, it was too late to get our money back. I couldn't get it to work again. I bought two languages at a time when we really couldn't afford that. Sigh. That's terrible! I would keep at them for a refund. Tell them you have had problems since the beginning- like I did. And that it's just not good enough. Get on their case, and Im sure they will refund you. Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Thank you so much to the posters that mentioned Duolingo! I have never heard of it before this thread. I downloaded the app on my android and my dd and I are both enjoying it. Yes! Same here! My dd 11 is enjoying it so much. And she is so committed to it, as she earns rewards for using the program straight for 7 days etc. Saves me nagging and reminding her! I reckon she has learnt more in a week than with months of RS. Thank you for mentioning it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasperstone Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Fair warning, if you don't practice certain categories or use the site for a while your page will start to lose the colored boxes. My page is looking rough lol Thanks for that. Will let my dd know. Another reason for her to keep at it, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Thank you so much to the posters that mentioned Duolingo! I have never heard of it before this thread. I downloaded the app on my android and my dd and I are both enjoying it. I mentioned this to middle son shortly after it was suggested and he put the app on his phone for French since he's headed to the Ivory Coast soon and wanted to brush up some on the basics of the language. This morning he came to me and thanked me telling me he really loves it. I asked him how it compared to RS and he told me, "Much, much better. For one thing, if you get something wrong, they tell you what it was..." Just thought I'd toss his two cents in if anyone is thinking about it. We both love that it's free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavandula Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Another thing about duolingo - DD found that typing the answers didn't really help her with that bit (the saying and listening was great though). She just decided to copy the questions and answers down on her iPad w/ a stylus (could be done on paper but it's easier for her this way/less school like). It's still not a full course but it's helping her learn a decent amount because writing it down helps her remember the material. Plus that way she can look back at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.