RosieCotton Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 What are your thoughts and opinions on this type of program with grammar stage years? I've watched the demo still have questions. I thought I'd hit here before calling them, as they will probably just say how great they are. :) How is the retention? Does it deal with conversational or is it just a word bank of pictures and vocab? If I want them writing in the new language will the worksheets they provide be appropriate for 2-4th grade? (I guess not at the 5th level where they focus on industry terms., . . . .) I'm curious to hear from those that have used this, and what they liked and disliked about the program. I'm looking at a Levels 1-5 program, but not sure how far that will take us into a new language, and what curriculum to plan for once these levels are completed. I have one son with an instant memory, and we may try this to see how much he can absorb in 6 months. (Ideally, I want us all speaking conversationally.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 What are your thoughts and opinions on this type of program with grammar stage years? My children has used RS in those years. Retention: well, they were not in a bilingual situation, so they didn't retian it for life just like I didn't retain what I learned in high school French or college Italian. But they were learning it and enjoying it. We didn't have a lot of conversation opportunities with people. The program does have what is called "Milestones" which are conversational scripts. Those reminded me a lot of what my Italian professor did in college. As levels progress, more conversation is added. My oldest was using Russian while also taking a children's intro class for Russian with 3 other children at the library. We weren't trying for fast fluency and it didn't happen magically. The worksheets are not all that great for any level. Definitely NOT appropriate for grade 2-4. I'd encourage you to look on mfw's website for their RS lesson plan sample for their negative opinion on the worksheets. here... read their sample for some of that info (and also for some suggestions for the grade levels you have.. it's the page that you have to tilt your head to read. wink) http://www.mfwbooks.com/pages/php/samples/RS_sample.html I'm not sure what level of writing you want them doing. If your library has picture books in the target language, you could do "copywork" for starters. most people on here don't like RS. but in the grammar stage, we liked it.... even my child with autism seemed to like it and would repeat. I sometimes thought about getting English for her. blush!!! my biggest hope in foreign language was to get them to enjoy and practice. then if they had to study a language later in life they would have some experience with it. so that's why RS was good for us. my oldest actually used RS and mfw plan for high school. Middle gal did something completely different for her Spanish. youngest.. maybe I should try RS english to go with her speech therapies. giggle. What language are you wanting to study? I missed that in the thread. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I don't recommend it. We have RS German. DH is a native speaker. It went well for the first level. Midway through the second level DS just had more and more problems with it. There is no direct grammar instruction. We have the homeschool version that comes with worksheets. The worksheets didn't line up with what was being taught. DS limped through and finished level 2. Then we stopped. My guess is he got as far as he did only because he has some German under his belt since his dad spent years speaking to him in German. I think it might be a good program to use if you moved to that country and just needed a crash course to get you going and you had lots and lots of immersion. I also think at minimum it is better for high school. DS was maybe 11ish at the time. Everyone is different though. A lot of people here recommend Duolingo and I guess that's even free. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camino Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 I have been using RS level 1 this year with my nine-year-old son. I have to say, I think it is fantastic and definitely the best program I have looked at. I teach Spanish at the college level but have never had an experience teaching it to children until now. I think the program is pedagogically sound and effective. My son has picked up a lot of vocabulary and his accent is beautiful, and he really enjoys it. That said, it does not work for us--at all--as a complete program and I don't see how it could for a small child. He needs more targeted instruction, more interaction, more practice with weak points. But I have yet to see anything else that comes close to Rosetta Stone. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I have been using RS level 1 this year with my nine-year-old son. I have to say, I think it is fantastic and definitely the best program I have looked at. I teach Spanish at the college level but have never had an experience teaching it to children until now. I think the program is pedagogically sound and effective. My son has picked up a lot of vocabulary and his accent is beautiful, and he really enjoys it. That said, it does not work for us--at all--as a complete program and I don't see how it could for a small child. He needs more targeted instruction, more interaction, more practice with weak points. But I have yet to see anything else that comes close to Rosetta Stone. I agree that it is actually good, but it's not enough alone. I had high hopes for the worksheets, but that was difficult since they didn't line up. It was like they just found some random worksheets and paired it with RS and called it the homeschool version. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbollin Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 I agree that it is actually good, but it's not enough alone. I had high hopes for the worksheets, but that was difficult since they didn't line up. It was like they just found some random worksheets and paired it with RS and called it the homeschool version. that's one of the reasons I liked the ideas in the mfw planner. They add to the program for high school stuff to make it more a regular high school level (for US), and some of the ideas would be fun with younger kids too, in order to add interaction and all of that. (and agreeing on the worksheets) I think with the outside fun class that we had in elementary, I was learning what to add to make the RS more fun at home too. songs, children's stories. acting the vocab stuff. but we never used above level 2 of any language, or considered it a program all by itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 We started the Spanish and it was a fail. For one thing, DS wasn't really interested, and so he got through the lessons by just "trial and error". He wasn't learning a thing. Aso, I think it's meant to be more conversational. It's certainly not a grammar based program. I think it would be great if you were motivated to learn a language you could just use out and about. But I don't think I would recommend it as really "learning a language". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 OK thanks I'll check out MFW and take these opinions all in. I've been kinda skeptical since the beginning and not sure about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefgazer Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Epic fail here. Rosetta Stone and Logic of English were the two most expensive and spectacular homeschools fails ever in this household. Kids hated it and it didn't teach grammar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 that's one of the reasons I liked the ideas in the mfw planner. They add to the program for high school stuff to make it more a regular high school level (for US), and some of the ideas would be fun with younger kids too, in order to add interaction and all of that. (and agreeing on the worksheets) I think with the outside fun class that we had in elementary, I was learning what to add to make the RS more fun at home too. songs, children's stories. acting the vocab stuff. but we never used above level 2 of any language, or considered it a program all by itself. Yeah we just don't have something like that around here for German. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Epic fail here. Rosetta Stone and Logic of English were the two most expensive and spectacular homeschools fails ever in this household. Kids hated it and it didn't teach grammar. I got an amazing deal on RS because they are so disorganized. Long story short I got it with the payment plan and they accidentally refunded several of the payments. I mean like half of them. So I contacted them to tell them. They charged me again and then again refunded it. So I wasn't going to beg them to take my money. Seriously I got the 5 levels for a ridiculously low price in the end. That's the only thing that makes me feel a tad better. LOL Only a tad. I keep thinking I'm going to use it for myself, but yeah sure when I find the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsWeasley Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Well, I'm not super worried about teaching grammar in the grammar years. I introduce language early for pronunciation reasons. We've used it since August. My daughter is more than halfway through the first level but her retention hasn't been great. I'm hoping as she progresses it will improve. We'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Are there free programs like the one mentioned previously that are truly good and we can get excited about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Flower Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 We use RS Russian. I think it is only appropriate for the grammar stage. This kind of language learning drives me batty as an adult but it is perfect for my kids. There are other more affordable options out there depending on the language you want. Russian doesn't have many options. I would recommend buying only 1 level at a time to make sure you like it. Don't get sucked in by their "deals" for buying multiple levels. RS is overpriced in my opinion but it isn't a complete waste of time. My kids have enjoyed it. My husband and I both speak Russian and that has made a big difference in their language learning. YMMV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I just don't know what to make of it. In one sense, I am concerned and feel it is not effective. My dd does a lot of guessing. She can't remember words that she has learned, and can't even make everyday conversation. She can't conjugate verbs although she can use several verb forms for certain words. She is mixing up Ser and Estar and she isn't as far as I think she could have been at this point. In another sense I am thrilled. With absolutely no effort on my part, she understands and speaks hundreds of Spanish words and phrases with a pretty good accent. She intuitively understands much more Spanish than it seems, and often picks up pieces of conversation from Spanish speakers as well as random words and expressions. She loves Spanish and she doesn't mind using Rosetta Stone. Like a baby learns its first language, it is certainly taking time, and it isn't cut and dried as far as grammar and conjugations, but, given another 5 years of daily effort, I really think she will be able to hold basic conversation, and if she actually makes it through level 5, and then takes a few years of high School Spanish, I wonder if she could do something useful with it long term, because her brain is absorbing a LOT right now. (intuitively)... So..for my part I plan to keep on using it, because given enough time, I think it'll really kick in and click, so to speak. BUT, I do definitely plan to follow it up with traditional grammar based Spanish in high school. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purduemeche Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 We used RS Latin for two years and experienced very good retention with vocab. It was all about doing it a few times a week. I really enjoy how RS is designed. However, we switched away because we desire a parts-to-whole, grammar-intensive program. Using Memoria Press is certainly more effort on our part, and is non-conversational, but we have achieved our goal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 We started the Spanish and it was a fail. For one thing, DS wasn't really interested, and so he got through the lessons by just "trial and error". He wasn't learning a thing. Aso, I think it's meant to be more conversational. It's certainly not a grammar based program. I think it would be great if you were motivated to learn a language you could just use out and about. But I don't think I would recommend it as really "learning a language". Identical situation here. Tried it in middle school. Lack of interest, trial and error, no grammar support, no retention. I think for elementary/middle school, at least for DSs here, it really would have had to be a regular class, a good instructor, and regular conversation with native speakers to bring about real language learning. sigh. I know you are asking about elementary, but the only other in-person experience I have is from local homeschooling friends (with motivated young men as students, unlike mine, lol) who used it in high school, completing level 3, and felt quite good about the program -- until the students hit college and were shocked at how little of the language they really understood. Both ended up restarting with Spanish 101, but had a bit of a head start on vocabulary due to the Rosetta Stone. In the end, they said that was all they really gained from RS, was some vocabulary words. BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmest regards, Lori D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoffeeMusicLaughs Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I had the same question, and this reply was helpful. Thanks for the Duolingo suggestion. It looks good, and the price is perfect!!! I don't recommend it. We have RS German. DH is a native speaker. It went well for the first level. Midway through the second level DS just had more and more problems with it. There is no direct grammar instruction. We have the homeschool version that comes with worksheets. The worksheets didn't line up with what was being taught. DS limped through and finished level 2. Then we stopped. My guess is he got as far as he did only because he has some German under his belt since his dad spent years speaking to him in German. I think it might be a good program to use if you moved to that country and just needed a crash course to get you going and you had lots and lots of immersion. I also think at minimum it is better for high school. DS was maybe 11ish at the time. Everyone is different though. A lot of people here recommend Duolingo and I guess that's even free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 We finally decided to drop it...the intuitive inderatandjng has left her stuck 1/2 way through level one....she's so frustrated and annoyed. We will just let the subject go till high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelBee Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 We will be using it over summer and next year as a family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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