what to do after GSWS for verbally GT kid

[Runningmom80]

Language is DS's (10 in November) strong suit, and he's enjoying Spanish so I'm looking for something to challenge him.  I'm going to try to get him a tutor for the next school year, but we can't swing it this year.  He does Duolingo and loves it but I don't know if it's enough.  We are at the middle school level for most subjects, even though he could probably handle more.

 

I would love any advice!

[Jackie]

I've used Breaking the Barrier for myself, and it would be very accessible to a language-oriented young kid, if they would work well with the more traditional textbook approach. There's an iBook version that is really inexpensive.

 

My daughter is a few years younger than your son, and textbook style would have absolutely bombed. We went with Homeschool Spanish Academy. If you can manage to prepay for a package of lessons, they become much more affordable.

[Runningmom80]

I've used Breaking the Barrier for myself, and it would be very accessible to a language-oriented young kid, if they would work well with the more traditional textbook approach. There's an iBook version that is really inexpensive.

 

My daughter is a few years younger than your son, and textbook style would have absolutely bombed. We went with Homeschool Spanish Academy. If you can manage to prepay for a package of lessons, they become much more affordable.

 

I keep thinking I'll probably just bite the bullet and pay for HSA.  I'll definitely look into Breaking the Barrier too!

[crazyforlatin]

Have you looked into italki.com? You can find a tutor that charges about $7 per hour. 

[Runningmom80]

Have you looked into italki.com? You can find a tutor that charges about $7 per hour. 

 

No! I'll look into it.

[Tranquility7]

If he is verbally GT, I'd switch to Latin, do GSWL and then Orberg's Lingua Latina (either on your own, or better yet, using Dwane Thomas's Lingua Latina online courses, which are priced very reasonably at $25/mo to watch the class videos all you want!). He will learn a TON of grammar in Lingua Latina, and Spanish will be a cinch after that. Read Dwane Thomas's post here about why Orberg's Lingua Latina is so great... because it IS!

 

Learning Latin might be a cinch after really learning Spanish thoroughly, too. But Lingua Latina is SUCH an awesome book for learning Latin I just had to throw it out there.

 

FWIW, my DS is also very strong in LA. As a bitty kiddo (5-6) he loved grammar, but after we finished 3rd grade grammar (FLL 3) in kindy, I started DS in Latin at 6.5 with GSWL. We went slowly, and then a year later we started Lingua Latina. He has just turned 10 and we are still at it (it is not a fast book; it is equivalent to two years of college Latin). Meanwhile when he turned 8 we also started learning Chinese (its grammar is SIMPLE compared to Latin, but vocab and tones are a challenge), and after he turned 9 we added Spanish (very informally, through DuoLingo and reading Spanish children's books and Magic Treehouse in Spanish together). Spanish grammar AND vocab are simple after all we have learned in Latin (and truly we are able to almost immediately read books like Curious George and Magic Treehouse in Spanish, simply because of all the Latin we had done through Lingua Latina).

 

So anyway... I know that isn't the Spanish answer you are looking for... but just wanted to share our love for Orberg :D

[Tranquility7]

Have you looked into italki.com? You can find a tutor that charges about $7 per hour. 

 

I second this recommendation, btw. LOVE iTalki! We have a Chinese tutor we use on there (a native lady who lives in China and Skypes with us - how cool is that?!). Also, there is a notebook section where you can write entries in your target language, and native speakers will suggest corrections to you (for free). It is so wonderful!

[JadeOrchidSong]

Runningmom80, I have the whole set of Lingua Latina for sale. Let me know if you are interested.

A few years ago we started with Getting Started with Latin. Then we did Getting Started with Spanish. All the while we had Chinese going. Now we dropped both Chinese (characters are too hard to master for my boys) and Spanish (no native speaker teacher though they did some DulLingo Spanish, which they liked a lot). We are only having Latin going now. I can teach Latin without having to speak it.

If I were to start all over again, I would stick to Chinese because I am a native speaker and add Latin later on. I would not do Spanish. How I wish I could reverse the time and do it differently. Too many languages burned us all out.

[Runningmom80]

We dropped Latin for Spanish. :lol:

 

He wants to learn a living language, and at this point, I don't want to push it.  I would love for him to start it again, maybe I'll try again at some point.

 

 

[JadeOrchidSong]

We dropped Latin for Spanish. :lol:

 

He wants to learn a living language, and at this point, I don't want to push it. I would love for him to start it again, maybe I'll try again at some point.

My younger ds11.5 really wants to drop Latin and do Spanish. But he is really good at Latin though he claims it is hard. I am reluctant for him to drop what he has accomplished so far and starts from almost the beginning of Spanish. I really want him to do at least one more year of Latin if not more. He will definitely pick up Spanish in a couple years.

[Runningmom80]

My younger ds11.5 really wants to drop Latin and do Spanish. But he is really good at Latin though he claims it is hard. I am reluctant for him to drop what he has accomplished so far and starts from almost the beginning of Spanish. I really want him to do at least one more year of Latin if not more. He will definitely pick up Spanish in a couple years.

 

I'm torn, I do see the benefit of Latin, but I don't want to fight with him every day about it. 

 

We tried CE last year after quitting Lively Latin, and it was meh.  Maybe I'll try it again.  LL was boring to him.

[Jackie]

I asked DD if she wanted to add Latin and she was completely confused. "Why would anyone learn a language that no one speaks anymore!?" LOL

 

Even after explaining, she has zero interest, though she is very interested in etymology and excited to try CE this year. She wants to learn Spanish, French, and Arabic and is sometimes annoyed that I'm only willing to do one at a time, at least until she is old enough to learn them fully independent of me.

[hermione310]

We've used Homeschool Spanish Academy for a couple of years now. I'm thrilled with it. Buying larger groups of lessons definitely reduces the cost of each lesson. We've had the good fortune of having the same teacher the entire time; however, given our experience, I'd feel confident switching teachers within HSA if we had to. Their customer service is also excellent.

[Miss Tick]

If you are just looking for something to add to Duoingo until you start up with a tutor I, could offer some suggestions. Obviously you would have to pick and choose what makes sense for your ds.

 

Spanish Now! Is a worktext like Breaking the Barrier or Practice Makes Perfect, but it is slightly more kid-oriented (which could be a drawback too)

 

BBC has a video program available for free, Mi Vida Loca. We watched it on Fridays last year for variety. It is really just an overview of the basics, but has some activities for each episode.

 

There is a series of books called Juegos y Actividades. Each 5ish page section starts with a themed group of vocabulary, has games like word search, crosswords, fill-in-the-blanks, etc. and a short grammar lesson. Essentially no teaching but review and then practice. Sometimes I pause that and find the associated topic in Spanish Now! J y A might be tricky if you don't have any Spanish background.

 

Hopefully something there is useful to you.

[mathnerd]

Galore Park Spanish is what comes up most often in these types of threads. There are a ton of threads on SYRWTLS (hope I spelled the abbreviation right!) on these forums. There are many who have started it with their gifted kids around age 10. So, it could be a good option to look up.

Edited June 24, 2016 by mathnerd

[Runningmom80]

Galore Park Spanish is what comes up most often in these types of threads. There are a ton of threads on SYRWTLS (hope I spelled the abbreviation right!) on these forums. There are many who have started it with their gifted kids around age 10. So, it could be a good option to look up.

I've had this on my list, and it looks like it might fit.