3 1/2 years of Spanish? (instead of 4)

[mirabillis]

Does that look bad? We were going for the full 4 years of Foreign Language, just to be competitive, and dot our i's and cross our t's. But my ds is just finishing up his 1st semester of Spanish 3... sure he could push through and finish over the summer to start Spanish 4 in the fall - but he's not that kind of kid. He needs the break over the summer.

So I was thinking, finish 1st semester Span 3 now - do 2nd semester Span 3 in fall. Then 1st semester of Span 4 in spring senior year, to give him a 0.5 credit in senior year. Will that look weird?

(This is all through Homeschoolspanishacademy - with 1-on-1 skype classes)

[klmama]

It should be fine.  If he needs the break, then he needs the break.  Selective colleges like to see 4 years of foreign language, but it's not likely they will reject him on that basis alone.  If they do, they probably weren't going to be a good fit for him in other ways, as well.

[RootAnn]

I wouldn't worry about where he ends up with credits-just have him keep working with HSA until the end of this semester & pick up in the fall wherever he left off. Unless he missed time somewhere, I'd give him credit for the time he put in - full 4 yrs if he does it all the way through senior year. Is he going to take the SAT Subject test for Spanish? (HSA spends 4 yrs going through 3 yrs of grammar so their scope/sequence is wonky anyway. Since they do it one-on-one, the kids get more speaking time. They just don't assign much homework in my experience.) 

Anyway, I don't think it is imperative that your son work through the summer to get "done." Do you think he will need/want to continue Spanish in college?

[Mom0012]

2 hours ago, RootAnn said:

I wouldn't worry about where he ends up with credits-just have him keep working with HSA until the end of this semester & pick up in the fall wherever he left off. Unless he missed time somewhere, I'd give him credit for the time he put in - full 4 yrs if he does it all the way through senior year. Is he going to take the SAT Subject test for Spanish? (HSA spends 4 yrs going through 3 yrs of grammar so their scope/sequence is wonky anyway. Since they do it one-on-one, the kids get more speaking time. They just don't assign much homework in my experience.) 

Anyway, I don't think it is imperative that your son work through the summer to get "done." Do you think he will need/want to continue Spanish in college?

I totally agree with this. Language classes can end in so many places, especially when you are talking beyond year two.  If he’s put in the time, give him the credit.

[mirabillis]

Thanks guys! Yes he went straight through, Span 3 just took him super duper long... so he'll have another full year next year, it'll just be 1/2 Span 3b, the other half Span 4a. So we'll call it 4 full years of Spanish, since it will be. Thank you!

[J-rap]

One other thought.  My ds took a few classes at the public high school over the years.  He took Spanish 1, Spanish 2, and Spanish 4 there.  He skipped Spanish 3 altogether.  Sometimes the first half of a language year is spent reviewing the year before.  He started on Spanish 3, and his teacher decided it was a year he could skip so bumped him to Spanish 4.  Lots of overlap in Spanish 3 I guess.    So, there's a chance that if you're just finishing Spanish 3b, you'll be able to fly through 4a or even skip great chunks of it altogether, and move on to 4b.  

[Miss Tick]

8 hours ago, J-rap said:

 

8 hours ago, J-rap said:

there's a chance that if you're just finishing Spanish 3b, you'll be able to fly through 4a or even skip great chunks of it altogether, and move on to 4b.  

In my limited experience with Homeschool Spanish Academy you may need to speak to a manager or someone like that in order to skip. The day-to-day teachers stuck to the pre-planned checklist. Might be worth a go, though.

[RootAnn]

In my experience with HSA, you can "accelerate" a bit, especially if you have a consistent teacher who is good at it, but you won't be able to skip.

My DD used HSA as a review/solidification tool behind her normal Spanish class. When she had her normal teacher, he skipped almost all the review classes & was told (by me) to assign homework to get through more lessons quicker. In reality, homework was still very light & they got through the material at only slightly faster than normal pace (finishing 2-3 classes early for each half level). It was useful for what it did. (Her teacher must have been very popular as he was generally booked up four months in advance except for US holidays.)

[happypamama]

On 4/2/2019 at 9:58 AM, RootAnn said:

In my experience with HSA, you can "accelerate" a bit, especially if you have a consistent teacher who is good at it, but you won't be able to skip.

My DD used HSA as a review/solidification tool behind her normal Spanish class. When she had her normal teacher, he skipped almost all the review classes & was told (by me) to assign homework to get through more lessons quicker. In reality, homework was still very light & they got through the material at only slightly faster than normal pace (finishing 2-3 classes early for each half level). It was useful for what it did. (Her teacher must have been very popular as he was generally booked up four months in advance except for US holidays.)

That was our experience with them as well. Once DD found the teacher she liked, she was able to skip a lot of review and get through more material, although the homework never was super heavy. In 60 classes, she got through all of Spanish 1A and 1B, plus all of 2A and a good portion of 2B. She had been through GSWS and DuoLingo, and I was surprised that they did put her in Spanish 1, but I think it was partly because she was very nervous during the placement test. It did end up being a good confidence builder for her though. I'm probably going to do the same with my rising 9th grader next year; we will do Spanish 1 here at home, and then he can do HSA and either fly through or skip 1A and 1B. 

[RootAnn]

2 hours ago, happypamama said:

In 60 classes, she got through all of Spanish 1A and 1B, plus all of 2A and a good portion of 2B. She had been through GSWS and DuoLingo, and I was surprised that they did put her in Spanish 1, but I think it was partly because she was very nervous during the placement test. 

I think they place lower on purpose - both for the business model and to get students comfortable with the format & provide good review before jumping into new material.

I checked and DD got through three semesters of material in 61 lessons. The level she placed into took 18 lessons to complete followed by 24 lessons (at least six of these with a different teacher who was funny/nice, but not in tune with our goals), and finally 19 lessons for the final semester credit. They recommend 30 lessons per semester (half credit). Again, we were using it as a below-level review/reinforcement on top of a regular Spanish class (along with Italki convo practice).