Has anyone used Calico Spanish or Middlebury Interactive Languages?

[quietgarden]

One subject I have not been satisfied with is Spanish. We tried Beautiful Mundo (I'm fluent in Spanish but way too much time and planning), Homeschool Spanish Academy (good, but not good enough and the worksheets had the smallest blanks I've ever seen!), and have now tried to implement Avancemos 1a (which has gone well but the exercises are too school-like, i.e. boring, and it is teacher intensive). I do not think my son would enjoy Song School Spanish and while I should speak Spanish with him more often, if I'm honest with myself I know I won't 🙂 Although he has a decent amount of Spanish exposure through his soccer teammates and their families.

The problem with all of the above programs is that he seems to learn quickly - in Homeschool Spanish he would go through each lesson in two sessions - but I don't think it has stuck. If one of his friends' moms asks him pretty basic questions in Spanish it's like he can't remember anything. This is the only subject that he seems to have this issue with and I'm guessing it is because the above programs didn't consistently spiral previously learned vocabulary and lessons?

Calico Spanish looked great though I am a bit worried about it being too cutesy for my 9 year old. I'm thinking based on prior knowledge he would probably go through the first couple of levels very quickly or maybe we could skip them? I liked that it seemed like it had some teacher involvement but not too much and the exercises seemed useful and meaningful without being boring.

Middlebury Interactive Spanish seems interesting but I can't find any sort of demo online? Would I choose the Spanish 3-5, the Spanish Middle School, or Spanish I?  Does it have any writing component at all? The info on this program seems limited and the reviews I found didn't answer these questions.

Has anyone used either of these programs (or do you have another you would recommend)? 

Edited November 17, 2023 by quietgarden