One of our main goals as homeschooling parents is to raise children who can engage their culture with the truth of God’s word. As our world seems to get smaller and smaller and cultural boundaries begin to blur the need to speak a foreign language becomes more evident. So we want to make foreign language a part of our children’s learning from an early age.
Disclosure: I received this product for free and was compensated for my time. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.
With 25 languages to choose from, we chose to introduce our seven-year old to Spanish with Rosetta Stone’s Spanish (Latin America) Level 1 Homeschool Edition. The program includes the software, a user’s guide, a parent’s guide (including 36- and 45-week lesson plans) and the necessary headset with microphone. Level 1 sets a foundation for learning the Spanish language and focuses on the kind of conversational basics you’ll need if you were traveling abroad. After only a few lessons we immediately appreciated the many benefits we couldn’t find with other language learning curriculum.
Language Learning the Natural Way
Rosetta Stone offers a unique language learning experience. After some set up your child is ready to begin the surprisingly innovative and immersive experience that Rosetta Stone is built upon. For Spanish your student is greeted with an “Hola!” before they begin learning the words for “boy”, “girl”, “man” and “woman.” Every new word is accompanied by a photograph to match. This mimics the way we all learned our native language as children–being completely immersed in a world where we didn’t know what anyone was saying. During a Rosetta Stone lesson, no English words are ever spoken or displayed. Your student is reliant upon their intuition to determine the meanings of new words just has they did when they were first learning to speak. By the end of the first lesson your child will know how to say phrases such as “the man is cooking” and “the children swim.”
Completely Independent Learning
You don’t have to teach your child or test their progress with Rosetta Stone Language for Homeschool. They don’t even need a peer to practice what they’ve learned (although that never hurts). With the included headset your child will speak back what they hear and Rosetta Stone will indicate if they have pronounced the word properly. This immediate feedback puts Rosetta Stone ahead of most language learning curriculum you’ll find. It truly is a completely independent language learning system. So while Lil’Man is working on his Spanish I’m completely free to do some activities with his little brother or just have some much needed “mommy time.” Can I get an “Amen”?
Rosetta Stone is for the Whole Family
Rosetta Stone offers the same learning experience for every person no matter their age or experience. With the Homeschool Edition you can create several profiles, so my husband and I are also using the software. While I’ve had some Spanish over the years my husband has not so he was excited to get to learn something new alongside our son. As long as we keep pace with each other we can quiz each other over dinner. It’s been a fun experience so far. It’s fun watching Lil’Man’s wheels turn as he tries to recall the Spanish words for “eat” or “read”.
Bottomline
So far we are very pleased with Rosetta Stone and we can see why it has become the industry leader in language learning programs. It takes all the intimidation out of learning a foreign language. We’re excited to see how God might use our son’s Spanish-speaking abilities in the future. It might be a tool to open doors for sharing the Good News some day. If foreign language learning isn’t currently a part of your homeschool curriculum I would encourage you to check out one of Rosetta Stone’s 25 languages for their homeschool edition.
What language would you like your child to learn?
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We considered Rosetta Stone for our homeschool but after trying the demo, we decided not to purchase. I was disappointed that the program did not seem directed to young learners’ interests and learning abilities. I was hoping for a really great program that looked and felt different than the adult program. I’d have to say the same for Mango Languages homeschool program as well. Mango is an awesome language learning system that is available free through public libraries but their homeschool platform is the same as the adult. I expected more from these two companies.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. My son is 7 and so far he is enjoying the program. There are pathway options in the program, so you can skip sections (ie: writing) for students of varying levels.