When did you start a forgein language?

Hi Misty,

I know each family is different (and I may get a lot of flak for this), but we’ve chosen to hold off on foreign language until highschool – unless, of course, a child (or parent) has a huge desire to learn it before then :). We found it just wasn’t high on our priority list for our children. My oldest took 2 years of German in highschool. Is he fluent in it? No, but it will satisfy those requirments if need be. For our family, there were other things we wanted our children to focus on in those early years, other than a foreign language. Oh and lest I forget to mention- when I tried to teach a foreign language (and find the right curriculum) I was left in tears and wore out much of the time. I am very encouraged by Joanne Calderwood (homeschool Mom to 8 kids (urthemom.com). I asked her this same question years back – she helped me put it in perspective….

I think the answer depends on one’s purpose for having a student learn a second (or third or fourth) language.

If I truly want my student to learn and fully speak and understand a 2nd language, if that was my goal, I would not wait until high school to study the language. Just as learning a musical instrument uses a different part of the brain and can be started at a young age, so does learning a second language. Start young for optimum effect, especially if the interest is there.

If I just want my students to study another language for the purpose of being exposed to it and satisfying the college entrance requirements, I would wait until high school. I have taken this approach so far, as *truly* learning and being fluent in a language is not super high on my list of educational priorities for my children.

We have to choose our priorities and this just isn’t one of mine. If I had a child who was interested in language study, by all means I would offer this to him or her. For other families, it may be very high on their list of desired accomplishments for their students. If it is high on the priority list, then starting young is absolutely feasible and recommended.

I personally feel it all depends on your priorities for each of your children and every family will look different when it comes to foreign language. 

Blessings, Heather

 

True, you must choose what to teach according to your priorities for your children and your family situation. In regards to my decision:

1. I want my children to be able to communicate in Israel, speaking and reading fluently as our Congregation is active in the Land and they both have a desire to go there. Obviously, it will assist them in the liturgy as well.

2. I want them to benefit intellectually from the study of Latin, possibly even reading Latin classics.

3. I want them to be able to read the Tanakh/Old Testament in the original Hebrew. Once they know the Modern Hebrew, transitioning to the Biblical isn’t a big deal.

4. I know my son can handle languages and believe, since he was 2, that G-d has something special for him and equiped his brain and the passion He has given him to serve His Jewish Brethren; requiring that he be able to read both the Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic and Koine Greek of the New Covenant. 

5. My dd is of a different cut so, though I think she could transition into Biblical Hebrew after years of modern, I don’t know if she’ll take Koine. Her job will be as a wife and mother, training up the next generation of Messianic Jews in her family. The learning of Latin will be a good thing for her.

Just a sample of my priorities,

Rachel

When my kids were born!!

Petitemom-I smiled when you said that beause my son’s first word was actually a Hebew word: Hineini.

Just putting in my two cents: both of mine were learning Hebrew (officially, though they had exposure from music and liturgy since my son’s birth and my dd’s adoption at 3) at age 6 and English at the same time. No confusion.

There wasn’t any writing of the characters, just coloring them, the first year. They also had posters of the characters hanging in their room walls from the time they were 6 (learning by osmosis). Then in the second book, they began writing in the print style (age 7) and then the following year, cursive Hebrew (age 8). All this was before 4th grade and all the while doing copywork in English, too. So the writing of both English and HEbrew were pretty parallel to each other except for my son, who learned cursive Hebrew before English cursive.

So I did not wait for Hebrew reading/writing till the native English was well established. The longer we go, the more helpful my son is as he is surpassing me and helps his sister; he’s become a co-teacher.

HTH,

Rachel

I started Spanish with my kids this year, ages 7, 5, & 3. We are learning it as a family and y goal is for them to be able to communicate in the language well. This year is mostly about exposure and picking up some basic vocabulary. I wanted to start young because of the incredible capacity for language at younger ages. I love languages and this was important to me.

I tried to do a formal language with my 6yo this year and decided to drop it. Too advanced for him, and I wanted to take a different approach. If you’re looking for a gentle, easy, fun way to introduce Spanish, I highly recommend this set of DVDs I only linked to one, but you’ll see by browsing that there are several). Many of them are available at our library. Also, Spanish music (nursery rhyme types) to memorize, like we do our poems. Really gentle and simple. Right now, he and his 3yo brother enjoy them but they are learning to understand (not necessarily speak) many words. The DVDs take the immersion approach. Just another thought! I will eventually use some of the words from the DVD to incorporate into our lives and maybe write out some index cards and label stuff around the house. But for now, I think this is great exposure with no work required by Mom!