Homeschoolers united!

Ask specific questions about your target languages. Beginner questions welcome!
User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby IronMike » Tue Oct 02, 2018 3:52 pm

No more homeschooling for us. Unless something changes, our youngest will graduate the local public school in 2021. Thankfully, the school is pretty solid academically.

We've had various results with respect to college or after-high school for the first three kids.

1) Boy #1 graduated from homeschool and joined the coast guard. The recruiter mistakenly told him he'd have to score higher in the ASVAB than "normal kids" due to his being homeschooled. He was misinformed; the 2012 NDAA did away with that and made it so homeschooled kids were considered Tier 1 high school graduates like any other high school graduate. I contacted the lawyers (at HSLDA.org) and had them cocked and ready but boy #1 didn't want me to do anything till after he took the ASVAB. Well, he scored in the upper 90s and after that the recruiter was all sunshine and roses, "You can pick any job you want," that sort of thing. Boy #1 is now a third class petty officer with his own studio apartment and car stationed in Texas.

2) Boy #2 was homeschooled sophomore and junior years of high school (freshman year was in the private school in Moscow). We moved to Kyrgyzstan where the private school there (QSI-Bishkek) accepted our "parent-developed" transcript for those years. He ended his senior year there as valedictorian and took a gap year before going to Virginia Tech and becoming a member of the Corps of Cadets there with the intent of commissioning as an Air Force officer. He's now in his junior year maintaining a 3.4 majoring in Russian and minoring in computer science.

3) Girl #1 graduated in May. Her junior and senior years were homeschooled. So far no issues. She's in talks now with Army recruiters to become a combat medic. So far the recruiter didn't even bat an eye when she mentioned graduating from homeschool. She takes the ASVAB later this week so we'll see how she does. She wants her own G.I. Bill. ;)

I wish all of your out there a successful homeschool year. Try and remember these years, because you sure will miss them when they're gone. :(
6 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

User avatar
PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
x 8029

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:33 am

Courtesy of David1917.... (thanks David1917)

(I really enjoyed watching this video posted by David1917 in the New Prof Argüelles Video and Survey thread, page 3)

David1917 wrote:The first video in response to fan requests is now live: Raising Multilingual Children



In it, he explains how his 2 sons grew up essentially bilingual in English & French, with early exposure to Korean at home and Spanish/Arabic in their surroundings, and having been taught German, Russian and Latin. He details their varying levels in each and outlines some current and future study plans for these languages.

Next week he promises to answer questions people have regarding the information presented today. Then I assume the week after he will create a lecture-style video on another new topic, and continue this pattern.


edited for typos
2 x

User avatar
PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
x 8029

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:56 am

David1917 wrote:

Follow-up Q&A on raising multilingual children.

PeterMollenburg wrote:Thanks David1917 for posting the above video. I'm going to take the liberty of quoting you and the video and posting it into the homeschooling thread. Cheers :)


You may wish to crosspost this response as well!


Thank you again David1917
0 x

aravinda
Green Belt
Posts: 287
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 12:27 pm
Languages: .
x 616

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby aravinda » Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:43 am

I asked this question in the Italian Study Group as well but got only one response, so I’m asking it here again.
aravinda wrote:Can anyone recommend a good Italian course or two for children? My two daughters (6 and 11 years) are learning Italian at school. As I'm not very happy about their progress so far, I'm looking for a course or two that they can do at home. (No apps or online courses please, I don't want to increase their screen time :) )

I'm looking for a course specifically aimed at children and has exercises and audio.
Thank you in advance.
0 x

User avatar
PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
x 8029

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed Oct 24, 2018 8:45 am

aravinda wrote:I asked this question in the Italian Study Group as well but got only one response, so I’m asking it here again.
aravinda wrote:Can anyone recommend a good Italian course or two for children? My two daughters (6 and 11 years) are learning Italian at school. As I'm not very happy about their progress so far, I'm looking for a course or two that they can do at home. (No apps or online courses please, I don't want to increase their screen time :) )

I'm looking for a course specifically aimed at children and has exercises and audio.
Thank you in advance.


I will begin with no, I can’t recommend ant Italian courses for your daughters... but...

This may irritate you as it doesn’t answer your question and is going off track a little. To me there’s nothing like reading to your children in a foreign language out loud. They hear it spoken, it’s engaging, it helps develop your own language abilities, it’s shared time, can easily avoid screens, it’s real language in use, it reinforces and develops vocabulary, grammatical structures, and idioms. Rather than adding more focus on the structure of the language, why not use the language as an enjoyable supplement to the sub-par structure they are already receiving?

Perhaps your Italian is too weak? I’ve just started reading to my children in Spanish, which I’m quite poor at (once upon a time I could hold caveman style conversations in the language for lengthy periods, now i’m reviving it). I know how to read it with regards to pronunciation so no worries on how to read, its just going to be an exercise in building our understanding of the language together. If your pronunciation is zero, try audio books, explore them together... worth considering if you’re not already doing something similar. If not, no worries, just a suggestion ;)
2 x

aravinda
Green Belt
Posts: 287
Joined: Tue May 16, 2017 12:27 pm
Languages: .
x 616

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby aravinda » Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:54 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:I will begin with no, I can’t recommend ant Italian courses for your daughters... but...
Thanks, PM.
First of all, no, your reply doesn’t irritate me. Not at all. On the contrary, I enjoyed reading it like your many other posts. Reading to the kids in Italian is a very good suggestion. Actually, I had thought about it briefly but never put it into action. My Italian pronunciation is not zero but maybe not good enough. (For example, I don’t bother to distinguish between the two “O” sounds and “E” sounds). The real reason for not being good at Italian is I’ve never put much effort into learning Italian myself. Despite being relatively easy considering my language background (English, French) Italian always gets pushed back by tougher ones such as Russian. Basically, I was trying to let the kids learn Italian on their own (or with little help from me) while I learned Russian, Sanskrit etc. Well, maybe it’s time to get my act together and do some Italian. Now, I just need to find the box with the Italian courses…
By the way, good luck with your new language regimen!
1 x

User avatar
Axon
Blue Belt
Posts: 775
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2016 12:29 am
Location: California
Languages: Native English, in order of comfort: Mandarin, German, Indonesian,
Spanish, French, Russian,
Cantonese, Vietnamese, Polish.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5086
x 3288

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Axon » Wed Oct 24, 2018 1:16 pm

aravinda wrote:I'm looking for a course specifically aimed at children and has exercises and audio.
Thank you in advance.


I haven't used any of these courses myself, but my local library has paid for a couple of sets of kids' language learning materials. All have audio, not sure about exercises. Here are the ones with Italian:

Muzzy Language The link is to an online course but there are also books available.

Teach Me Everyday Italian
3 x

User avatar
Xenops
Brown Belt
Posts: 1444
Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2015 10:33 pm
Location: Boston
Languages: English (N), Danish (A2), Japanese (rusty), Nansha (constructing)
On break: Japanese (approx. N4), Norwegian (A2)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=16797
x 3559
Contact:

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Xenops » Wed Oct 24, 2018 1:30 pm

aravinda wrote:
PeterMollenburg wrote:I will begin with no, I can’t recommend ant Italian courses for your daughters... but...
Thanks, PM.
First of all, no, your reply doesn’t irritate me. Not at all. On the contrary, I enjoyed reading it like your many other posts. Reading to the kids in Italian is a very good suggestion. Actually, I had thought about it briefly but never put it into action. My Italian pronunciation is not zero but maybe not good enough. (For example, I don’t bother to distinguish between the two “O” sounds and “E” sounds). The real reason for not being good at Italian is I’ve never put much effort into learning Italian myself. Despite being relatively easy considering my language background (English, French) Italian always gets pushed back by tougher ones such as Russian. Basically, I was trying to let the kids learn Italian on their own (or with little help from me) while I learned Russian, Sanskrit etc. Well, maybe it’s time to get my act together and do some Italian. Now, I just need to find the box with the Italian courses…
By the way, good luck with your new language regimen!


Just a thought: I think it's okay to not have perfect pronunciation (yet). As an adult, I don't value the times my parents were "right", I value the times they were real human beings. I am currently unable to have a relationship with my father, because he is unwilling to show any weakness.
2 x
Check out my comic at: https://atannan.com/

Whodathunkitz
Green Belt
Posts: 416
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2016 7:40 pm
Location: UK
Languages: English (N), Cebuano (basic spoken daily, best L2), Spanish (beginner, but can read), Esperanto (beginner and not maintained). Sometimes dabble with Dutch, Serbian, Slovak, Czech, German and Arabic.
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5133&start=30
x 315

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Whodathunkitz » Mon Nov 19, 2018 3:15 pm

Elsa Maria wrote:Anyone else homeschooling this year? Anyone contemplating homeschooling?

My youngest is a senior this year, so this is my last year of homeschooling. The college application process in the USA is rather complex, and it is even more involved for homeschoolers. I will breathe a sigh of relief once all of the applications are in. And then shout for joy when the first acceptance is received.


Quite possibly.... I don't want to go into too many details but our kid is dead keen on unschooling / homeschooling / home education (hello search engines).

And as I've looked into it, I've gone from NO! to hmmm... moving to probably.

I realise that I basically taught myself and school was largely just refreshing my previous knowledge with some extra bits.

Maths - loads from school (but I enjoyed learning)
Chemistry
History / Geography - some key ways of looking at things, Primary/Secondary sources, how to write with doubt!

er... that's about it.

My 6 year old child teaches himself, does mini projects (writes illustrated books), wants to discover (body, bones, animals) - youtube, bbc, books, wikipedia.

For those being homeschooled.... are they often either VERY focussed or a bit daydreaming / chatty when bored?

Another question, how many hours? I think at his age, we'll just enable him, prompt him on what he's interested in. Possibly some tutor help with Maths and English, Music and Languages. Basically - he just naturally does this kind of activity from waking to sleeping - he loves to learn but on the subjects that interest him.

We won't be following much of a curriculum other than work out some minimal levels for English and Maths.

With regard to rdearman - cost is largely loss of a wage (and a tax-free allowance around £12000 per adult) - UK. So it's virtually impossible for the other parent to pick up the slack as anything above 12k gets taxed - so overtime, promotions don't really pay well.
3 x
2018 Cebuano SuperChallenge 1 May 2018-Dec 2019
: 150 / 600 SC days:
: 6 / 1250 Read (aim daily 2000 words):
: 299 / 9000 Video (aim daily 15 minutes):

User avatar
Elsa Maria
Blue Belt
Posts: 510
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:20 am
Location: USA
Languages: English (N), Intermediate Danish.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=6009
x 1275
Contact:

Re: Homeschoolers united!

Postby Elsa Maria » Mon Nov 19, 2018 6:31 pm

I'll leave it to somebody like Ani to answer your question about homeschooling young kids, Whodathunkitz. My child was 11 when we switched to homeschooling.

The college apps have all been submitted. Hooray! Whew, that was quite a project for the homeschool mom. I spent a HUGE number of hours writing up the course descriptions. Even though I had kept meticulous records throughout high school, it still took a long time to turn it into one cohesive document. But once I was done, I felt really good to be able to see a summary of what we have done. Not all of the colleges even wanted the course descriptions, by the way.

I know it is a lot different in other countries, especially countries with a more exam-based entrance system - but here in the U.S. some colleges ask for a lot of documentation from homeschoolers.
Last edited by Elsa Maria on Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
2 x
Corrections are always welcome.


Return to “Practical Questions and Advice”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests