bbcovert@juno.com

If there is one subject that can cause all homeschool parents to fear and tremble, it is foreign language. Is it necessary to include a foreign language in your child’s education? Foreign language classes are often required in college and are a requirement for graduating high school in most states. Did you study a foreign language in school? If you didn’t, you may feel woefully inept as a teacher. If you did, you still may feel incapable of helping your children learn a new language. So, is it really necessary to include a foreign language in your homeschool?

There are a variety of reasons for including a foreign language in your child’s education.

Reasons to include a foreign language in your homeschool are as follows:

1. It’s good brain exercise.

2. It gives you the ability to communicate with more people in your community and around the world. Anyone headed to a mission field where English isn’t the primary language must learn the native tongue!

3. It can give you an advantage when competing in the job market. (I landed one of my jobs because of my background in Spanish. Spanish cinched it for me during the interview, and I was offered the job right then!)

Studies have shown that it is easier to learn a language earlier in life. Introducing a language in early elementary years is a good idea. You don’t have to do anything difficult at that age. There are lots of DVDs, videos, CD-ROMs, and audiotapes with books for young children. You may be able to borrow some of these materials from your local library. Your students can learn fun little songs in the new language. You don’t have to include it as another subject at that age. It doesn’t need to be turned into "work." It should be fun!

By high school, you will need a curriculum complete with tests and conversation possibilities. It’s nearly impossible to learn a language if one doesn’t practice using it! Some homeschool co-ops offer classes in a foreign language. A number of homeschool presses offer foreign language as a subject. These will most likely be on CD-ROMs, videos, or satellite programs. A sampling is as follows:

Rosetta Stone

Alpha Omega Switched on Schoolhouse

The Learnables from Sonlight Press

Power Glide

Abeka

BJU Press

Standard Deviants (supplementary fun)

By the way, many homeschoolers choose sign language as a foreign language for high school. It is a wonderful option with ministry possibilities. However, if a foreign language is required for your student’s college degree of choice, he or she needs to choose a spoken foreign language for high school. If a person hasn’t been exposed to a foreign language by the time the college class rolls around, he or she is practically doomed to fail college level foreign language courses. They are extremely difficult. I believe my success can be attributed to my exposure to a foreign language in third grade as well as several years in high school. Even then, Spanish Lit, taught completely in Spanish, was rough!

Typical languages offered are Spanish, French, and German. Latin is another possibility. Several companies offer even more choices, such as Russian, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Japanese, Thai, and Swahili! See if you can obtain a Bible in the chosen language. It can be fun to learn memory verses in another language!

Felíz casa educando!

(Happy homeschooling!)

Copyright 2007 Brenda B. Covert