The Heart of the Matter Online

Many times as homeschoolers we wish to teach our children a foreign language but funds, as well as talent perhaps,  hinder us from taking on this challenge. Let me share with you what our family is using to further our horizons and ability to reach others for Christ.

I took French for 4 years in high school. I retained quite a bit of it until we moved to Japan and even then when trying to learn Japanese, French words would roll off my tongue. This was quite confusing to our friends! When we moved to Arizona, I tried to learn a bit of Spanish but then Japanese and French words would come out of my mouth so I eventually gave up trying. Our daughter started public high school and she took her first year of French as well. She has always had her eye on fashion and so it makes complete sense for her to learn this language. We came back to homeschooling this year and I really DID NOT think my husband would want us to keep up with French but he surprised me by telling me to teach everyone. We found a used (though it looked pretty new to me) curriculum online at another homeschooling mom's blog and bought that from her. We have been so pleased with this program!!
 

The Easy French Level 1 has been a blessing to us. It is based on scripture and the company is working with groups like Wycliffe Bible Translators and others to prepare missionary families in training for their service to God. The cost of the program at their web site is $129.95 but the program is set up to take a younger child 3 years to complete so if you are starting off very early, then this is where the frugal part comes in. Basically you are paying less than $45 a year for foreign language. That's probably the best deal I've seen around!! If you are a high school age level, you have to complete level 1 and level 2 to meet state standards but if you start off with it early, then you can catch deals or maybe even find it on ebay.

The workbook comes with 2 CD's with vocal examples. We have also purchased at CBD several downloads to supplement. They were all less than a dollar and are songs in French. The children have really enjoyed listening to these. Some other things we have used to supplement were things we already had in our house. For instance, we sometimes watch our movies in French just to get used to hearing the language. I think their favorite line is "Je suis un ogre!" from Shreck...LOL... I can't tell you how quickly my previous French training has come full force back into my brain using this program. We spend about 20 minutes a day practicing and listening. We also do some writing and I will catch the children through out the day and say something to them in French and have them repeat and translate or answer in French. It has been great so far.

The great thing is that even if I didn't have a background of some basic French in my arsenal, I am pretty confident this would be easy to learn and teach to my children. The younger ones have picked up on it just as well as my daughter and I. If you are looking at starting a foreign language but don't want to spend three or four hundred dollars on a program, and you want it to be Bible based with the goal of reaching folks for Christ, then this is your program! Take a look at The Easy French website and give it a try!

http://www.theeasyfrench.com/