I'm really stumped. I've always tended to work in Spanish because I used to be a fluent speaker, so it's in my comfort zone. Part of me wants to let the boys choose, but they're too young to choose based on all of the facts. Part of me wants to make them learn Latin, but I want them to be bilingual, not just "educated." Part of me wants to make them learn Arabic or something else exotic, but only because that would make them more marketable as job candidates (for careers that they haven't decided upon yet). AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Help! ETA: Latin + something else isn't an option right now. We don't have enough time in our school day for that.
Well, since half the country seems to speak Spanish, it's going to be required of me. I would also like to let them choose a language on their own... but it's not a requirement of mine.
Learning Spanish makes a lot of sense, since there are so many Mexican's around who speak broken English or none at all. It would be helpful all around. I was fluent in French and LOVED every second of it, but I have not used it in SO LONG! My husband took Spanish classes in High school and college, and he uses his foreign language skills a lot more than me. :/
My kids are doing Latin and Spanish. A Latin base can aid significantly in learning many other languages and will increase their English vocabulary. We use Thinker's Cap Academy [the online Latin curriculum from Classical Academic Press] for that purpose. They're also learning Spanish as we live in Texas and so it's the most practical second language to learn. Personally, I think it would be cool to learn Mandarin Chinese, but it's not too practical for where we are. LOL
I want DGS to learn Latin because it's the base for all the romance languages, and I want him to learn French because it's DH's family heritage and I had two years of French in college (a loooooooooong time ago!). And DD's dd is in a French-immersion school (entering first grade this year). I know Spanish should be a good choice because of so many people here now who speak it, but part of me still says why should I have to learn another language because they refuse to and are here illegally?
Some problems with this line of thought: The majority of Spanish-speakers in this area, at least, are not here illegally. They are here on work visas. I'll be honest, I found your comment racist. I've yet to meet one (and we have literally dozens in our store every day) who wasn't trying to learn English. Truth is, English is slow and tedious to learn. There are 31 Spanish Speaking countries in the world. More than any other language. The number of Spanish speakers globally is second only to the number of English speakers. So thinking beyond our boarders means that Spanish is the most logical choice if you're talking only about usefulness.
We are doing several languages. I chose French because my kids are Canadian. I would do Spanish if we lived in the USA or if my kids had plans on living there. I chose Arabic and Mandarin because a good percentage of the world speaks one of those languages and learning a language goes a long way in learning to appreciate another culture. It may or may not be something they could use for a future job, but it will always help them better understand a culture and make connections with people different from themselves. I chose ancient Greek so my kids could have a better understanding of the NT in the original language.
My older daughter took French because we had a trip planned to France. The tour company cancelled our trip because there were not enough in the group to go. lol My younger daughter will be learning Mandarin and Spanish this year. Mandarin because she is Chinese. My oldest son is a teacher in China and speaks fluent Mandarin and we do plan on bringing our daughter back to China at some point. Spanish because I think it will help her in any career she chooses.
I am letting my children choose. My oldest has (wisely) chosen Spanish because she desires to be a chef and wants to live in Phoenix when she graduates. It will be helpful in that field AND that area!!! LOL Our evaluator (aka friend and mentor of mine!) has advised that she takes it for all 4 years of high school AND try to get an exchange trip somehow. EEEEK!
We did two years or so of Latin as a basics. This year we are taking a year off from a foreign language but then the following year I think we are doing French. I gave dd a choice and she said she really wanted to learn French so that is what we will do for middle school at least.
Amie, I'm not against people from Mexico, or people of Mexican heritage, or any other country where Spanish is spoken. I'm only opposed to the ones that are here illegally.
I'd prefer Spanish...because I think it would be useful. Youngest dd has done a little Spanish, but this school year we are switching gears and are going to try French. This is pretty much because my husband wants her to learn some. He's trying to learn French, because he likes rendezvous and fur trader stuff. We'll see how it goes this year. My son would like to learn German, Russian, and Japanese.
I was going to choose a language either a)common in our country or b)a language spoken in our family. So our options would be Spanish, Italian or Creole. We chose ASL instead. It may change in the future though.
DS17 chose Spanish. We lived in Texas when he began and had no plans to move elsewhere. It would have been used there! DD15 will begin ASL this year. Because of learning difficulties, a written language would be very difficult for her. Also, she plans to go into occupational therapy, so ASL is a good choice for that.
I took French in high school, other than being silly with my kids, I have not used it at all since. I have however run into way to many people I couldn't understand because they spoke Spanish.
And really legally or illegally here, I hate that I feel we have to learn their language to accommodate them, but last I heard they were saying English and Mexican were the official languages of the US so I guess it's just the way things are now.
My kids started out with Latin-lite as the base for the romance languages. They watched some of the Classical Academy Press videos and a few other things. Latin is also still sung during mass at our church. DD13 chose French last year because she was interested in both culinary arts and dance, and both use plenty of French terms/words. She will continue with this and hopes to go to a bilingual French/English girls camp in Canada next summer. All three of my kids have learned to converse in Spanish through a friendship with a local bilingual homeschooling family. But at this point none of the kids read or write in Spanish. I am hoping to slowly add some Spanish books and other print materials this year. For us, choosing a language happened organically. It grew out of need and desire. I think that has motivated them to want to increase their knowledge of other languages. --Michelle
We start with Latin & Greek at the elementary level because they're the root of almost every language kids will encounter in the workforce in America, they drastically increase the ability to figure out unknown vocabulary, and it will help with NT Bible. My older son wanted to do Hebrew in high school, just for the heck of it (for OT Bible), but I think he's decided against that, and he might do Spanish the last two years of high school. It's way too soon to tell. I'd never even considered ASL until we learned my younger is going deaf. Now, we're undecided. We're waiting to see how quickly he progresses, and we're waiting until at least January when our calendar opens up for free lessons through the state.
I have a profound loss and took ASL in college. I never used it afterwards and have lost so much of it. Two of my children are HOH, with one in aids. I think we all NEED to learn.
YAY! Someone who gets by without ASL! I've heard that a lot do, but I haven't met any. I'm curious how that works. If you get a moment, I'd love to get a pm telling me a little about you. Have you always had hearing loss? Are you able to hear with HA's? How do you communicate? Is your spoken language good? (He speaks GREAT.) Not trying to hijack the thread.
