Spanish For You~ A Schoolhouse Crew Review

                                                                             

 For the past six weeks or so we have had an opportunity to review Estaciones from Spanish for You!. Estaciones is a packaged theme (Seasons) based curriculum that helps you teach your children how to speak and write Spanish, it is geared towards grades 3-8.
                                       

We received a PDF download copy of the teacher's lesson plans, as well as audio downloads of a native speaker, and a soft cover textbook that is pictured above of activity sheets. Everything was laid out for me and all I had to do was follow the lesson plans that gives you step by step instructions of what needs to be done and also the answers to the worksheets.
                                                                         

Leccion 1: Los Verbos

One of the things that I appreciated the most was the self checking worksheets. I love it when I find a new to me curriculum that is already aligned with our homeschooling goals. In our homeschool we strive to be independent learners and being able to self check your work promotes this independence that we are striving for.

The native speaker spoke clearly and the children were able to understand and learn the accent of the language, in fact listening to the native speaker was their favorite part. Michelle who is in ninth grade and absolutely loves learning to speak different languages spent countless hours listening to the speaker and perfecting her skills. I firmly believe that in order to truly learn to speak another language you must fully immerse yourself in that culture, this program is so close to the real thing!
                                                       

                                                            Leccion 4: La primavera
Ken(12) and DJ(9) weren't too fond of this program. They enjoyed playing Simon Says to learn to speak and follow Spanish commands. I was surprised when they took to the flashcards too. Some days they were O.K with doing the lessons, most days the work was done with bribery and since this was a review I had to resort to that evil.

We went with our own schedule and made it work according to the interests of the day!

I really liked the program and I think it would have been something to add into our school routine permanently if Ken and DJ were interested in learning to speak Spanish. Right now they are most interested in learning Latin and love to dabble in learning other languages without my interference. This program is teacher led and this just isn't how we learn here.

 I would recommend this program to those who have children who are interested in learning how to speak and write Spanish. It is a wonderful program to spend one on one time with your Spanish language loving child. This curriculum is full of hands on activities, and the games are a sure way to keep the interest level high. Another thing I would like to mention is that the theme is excellent in it's way to keep children and mine as well engaged in learning Spanish. Although they weren't too pleased with the lessons DJ and Ken did enjoy learning more about Seasons while learning to speak and write Spanish. The theme allowed for science to be incorporated as well.

The cost of the complete package of Estaciones for grades 3-8 is $64.95. You really can't find a better deal for a foreign language program that brings a native speaker right into your home, that is full of hands on activities that will help your child retain what they are learning.