Has anyone used the Rosetta Stone language course? They have a special right now, that saves quite a bit of money. I home school my kids and have heard good things about this course, but want to hear from someone who has actually used it. What age did you or your child use it? How effective? Likes or dislikes? Was it confusing or frustrating to the point of quitting? Anything else you'd like to say would be greatly appreciated.
Hi SweetArt,
I haven't personally used Rosetta Stone courses, and I don't know if you are talking about special children's courses, or their normal courses (that are advertised in the onboard airline catalogs), but, I have heard and read that their normal courses are VERY good. Also, I know that they have a money back guarantee for their normal courses, so I'd say go for it. If they don't turn out to be great, send them back.
I don't know how old your kids are, but up until the ages of 10-12 kids brains are prewired to learn more than one language. After that, since the mechanism isn't used, it "dies". That doesn't mean that they can't learn a foreign language after that point, of course, it just makes it like "work". Prior to the mechanism's "death" it really isn't "work" for a child, it is just the natural learning process, like learning to speak English (or whatever your native tongue in your household is).
Teaching your children a second (or third or fourth...) language is one of the best things you can do for your children (and yourself if you learn along with them). It has been scientifically proven that multi-lingual adults have less occurrence of mentally dibilitating diseases. Also, that children who learn foreign languages do better all-around in learning other subjects as well, because it forces them to unknowingly use different parts of their brain that nonmulti-lingual people do not use and normally lie dormant.
Also, please remember that the easiest way to learn any language is to be completely immersed in it. If you choose to learn the language(s) along with your children, you can incorporate it into daily activiteis throughout the entire day. (Learn a song and sing it together. Do vocabulary training when you see a cat, or a dog, or a flower, etc.) Find a recipe from that language's culture and prepare it together, reciting the names of the ingredients in the language and in your native language.)
Additionally, since you said your have more than one child, this makes it even easier. If you learn along with them, there will be more of you to converse in the foreign language. What a bonus! The more you speak the language, the faster you will learn it, so the more the merrier! (That truly is the key to learning a foreign language--speaking the language) It's usually a challenge when you are trying to learn a new language to find other people that speak the target language to be around them and join in, but you guys have that covered. How lucky!
Sorry for going on and on about this, especially if you already are familiar with it, but it truly is one of the best things you can do for your children now (not to mention the benefits they will be afforded when they are older). Not enough Americans are multi-lingual (or bi-lingual for that matter) and it is really hurting us on an international level.
Thanks for doing this for your kids. They will thank you when they are older!!
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