Hi! First let me start off by saying that I am a new homeschooling mom who will be starting this fall.

I am contemplating starting Greek with my ds who is 7 (I would like to learn it also as we have family that speak Greek). Has anyone used Rosetta Stone to teach a language at this age level? Has anyone used it at ANY level?

Thanks!

I have Rosetta Stone Japanese for my daughter, who is 8. She uses it on a regular basis and really likes it. She is not a fluent reader yet, and Japanese tends to have long words, so we had to go into the program and delete certain lessons for her. It did take us a while to figure out how to do that.

WHen we first started using Rosetta Stone, my LG daughter used it as well. She moved at a much slower pace, but she enjoyed it.

Patti

I'm sure that you've probably already made your decision re: Rosetta Stone, but I wanted to respond in case it would help anyone else.

We purchased Rosetta Stone Spanish at the beginning of this school year, and have absolutely loved it. My daughters, who were 7 and 10 at the time, are learning along with me. I just set them both for 'comprehensive track' and put myself on the 'accelerated track' so that I could keep just a little ahead of them, since I'm learning Spanish for the first time along with them.

I know that I've read in so many places that foreign language is much easier for younger kids, and I do have to say that they pick it up like sponges (sometimes even better than I do!)

I appreciate Rosetta Stone because 1)it teaches through immersion 2) they learn how to understand the spoken language and the written language, and also learn how to write and speak it themselves (they are tested in each respective area, except for the speaking, before they can move to the next segment)

Overall, we have been really pleased with the program, and are trying to decide which language we would like to do once they have Spanish mastered

I thought I'd share how we use Rosetta Stone with our first grader. My son and I would do it together, which we enjoyed very much at first. Then it got too fast (my husband set us on the accelerated plan apparently). So we plan to start over next year on the slower version. Overall, I've been impressed and happy with my purchase. It's a little hard to navigate at first, I thought it could have been clearer menu or something. But the material has me understanding bits of spanish at the mall and at work - pretty cool I think. But doing it together really made a difference for my just learning to read LG.

My two daughters (ages 4 and 6) and I use Rosetta Spanish and love it, my daughter even at 3 could answer with about 90% accuracy! It is an amazing program and fun to use. I do speak some spanish to them at home, so they weren't starting with nothing on Rosetta Stone, but even so I feel the immersion method is a great way to teach at their age. I also have power glide jr. We are just starting it as an additional supplement it has workbooks and CD's with story and uses a diglot weave. Which I believe is what I commonly refer to as "spanglish" . It slowly adds in more spanish with each lesson until it is predominately in spanish instead of english. Anyway, Rosetta stone is a great choice and works great even with little ones!

Ok...what am I doing wrong then??? My 10yo gets frustrated with it because he often fails sections (he is currently at 2:11). One he failed three times. My oldest is 12 and is doing great and is somewhere in Unit 4 of the first year. I tried it with my 5yo and she was completely overwhelmed and didn't understand what to do. So..how did you get your younger kids to do this especially with the typing involved and where you put the sentences in order and/or type the words. There is no way my kindergartener can do that!!!! That is what stumps my 10yo as well and to be honest it frustrates me because I don't always know what I got wrong. IT just quickly highlights it in read and it is gone before I can process and figure out where my mistake is.
Christine

As a foreign language teacher, I think that Rosetta Stone is the best single language product available. However, it simply can't be for everyone. I love it - I learn a lot from using it. But only one of my three kids agrees with me. The other two think that using it is torture.

I don't know what your 10yo's situation is, but what exactly do you mean that he "fails" sections? He shouldn't be surprised if he gets a lot wrong when he's just learning something, since Rosetta Stone inherently involves a lot of trial and error. And everyone is individual about how much repetition he needs before he can absorb the vocabulary and structures.

With your kindergartner, don't have him do the typing parts. Just have him listen and click. Explore the program options and learn how to avoid the requirement to type. This might help the rest of you as well.

One thing I would suggest to you is that you look for some additional materials of some sort to use alongside Rosetta Stone. As nicely done as RS is, it simply cannot be a full program (no matter what its marketing department might claim). Look at your library or used book stores for additional books and tapes that use other approaches, and spend time with those. This doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with RS or with you, just that learning languages is inherently complex and we shouldn't expect a single product to be able to walk us through it.

I hope you find a way to make satisfactory progress!

Beth in San Antonio

Has anyone used The Easy Spanish? I'm thinking that I want to try that with my grammar-aged dc in the fall.

Julie in AZ

quote:

Originally posted by BLT:

I don't know what your 10yo's situation is, but what exactly do you mean that he "fails" sections?
[B] With your kindergartner, don't have him do the typing parts. Just have him listen and click. Explore the program options and learn how to avoid the requirement to type. This might help the rest of you as well. [B]

One thing I would suggest to you is that you look for some additional materials of some sort to use alongside Rosetta Stone. As nicely done as RS is, it simply cannot be a full program (no matter what its marketing department might claim).
Beth in San Antonio

Yes, I have Spanish Verb Tenses workbook, Spanish Pronouns and Prepostitions and Spanish Now workbook as well. We have done a little in these. But I feel like the blind leading the blind!!!! We went to Honduras and I was useless as far as trying to speak.
Christine

Sorry part of my bold didn't get put in. The part he fails is the part in the program where you see the meter and it tells you the percentage you got right. If it is under a certain percentage, then you have to do the lesson over. He has failed several of them two times and one of them three times and it makes him EXTREMELY frustrated!!! I also have Spanish Powerglide Junior that we went through a couple of years ago and I let him go back through some of that when he just can't stand Rosetta Stone anymore.
Christine

Isn't there a way to do it in which you control where you go - there's nothing automatic that happens? You review as long as you want, and then go on? Or am I remembering wrong?

On Rosetta Stone, I generally let my kids go at whatever pace they want to. I don't use any settings which restrict their access to anything.

I'm not sure how to adjust the settings. We just plugged it in and went with however it was set up. I'll have to see if I can find the manual somewhere.
Christine

We supplement our Rosetta Stone with "First Fun with Spanish" DVD, and others we get from the library. They watch it at quiet time sometimes. It adds variety, and allows them to expand their vocabulary. Thought I'd share for any other non-workbook type kids (or moms!).

Some languages are just easier to learn as well. I think one of the keys is to pick a language the child really wants to learn. Of course Spanish seems to be the new English in this country but personally I have a greater desire to learn Russian since just coming back from a missions trip there. I fell in love with the people and picked up enough of the language to get hooked. NOw my five year old son wants to learn! RS is good but lacks, I think, teaching grammar well. I wouldn't hesitate to get supplements as cheaply as you can or find someone ready to tutor if you're really serious. Otherwise I would stick wtih RS alone and just enjoy the process as much as possible.