When you think back to your days at school, they likely differ greatly from the experience may others faced. Perhaps you were homeschooled. Or perhaps you went to a private school, while others were in public school. Regardless of our individual experiences, when we begin to have our own families and raise children, we must consider the various options and pick the best one for our children. And the best option may differ for various families in different situations.
You may quickly want to cross homeschooling off the list, but it is a good idea to give it some consideration before deciding against it. Homeschooling provides various benefits, along with some of its well-known challenges. For example, homeschooling allows parents to spend more time with their children. That time often instills strong family values into children and allows them to truly understand the importance of family.
Another reason homeschooling is beneficial, is that children are able to spend more time acting like children, while learning how to be independent. As homeschooled children become homeschooled teenagers, they learn how to handle their own curriculum and assignments. Meanwhile, they are able to enjoy the freedom and preciousness associated with being a kid, while not feeling too pressured from a school system that doesn’t fit their style of learning.
Should we choose to homeschool our kids, the next obvious and important decision comes when planning out the curriculum for children. One important decision you may have to make, is whether or not to teach them a second language. Research has shown that children learn a second language fairly easily up until the age of seven. At this time, they are naturally acquiring language skills, learning mostly from imitation, repetition, songs and games.
However, after the age of 8, children begin to lose the ability to hear and reproduce new sounds. At this point, learning new languages becomes much more difficult. For example, if you choose to teach your child the Spanish language, it would be important to begin at an early point in their education. You may even want to look into what Spanish curriculum for preschoolers might entail. Elementary Spanish, as well as middle school and high school curriculums, may vary widely as well.
One way to begin with young children, such as in preschool or with a Spanish curriculum for elementary school children, may be to use helpful Spanish story books. These books help children to understand what the words on the page mean, especially when they already know the story itself. For example, a story book about Cinderella in Spanish could help a young child — who is already familiar with Cinderella — to learn Spanish more easily.
Teaching our children and passing on knowledge, whether through homeschooling or just by spending some extra learning time on the weekends, has many benefits. These include the ability to spend more time as a family, help nourish independence, and have more time for hands-on activities. And teaching a second language can even help children to grow and learn more efficiently, and eventually enter a career making about 20% more than employees who only speak one language. So whether you homeschool your child and are considering a Spanish curriculum, or simply want to spend some extra time learning Spanish with your kids, it never hurts to spend such quality time together!