Ok, me and dh have been pondering the homeschooling idea and are pretty much sold on it. Especially with going back and forth from the US to Finland. So we are not in total agreement over which language to do most teaching in. So Im english speaking first, spanish 2nd,french 3rd. Dh is finnish speaking 1st, swedish 2nd. Mainly we debate over english/finnish, though not what you probably think. I think dc should be taught in finnish, and learn english later, dh disagrees. I sometimes feel it is I who push for dc to know both of their roots more than he does and they are his roots! He doesnt want to live in Finland full time, use finnish names, and now the language, kind of annoys me, kwim? I would like 4 of the 5 languages incorporated into dc schooling. I think finnish should be the main language though bc I think finnish is soooo much harder to learn than english, they can almost pick up english anywhere! So my question is for mamas from around the world that are english speaking 1st but live elsewhere, what do you think? I just want my kids to be able to fully appreciate who they are and have an upperhand. Lets face it, kids that can speak 3-4 languages are a rare find...
lovemyzoo
08-23-2008, 05:40 AM
I would do one of 2 ways.
What is spoken mainly in your house? What do the kids use 1st? If they met someone knew what do they use? I would use that.
Then I might look and se which you can find material you like the most and just go with what it is in.
As the kids get older you can do half and half too..
starbuckmom
08-23-2008, 07:03 AM
I have friends who live in Poland. Both parents are Polish. They wanted their children to be able to speak English. Both parents spoke excellent English. When it came time for the kids to learn how to talk, one parent would speak English and the other would speak Polish. To this day, both kids can speak English and Polish fluently.
I say, since you speak English as your first language, you should speak English to the children and your dh speaks Finnish as his first language, he should speak Finnish to the children. They will be fluent in both languages. As they get older, you can throw in another language if you want. Childrens minds are like sponges. They pick things up very quickly and can adapt very well.
germanmommy
08-23-2008, 08:02 PM
Hey, my DH is American and I'm German and our DD specks both.I talk to her in german and my DH englisch, it is so easy for them to pick the language up then there are little.
To your question I would teach both!
Ami in Deutschland
08-24-2008, 04:03 AM
You didn't say how old your LO is and what languages you have been using in which situations so far. That would be helpful to know.
There are a lot of different language separation models, and whatever you decide, just be consistent. We do the family language model. My husband, who is German, and I speak English to our son. DS spends a lot of time with his German-speaking grandparents and all of our friends and neighbors speak German. I do tell my son to speak to others in German- "say Danke" or "say guten Morgen" - and sing songs in German.
You can do the one parent, one language model or make language use specific to the situation. In your situation, I would try the latter approach to homeschooling. Do most of the lessons in your and your child's strongest language and do certain lessons in another. For example: science in English, math in Spanish, music in Finnish, social studies in French. Some primary schools are starting to offer integrated lessons like this here in Germany- one subject in English already in 4th grade, in addition to English language classes.
If you haven't already, you and your husband should clear up who speaks what on a day-to-day basis before deciding about schooling language.
BouncyBottomsInc
08-25-2008, 12:01 PM
LO in question is 4, turning 5 soon. At home, a combination of all languages is spoken really. Whatever sounds right at the time. Which is ok when you are at home, but now its time to get serious and get well detailed in school. Like when teaching grammar etc. Im not good enough in finnish to teach that and well we know how dh feels, so its impossible. If I would just forget about it and teach what I know well, then English and Spanish will be the only languages. But for me, thats not acceptable....finnish is in their blood and well they may grow up their, so I feel they should have a good background on it, how do I get him on the bandwagon? I guess the first step is settle where we plan on living, bc as kids get older, they cant be traveling between 2 countries, they need a stable home. We are still in heated debates over that!
You didn't say how old your LO is and what languages you have been using in which situations so far. That would be helpful to know.
There are a lot of different language separation models, and whatever you decide, just be consistent. We do the family language model. My husband, who is German, and I speak English to our son. DS spends a lot of time with his German-speaking grandparents and all of our friends and neighbors speak German. I do tell my son to speak to others in German- "say Danke" or "say guten Morgen" - and sing songs in German.
You can do the one parent, one language model or make language use specific to the situation. In your situation, I would try the latter approach to homeschooling. Do most of the lessons in your and your child's strongest language and do certain lessons in another. For example: science in English, math in Spanish, music in Finnish, social studies in French. Some primary schools are starting to offer integrated lessons like this here in Germany- one subject in English already in 4th grade, in addition to English language classes.
If you haven't already, you and your husband should clear up who speaks what on a day-to-day basis before deciding about schooling language.
BouncyBottomsInc
08-25-2008, 12:08 PM
I guess if he isnt going to help, then it will be up to me to learn finnish well enough to teach it in detail. I should probably take a few classes the university so that Im fluent enough to teach them correct and formal finnish. It seems the only ones that will be the same are math and science though. Because everything else, like reading, spelling, history, all are dependent on the country, so they will have to have double to course load! I feel so bad, like I will be putting so much on them, but I think its important that if they learn about American history, they should learn about finnish history too.
Hey, my DH is American and I'm German and our DD specks both.I talk to her in german and my DH englisch, it is so easy for them to pick the language up then there are little.
To your question I would teach both!
Ami in Deutschland
08-25-2008, 03:32 PM
I guess if he isnt going to help, then it will be up to me to learn finnish well enough to teach it in detail. I should probably take a few classes the university so that Im fluent enough to teach them correct and formal finnish. It seems the only ones that will be the same are math and science though. Because everything else, like reading, spelling, history, all are dependent on the country, so they will have to have double to course load! I feel so bad, like I will be putting so much on them, but I think its important that if they learn about American history, they should learn about finnish history too.
It kind of sounds like you're getting ahead of yourself. Your kids are still really young and teaching formal history isn't going to start for a few more years.
I'd really encourage your husband to stick with only speaking Finnish to the children, since it's so important to you that they learn it and he seems to be the only one capable of teaching it. If you decide to live in Finland, that won't be so much of an issue, but finding other Finnish speakers in the US to expose your kids to will be hard.
DH and I are planning on staying in Germany and our kids will attend school here. Though I, too, think it's important for our children to know about American history as well as German history, I don't plan on attempting formal lessons for that. We'll be visiting the US often enough that opportunities will arise for "history in action." I, personally, remember very little of history lessons I had in school prior to 9th grade but remember visiting forts and historical sites with my family at a much younger age. And reading "Little House on the Prairie" and similar books made more of an impression. Don't worry so much. Your children will learn all they need to know in due time. :2cents:
lovemyzoo
08-26-2008, 12:48 AM
For history you should look into a in order program, story of the world, mysteries of history or something like that. Start at the beginning and go through time
HadassahSukkot
09-04-2008, 03:03 AM
Right now, our approach is like this:
English is spoken in our home. DH is German, I am American. I primarily speak English with our son. Once in a while I flip over and will speak German with him. DH primarily speaks German with our son. Our relatives here all speak German with DS as do our friends. When he starts school up until English is offered, he needs German to function.
Therefore, we'll keep at the model this way, with the bulk of TV in German for him. He does watch some TV with me or the both of us in German... and we do also watch Japanese shows (anime too) in Japanese with English Subtitles and he's shown a lot of interests in those. I'd not at all be suprised if he wants to learn Japanese later down the road. (rofl)
We've joked once in a blue moon about him saying "Konichiwa" or "Ohayo" instead of "Guten Morgen/Tag/Abend" / "hallo".. or the equivelants in English.
As little as he is now, I'm not too concerned just yet. he seems to get on and understand us really well for his young age. He has just started playing with his stuffed dolls some and his gripping toys, and all of us tell him how to play with them "Here, grip this part!" / "nono, soft with teddy/eeyore"... so he seems to get it in both languages since he follows through.
I recall when my parents were Homeschooling us in Spain our policy was English in the home, Spanish outside. We did really well with that when we needed it.
stephanie777e
12-26-2008, 11:23 AM
Here is what my husband and I have talked about, but our baby isn't even born yet, due May 2009. Background info: I'm American and live in El Salvador, but was a Spanish teacher in the US, therefore I speak fluent Spanish. My husband used to teach English as foreign language classes here in El Salvador before going to the US to get his masters, therefore is fluent in both English and Spanish as well. My family, in TX, doesn't speak Spanish, and my husband's family barely speaks English.
We have decide to introduce both languages from both parents. When we're alone in the house, without any extended family around, I will probably speak English to our child. But, when other Spanish-speakers are around, we will speak Spanish. I plan to teach our baby words/vocabulary in Spanish and in English, pretty much forever. However, depending on where we live when child is ready for school, whatever language they learn grammatically will be determined on the type of school she (and other kids to come later) attends.
Since I have teaching experience in Spanish and know the grammar, I can teach Spanish at home if child(ren) attend English-focused school. I can do the other if child(ren) attend Spanish-focused school.
The point of all this is that, whether or not you know the grammar and vocabulary of the other language(s) you want to introduce, you always have the option of focusing on what YOU can teach your child, especially if you're the primary educator and not a school or your spouse. And, child(ren) can learn other skills at school or with other parents, or at an another institution.
Another idea: look for programs that kids can enroll in during their breaks from school where they can learn other skills- other languages, computer skills, etc. (My husband's mom put him in classes for every major break from the school year and he took classes on karate, piano, English, computer, etc. and he's very thankful to have been exposed to all those things.)
skyericsson
12-29-2008, 12:32 AM
For us it is simple. With our DD, DH spoke and still does speak Swedish to her she was fluent by about the time she was three I just spoke English to her and again she was fluent by about age three. When she turned 4 DH began to speak to her in German and still Swedish. She is very good in German now too at just over 5 years old. Sometimes she will answer in English but knows the languages are all different now. We have done the same with our son. And, funny not only is he saying many words in Swedish and English but has also said some words in German too :) (as he hears DH say) and he is only 16mths! :thumbsup:
At some point I think it's around 3 ish and 4 or later for some kids, they realize that the languages are separate and you can say... "Nana speaks English only so talk english" etc...
My cousin did this the same way with her DH with their DD and she is fluent in Italian/English and French! She learned English grammar in school and she later in high school learned Italian written grammar in the USA and speaks all three languages.
Children learn languages quickly early on. We live in the USA but travel often to Sweden. Our DD knows to speak Swedish to the family there (even though they really all speak English as do many of the friends and family and people do there as they learn it in school early.) I remember she would combined languages like "Can I have weiber zeichenstift bitte" ...but at some point she clearly separated all three languages with no issues. We live in the USA so she will learn English grammar in school.
On another note. Only in the USA it seems do we wait to teach another language to our kids (in the schools system). I feel as does DH that it was best for our children to speak English/Swedish and German fluently and when they go to school they can learn another language there if they want. The human brain learns languages best early on. sorry so long:goodvibes:
