Hi friends! I just wanted to share that I recently had a chance to speak with Dayana Frich, writer of the blog Spanish at Cedar Hill. She asked me allllll the questions about language learning and bilingual homeschooling, and I got to share my personal story about how I went from language learning failure to success story. Did you know that I only started learning Spanish because I was So. Very. Bad. at learning French? Well, it’s true. And I think that my story actually has a lot to encourage other families who may be struggling with language learning. So if that sounds like something that yo ..read more

Happy Back-to-Homeschooling! I’m busy writing more posts to help you homeschool foreign languages, but wanted to pop in briefly to let you know that my curriculum, Living Legends: Latin America is on sale through midnight on Monday, August 29th. Like to know more? Keep reading! What will I find in Living Legends? I’m so glad you asked! Living Legends is a literature-based curriculum designed to immerse elementary-aged kids in the language and cultures of Latin America (my specialty!). It includes 18 weeks of lesson plans centered around excellent, authentic picture books, along with extension ..read more

I can hardly believe that our family is heading into our fifth year of homeschooling! Here’s what it looked like when we started this journey with my oldest in preschool: And here is my crew today: And yes, this non-Instagrammable picture totally captures the vibe of our home. Sometimes I have to pinch myself that this crazy dream that I had—homeschooling my kids bilingually—is actually happening. Going into this year, I am immensely grateful for the freedom and fulfillment that homeschooling has given our family. If you’d like to learn a bit more about our educational philosophy, this earl ..read more

Here’s Something I Learned the Hard Way…. Do you know the importance of conversation practice for foreign language learning? Let me share a little bit about how I learned it for myself. Many Augusts ago, I was an eager college freshman, thrilled to arrive on campus and begin my new life as a Very Serious French Major. I had studied French for four years in high school, was a member of the French Honor Society (I mean, the Societé Honoraire de Français) and had even chosen to live in the French-only dorm on campus. My then-boyfriend (now husband) and I had a plan: we’d both major in French and ..read more

*Some of the links below are affiliate links—meaning that I receive a small commission (at no cost to you) for any purchases made through them. For my full disclosure policy, click here. What I USED to Believe About Supplementing Curriculum… Over the years that I’ve been homeschooling (we’re now heading into year five!), my perspective on supplementing curriculum has changed a lot.  At the start, I was firmly against it. I wanted to keep things simple and use a single resource for each subject. I spent a lot of time researching to find comprehensive, engaging, and well-designed curricula ..read more

*Some of the links below are affiliate links—meaning that I receive a small commission (at no cost to you) for any purchases made through them. For my full disclosure policy, click here. Well, readers, you asked, and it’s finally here—a comprehensive round-up of homeschool Spanish curricula!! I’ve recently updated this as of July 2022, so if you haven’t checked it in a while, you should know that there are NEW options! As you make your plans for next year, I hope that this guide will be a helpful overview of all of your options for homeschooling Spanish. BUT before you even start reading ..read more

This review has been updated as of June 2022 to reflect Breaking the Barrier’s new partnership with Time2Talk, an on-demand conversation app with pre-screened, experienced language coaches. It’s the perfect complement to this well-designed, rigorous curriculum! *Note: I was provided with a copy of Breaking the Barrier’s Spanish curriculum and compensated for my time in order to write this review. All of the following opinions are my own.  Are you searching for a French or Spanish curriculum for your homeschooled high schooler? Have you been disappointed by the lack of options for older ..read more

I don’t think that I’m supposed to publish an annual curriculum post at the end of the school year, but well, here we are! My timing may be a bit unconventional, but I think there’s a great advantage to me posting this now: you get to see the homeschool curriculum that we actually used as a family, rather than my pie-in-the-sky plans. This year, we started school in mid-September, as we all needed a break after powering through Summer Spanish School. I also needed an extended amount of time for planning and prep, as this is the first year that I have planned my own curriculum from scratch, an ..read more

Since the school year is almost over, I wanted to take some time to share our favorite bilingual history resources from this year—we’ve found some great ones! Since we’re just beginning a 4(ish)-year history cycle, my older boys and I spent this year learning about the ancient world. We used Susan Wise Bauer’s Story of the World as our spine, but supplemented with lots of additional material in Spanish, which I’ve collected here. These have been an essential part of our bilingual homeschool curricula for this year, helping my boys develop critical vocabulary in both of their native languages ..read more

When I first began homeschooling three years ago, I heard a lot of other homeschool moms rave about the benefit of loop scheduling. Despite my teaching experience and work in curriculum development, I’d never heard the term before, so naturally, I took to Google. It was there that I found Pam Barnhill and all of her blogging about loop scheduling for homeschoolers. Ever since, loop schedules have been a powerful planning tool for our homeschool, and I use them in both our bilingual Morning Time and our Portuguese practice. But, just what is a loop schedule, you ask? Put very basically, a loop ..read more