When looking for homeschooling tools, methods, or curriculum, we want it all, don't we?
I'm not talking JUST about foreign language curriculum, though I'm sure you've seen the impossibility of combo dream: "cheap, fast, and good" - we want ALL of it to be FAST, and QUALITY... and also, free-ish. I mean, is that too much to ask? WHy yes, yes it is. Let me help you today to be okay with the two you chose.
(Whether or not you meant to, you have already chosen your two.... but don't worry. You can change your choices and choose again.)
Let's start with the most obvious - since most homeschoolers are single income families, we can look at CHEAP first. You can have FREE homeschooling, even! There are SO many options out there that declare that you can make homeschooling 100% free. - I don't believe this to be true. Electricity isn't free, gasoline isn't free, paper and toner or ink also - not free. And I don't know that FREE should be your goal. Education is valuable. I DO believe in sweat equity, though, so you can be assured that if you are spending TIME on it, free is likely to be a lot more effective of a choice than if you are hoping something would be cheap and fast (because as we can see from our happy Venn diagram... it would NOT then, be good.)
But ok -a quick CHEAP how to lesson: Library books, finding printables - using those awesome downloadable bundles like Charlotte Mason Mini Collection and Holiday Hoopla! You can make your own stuff, use lots of hand me downs, borrow like crazy, and join a co-op. It can be of AMAZING quality - EXCELLENT foundational education! But... it's NOT going to be fast!
Or, maybe you found cheap and fast - an 8 week course that covers ALL of Spanish - or a Free app (ahem) that teaches words SUPER fast... but guess what.. NOT QUALITY. So - If cheap is important, likely you'll need to let go of FAST.
How about FAST: I would dare say that See it and Say it Flip Flop Spanish is actually pretty fast - you get results in ten minutes and you learn how to speak rather quickly. It's also good! Because all ages and learning styles actually commit topics and sentence abilities to longterm memory! But yeah... it's NOT CHEAP! This holds true for many subjects, especially literature and history. If you're going to fast, you're going have to pay - some of the most in depth, BEST and quickest absorption our children had from history and literature were from their experiences - travels, events, theatre, and plays. Operas, orchestras... so many wonderful memories! But NOT CHEAP!
If you want fast and cheap, you'll definitely be sacrificing quality. Want to give it a try - I made you an option that's actually CHEAP! Only $5 for a See it and Say it Spanish Lesson One Demo. - Scratch that itch - immediate download, less than a fancy coffee, and it's a QUALITY lesson.
You just have to USE it! ;-)
Finally, let's look at the actual goal. We want our children to have a GOOD education. Right? If we didn't have that goal, we would have just popped them on the big yellow bus and hoped for the best. So, when we have the first goal as GOOD, we now know that with each and every subject or class, we will be spending one of two things. We must invest either TIME or MONEY. There is no unicorn curriculum, method, class, school, or mentor that will give us the magial trifecta of perfect utopian schooling. Sorry. It's true with each of the places I borrowed these diagrams (I got permission) - one was a graphic design company, another was a lawyer, and finally there was a video producer, and a general marketing firm.
So - when it comes to math: will you choose to spend time or money?
Spanish: Spend time, or money?
History: Do you want to spend time or money?
Literature: Would you rather invest more time, or more money?
You get the idea - as you seek out the unicorn, you'll eventually realize after trying many many times, you've already spent the time. Maybe it's time to spend some money, or re-dedicate yourself to the task at hand, rather than spending all the time to get out of spending a little more money.