Señora Gose's Homeschool Spanish Blog (aka "Seriously, Suzanne")

I attended my first homeschool convention in the spring of 2002, when my first born was four months old. I had "retired" from public school teaching in December of 2001, and had a whole four months of experience in motherhood. I was going to do this mothering thing perfectly. I already owned flashcards. Yes. I was that mom.Now, I've been to more conventions than I can count, but mostly as a booth owner. I've been dubbed a "Keynote Speaker," a booth owner, curriculum approval committee head, and given free language learning workshops. I have paid for giving workshops, been on...

I've enjoyed reading and following Kris Bales with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers for many years! The first time I read that title, I laughed out loud. I love the idea of demonstrating absurdity with absurdity! I think I only had one child at the time, and number two was on the way, but I had already taught more than 200 homeschooled children, and discovered it was true.... these students, ages 3 to 18, were all VERY different from the students I had been teaching in the public school for years, so finding this website hit my funny-happy-sweet spot JUST right. She's...

Being a linguist, I love it when people use "-ish." It shows recognition that there's not quite a word to formulate or express the actual thoughts in their mind, but they need to say something, so they choose the closest word they can find and add "ish!" Grace and linguistics exist all at once. I get this question a lot, and I love answering it in person - but since I don't have space for each of you in my living room, and I don't run into all of you at the local homeschool hang out, where I had the...

We want to know the REAL scoop, not the utopian ideal, about learning Spanish. How much time do I have to put in, REALLY, to learn Spanish?  So, just like any other school subject, the answer is: It depends. The Spanish language practice and habits depend on several facets to your situation. Probably there are about twelve or more categories we could look at, I but I like keeping things "chunky and light," so let's focus in on just three questions or categories. You'll get to the other nine on your own. First: What's your goal right now? *FOCUS IN...

For the past several years, we've enjoyed getting the notice that our curriculum was voted as one of the best in the Spanish Learning category! Thank you! We really admire Practical Homeschooling Magazine, and their team, and their readers, so it's been a wonderful blessing each year to receive the notice that we're helping people, and they took the time to say so. We think about how to improve each year, and we love getting feedback, which helps us to improve. Here are the areas we have been focusing on: 1) Spanish lessons should be engaging. Without actual communication, there's...