Title: Homeschool Spanish - 3 Ways to Liven Up Your Lessons

Author: Jim Sarris

Homeschool Spanish! 3 simple keys to liven up the lessons Are
you interested in making the Spanish learning in your home more
exciting?

If your kids are studying outside the home, do you feel they
need a more lively approach to keep them interested?

Homeschool Spanish can be tough. Many levels to teach, boring
and repetitive materials and no connection to the language all
make for a tough going.

The thing is, as a Homeschooling parent, you're used to making
things come alive.

You bake a cake and make a math lesson out of it. You walk in
the park, discover plants and learn about science.

But fear not. I'm about to show you how you can add three tricks
to your homeschool Spanish atmosphere that will get your
creative juices flowing and help you liven up your lessons.

Key #1 - Bring Spanish to life in your home Any child wants (and
needs) to feel connected to what they're learning. That's why
homeschooling is such a blessing. Those connections are real
easy when you're the one in charge.

Well, why not start to incorporate some common expressions into
your daily routine and see how things go. Here a starter list of
phrases you can use with your child - No me digas! - You're
kidding! - Qué va! - No way! - No quiero - I don't want to (a
biggie with the younger ones) - Qué pasa aquí? - What's going on
here?

Naturally there are more but, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
One expression every couple of days will be enough to get them
involved...and you too.

In fact, the whole family can start creating typical phrases
that can be used day in and day and allow your homeschool
Spanish experience to grow like a freshly watered plant.

Key #2 - Serve it up in ways your kids like it. Most kids love
music, TV or reading. So why not try to include a little of each
into your Spanish lessons. For example, for the little ones,
there are educational programs (ex. Dora The Explorer) on TV
that attempt to use Spanish in a fun and informative way.

If your children are in their teens, you can find Spanish music
that's similar to their tastes. You can find any type of music
online or ask in your local music store. Then, once you have the
music, you can use the lyrics to study the words, the
expressions or the tenses.

Reading is no different. You can find bilingual texts of Dr.
Seuss' series or Clifford the Big Red Dog for the little ones
and similar titles for the older kids. Just go online at Google
or check your local library.

Key #3 - Find a great idea and copy it This is important because
it saves you the most time and money.

If you're the teacher and the material is a little...dry, go out
and look for resources that have innovative, "outside-the-box"
approaches to learning. They don't have to be language texts.
The idea is to find an approach you like and copy it.

Go browse some local bookstores or libraries. Go surfing on the
internet. If you like what you see, study it a bit and think of
ways to use the same technique in your Spanish lessons.

Here's an example: Vocabulary Cartoons is a wonderful book that
uses mnemonics and visuals to memorize SAT words. Well, why not
use the same technique to memorize Spanish words? If you think
you like the resource, make sure it has a guarantee (the longer
the better) so you can try it at home.

This whole process doesn't have to cost any money and will
certainly save you time thinking up new ways to inject
excitement into your homeschool Spanish lessons.

As a Homeschooling parent, you have options a public school
teacher doesn't have. Why not take advantage of them?

And remember, if your kids are learning outside the home, you
can find something fun to use with them so that they maintain
their interest through the year.

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Jim Sarris, author of Comic Mnemonics, has created a resource
for homeschool families that makes learning Spanish fun and
easier using visuals and mnemonics. For free samples and video
tutorial, visit
www.learnspanishfaster.com/homeschoolspanish.html