One of the hardest parts of homeschooling in Spanish (or any minority language that is not English) is finding quality homeschool resources in your target language.
More...
Therefore, if you meet another family homeschooling bilingually in your minority language, one of the first questions you ask is: “What curriculum do you use!?”
I certainly get this question A LOT!
So if you're curious, read on. For context, I will have one 3rd grader, one 1st grader, and a little one in Pre-K for this upcoming 2020 school year.
Morning Time & Narration
If you’re not familiar with Morning Time check out this previous post about what Morning Time is, or this post on how we use it in our bilingual homeschool.
We have 10-week Spanish Morning Time Plans already done for you available in our shop. These are the same plans we use to focus on Spanish poetry, literature, vocab building and fun activities (in Spanish) during our Morning Time.
This year I am planning to incorporate narration into our Morning Time by asking my kids to narrate back to me (in Spanish) the stories we read in Spanish.
Math
I searched high and low for a math curriculum that was IN SPANISH. I even purchased one - but it was written for use in a classroom, there were no prompts to the parent (me) about how to teach the concepts, and so it was a flop.
I finally decided the best course of action was to use a scripted curriculum in English, but present the material in Spanish. This is how we have managed to make math a subject we do exclusively in Spanish.
We use Shiller Math, a Montessori-based scripted math curriculum for homeschoolers. It’s pricey up front, but since I can re-use the program for all my kids it will be cheaper in the long run.
I also like that since it’s Montessori based, the majority of lessons are presented with manipulatives and not worksheets. That not only works well for my worksheet-allergic firstborn, but it makes presenting the curriculum in Spanish (or any other language) easy.
I will incorporate some math worksheets from the Mexican National Curriculum this year, but that is primarily for the Spanish input and math practice more than for learning new concepts.
Spanish Phonics
For Spanish phonics I use Nacho as my spine. It lays out for you the order in which to teach the Spanish sílabas, but that's about it.
I incorporate many activities, review times, and Spanish read-alouds during our phonics time.
Spanish Language Arts
In the past we have pieced together our Spanish language arts through workbooks from Sabio Octavio (these are hard to find now!) and Rod and Staff (Vara y Cayado).
This year I am super excited to be using the National Curriculum from Mexico for our Spanish Language Arts. One of the booklets is full of beautifully illustrated stories, and the other is focused on grammar, writing, and conversation prompts.
Again, I plan to use narration with the literature book to coax along my children's speaking abilities. And I'm looking forward to digging in to the grammar and writing lessons in the second workbook.
During Covid, these books are provided for free download here. You can also check with your local Mexican Consulate to see if you can access this curriculum through them.
Handwriting
Personally I don’t think workbooks are necessary for learning handwriting. But I love that these workbooks from Learning Without Tears are available IN SPANISH.
Historically we don’t do many (read - almost zero) worksheets in our homeschool, and so my kids actually enjoy working through these. They are affordable, and one more way for me to get Spanish input into our homeschool.
Conclusion
That, my friends, is what we will be using this year for the Spanish portion of our bilingual homeschool!
If you're curious how we balance both languages in our homeschool, you can read this post about What Our Bilingual Homeschool Looks Like for 2019.
I will be making some changes to our schedule for this year, and I will get our 2020 bilingual homeschool schedule posted here once I get it all sorted out, organized, and onto paper!
Until then, I hope this post was helpful to those of you searching for curricula to incorporate Spanish into your bilingual homeschool!
Related Posts
How To Homeschool Bilingually: The Elementary Years
How To Homeschool Bilingually: PreK & Kindergarten
Spanish Phonics – How I Teach My Kids To Read
Thank you for putting this together. Did you download books from from Mexico?
I was able to get them through my local Mexican Consulate. Some people have said their consulate offers this service, and others have said their consulate did not. However you can access them online to download and print for free. I will find that link and post here. 🙂
Here’s the link to the printable curricula from Mexico. https://librosdetexto.sep.gob.mx/?fbclid=IwAR2VonA9R8e7N2FMFwh-n1KnNDZL6rb-OrcPo-30KztgkIsyznzN2OEF_v0