(Don’t forget to read through to the bottom for the giveaway!)
One of the fun things about homeschooling is supplementing our regular curriculum. Many homeschoolers have a core curriculum they love, but no one curriculum covers every subject exhaustively. Dipping our toes into a variety of subjects has given me insights into my girls’ individuality as well as inspire us to dig further into areas I hadn’t considered before. No matter what subject you are looking to explore further, Gallopade has something for you!
I’m not looking to start a full-blown language curriculum within our homeschool yet, but I do like the idea of introducing a variety of languages early. Gallopade International’s series, Little Linguists, provides a wonderful way to toe-dip into 10 different languages! This is not a full-course curriculum, but it works beautifully as an introduction or supplement to what you are already doing.
This series sounds fun before you even open the books. Titles like Do you Speak Spaghetti? (Italian), Of all the Gaul! (Latin), and Say WHAT when you sneeze?” (German) invite students to have fun as soon as they see it. These reproducible (Yay for reproducible!) books help children learn other languages through context clues, language similarities, and fun activities. Also included is cultural and geographical information which tie the language to its country of origin.
My girls constantly ask me how to say all varieties of words in different languages. Although I was in the Spanish Honor Society in high school, I must confess I remember very little and usually have to look things up. I can still translate minimally, but recalling words was never my strong point. Uh, Oh, Amigo! was so much fun for my girls! Although school happens all together, we rarely do lessons where we are learning the same thing at the same time due to their varied levels of learning.
Because this is not a full curriculum you do not have to go in order in the workbook. I plan to continue to do one page a week when our school year begins to give them consistent exposure to foreign languages. The activities include everything from matching, to bubbles, to fill-in-the-blank. They can be used alone or as a follow-up to a language lesson. Their uses are really unlimited.
Beth was so surprised and excited she could understand Spanish in just the first sentence she read! One of the first pages we used has sentences written in English and only one word replaced in Spanish. I wasn’t sure how they would like this, but they were delighted! Now Beth consistently talks about living in a casa. I didn’t formally teach her casa is house in Spanish, but the format of the activity led her to logically figure it out.
We will also be using From Russia With Love both at home and at church as we partner with a family currently in Russia serving God. I have come to really love this series and plan to purchase more in the future!
Another new product from Gallopade International is a series called Wake Up the Class. These themed cards provide questions to engage children academically as soon as formal learning time begins with fun questions. There are nine different subject sets including history, critical thinking, writing, critical thinking, and Bible. We had the chance to review the set of Bible cards.
Each set is color coded so if you purchase multiple sets you can easily keep them organized. The content of the Bible cards would prohibit them from being used in most public school classrooms, but these would be a fun addition to a private school class, Sunday school class, or how we use them, in homeschooling.
My girls tend to be morning people and we don’t typically have a hard time getting started on our lessons each day. I like to use these kinds of activities as a break from the routine or in between subjects.
The questions are a fun jumping off point for discussions as well. For kids with a solid biblical knowledge base some of the questions will be more like review, but in addition to the answer the reverse side of the cards also have an activity or discussion jump-off for further exploration. These questions have been well-thought out and will certainly engage your kids!
For anyone in Tennessee and Georgia stop and say, “Hi!” at the Gallopade booth at the CSTHEA Homeschool Show in Chattanooga and the Southeast Homeschool Show in Atlanta. Don’t forget to tell them I sent you!
Now for the giveaway!
There are two prizes to win and two separate winners! Make sure to share with your friends for extra entries.
gracefilledwriter.com 
I want my kids to learn Spanish. This looks super fun. What ages is it for?
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Both of these would be so much fun! My 5 yo is always asking for Spanish lessons and I think the Wake Up the Class- Bible questions would be fun to do over dinner.Kate Ddickeyhomeschool@hotmail.com
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We start our learning time with reading lessons. We just jump right in.Kate D
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I think this would be a good set for kids who are reading up through 8th grade. Some of the activities are easier and some more challenging so there is a lot of variety within just the one book!
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I'm thinking Spanish or perhaps Latin. 🙂 What a cool giveaway, would LOVE this!
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I am in the beginning stages of finding a foreign language for my homeschooler right now…I am leaning towards either Spanish or Latin. Thanks for the chance to win this product!
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We will start our learning day with His word…:-)
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I think my kids would be interested in Spanish or French or maybe Latin..?
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I don't know which language they would prefer. I would like to teach them Latin, and then maybe Spanish.
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My youngest daughter would think this is really wonderful. Her older sister has just started self teaching herself French, so she has decided she would like to learn Spanish.
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I would love my son to learn Spanish and ASL!
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Spanish!
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My son is trying to learn Spanish!
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We are a little backwards from most homeschool families–we start our learning time with reading or math, instead of circle time. We do \”together\” time later when my preschooler needs his love tank filled up again.
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We start our learning day with prayer, devotion and reading the Bible.
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My middle schooler is working through Latin with Visual Latin. My youngers get some practice and lessons in Spanish. They have all expressed interest in learning other languages, though. That series looks like a neat way to introduce them to some of the possibilities. Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
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I love love love languages and I think my daughter might be the same way. She asks me regularly when we are out what people are saying when she hears them speaking in another language. My friend at church speaks to her daughter in Spanish so my dd tries to speak a few words too. She would most likely start with Spanish first:)
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My son is fasinated with different languages & I would love to have this to teach Spanish 🙂
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My kids would actually be interested in learning Spanish since most of our family speaks family but I am not too fluent.
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We start our morning reading a book about the \”theme of the day\”. My kids are young so we focus on one thing per day. We typically sit on the couch and read while they eat cut up fruit and then we start our activities. Then after lunch we will do another activity using the same theme. I also normally let them pick out what they want to do.
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What great books. Can't wait to see if I win. Still not sure what language we would go with.
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We have done some Spanish& some Latin. This sound fun!
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this looks so fun that even my 4 year old can follow along!
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Spanish
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We usually do everything that we do together first.
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Spanish and French
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My kids are interested in learning German because we have family in Germany.
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My son REALLY wants to learn Spanish.
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We start each day with prayer and then Bible.
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My kids want to learn to talk like Dora (Spanish).
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We start our learning time with \”wake up\” songs. We get up dance, sing along…..anything to get their minds and bodies ready to learn.
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I've been looking for an easy Japanese program. This might be perfect!
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We start with prayer. And I really think they would be interested in Spanish!!
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I'd want him to learn French (Canadian style). 🙂
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we start our learning time with our morning routine. 🙂
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I think my kids would most like to learn German so they could understand Mommy and Daddy's secret language at birthday and Christmas time, but Spanish is the most useful in the Americas, so that's what they'll be getting. 😀
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My six year old is interested in Spanish and Italian, I'm interested in her eventually learning Latin, too.
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We start our learning time with morning prayers and the pledges to the American and Texas flags.
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My kiddos are very interested in learning spanish
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We start with Bible time. 🙂
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My kids love learning Spanish and American Sign Language. We have young kids, but it is fun to watch them learn another language. To them it is more natural!
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Learning time….singing songs!
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We start with Bible time.
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I have been toying with the idea of teaching Latin – I love this idea of introducing them to multiple languages & I love the Wake up the Class cards!
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This year, we will be starting off with family worship time!
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I've been planning to add Spanish since I took it in school.
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We usually start with prayer.
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