Homeschooling Bilingual Kids, A Crazy Endeavor?

Is the project of homeschooling bilingual kids a crazy endeavor? Wether from home only or after school, many parents homeschool in a minoroty language to some degree. However, over my years as a strictly-from-home homeschooler, I met many multilingual families that homeschooled in only one language, i.e. English.

In this context, I define “homeschooling” as in teaching to read, spell, write, math, science and history and hobbies in BOTH a foreign language and the language spoken in the country of residence. If like me you are a French-American household living in the United States, you would pick to teach school both in French and English. If you are a Spanish-speaking family, you would chose to homeschool your kids both in Spanish and English. The goal would be that your kids graduate school at the same proficiency level in both languages, just like kids going to an international school.

A few questions must come to your mind just now. Do bilingual families really homeschool?

5 Questions Related to Homeschooling Bilingual Kids

1. Why would an immigrant homeschool in two languages?
2. Do bilingual families that homeschool instruct their children in both (or more) written and spoken languages?
3. Why do most not instruct their children in both?
4. Isn’t it twice the amount of work? I will answer from experience: NO !
5. General tips from a bilingual mom to encourage parents would wish they could make that step:
   • first preschool years most important factor for bilingualism
   • when to start schooling
   • do we start BOTH languages at once? What strategy to implement
   • Multikids in the home specific challenges.

An Immigrant path to homeschooling

Homeschooling’s rising popularity

Homeschooling has been growing in popularity in the United States. It would be more popular in countries like my own ( France). However, it is only allowed upon an authorization procedure for kids with special needs ( special needs strictly speaking, or needs for catching up to the right level). Undoubtedly more people would do it if the procedure wasn’t as cumbersome and restrictive. As an American resident unlikely to return to France, I have an amazing freedom that many French don’t have because authorities won’t let them. I can school my kids at home as I see fit, and to take some liberties with their curriculum.

However, I wasn’t really into the homeschooling idea until I met my husband. To be honest, I was not even into private schooling. I was raised 100% in French public schools. And as hard as it was for me, I may not have done it if I was still in France. The goal was not to raise my kids in a bubble. What convinced me was first, that my husband was successfully homeschooled. Secondly, he was spared many of the problems I had at schooling, including bullying. Thirdly, I did want my kids to be 100% bilingual at reading, writing and everything else; what I personally didn’t benefit from and probably would have been thriving at.

When homeschooling became the logical decision

I travelled a lot during my college years and became trilingual (French, German, English in that order). Because of that experience, I developed my own opinion about the order in which to teach languages even from home. I also acquired a deep appreciation of what understanding, reading and speaking several languages brings into our life experiences, and problem solving skills. It undoubtedly brings about a depth of understanding in how each language drives the way we think and perceive the world around us. This is why, before I even knew if I would have kids, I deeply wished for them to master several languages early. I am so happy I could build on my own experience to impact their life.

My Foreign Languages Learning Experience

In my middle school years in France, school taught us foreign languages one at a time. We start our first foreign languages in 6th grade, a second foreign language in 8th grade, and study both upwards of 3 hours a week until 12th grade. We also had the option to pick a third foreign language in 9th grade. I started German in 6th grade English in 8th. Latin is not regarded as foreign language but is available for study in 7th grade.

My mother had learned English first, German second. She realized how much easier it would have been for her if she had learned German first. German is much more structured language, with much grammar to learn. But both languages have many similarities in grammar and vocabulary. For this reason, she enrolled us at school in curricula that included German as a first foreign language. At the end of high school, my class had caught up with people who had started English two years ahead.

Bilingual Homeschooling: A Different Approach at Language Learning than Schools

This very experience was what drove me to homeschool. I wanted my kids to be as proficient in both languages at the end of the 12 years. But I didn’t think learning to read and spell two languages at the same time was a good idea for kids that young, even if they could speak both. There would definitely be confusion. Nevertheless, this is how international schools proceed. Moreover, although there were immersion schools around me, there were no international school around offering proficiency in both languages. I had to homeschool.

Covid made it easy: in 2020, my oldest was in PreK. What better moment to get him busy with some French-based schooling program from home? That’s when I started. And I have kept that curriculum since, not having any desire to put my kids to school unless they wanted or needed it. Today, my oldest is in 5th grade, and his French is as proficient or better than French schoolers in France. He also reads and write at the same levels in English as kids his age.

Do Bilingual Families Homeschool Instruct in one or two languages?

I do not know many bilingual families that homeschool. But I have met a few Spanish-speaking households that do homeschool. Surprisingly enough, I realized that probably on account of a desire to integrate within American society, they may speak both languages at home, but do not seem to be teaching reading and spelling in the minority language – i.e. not the language spoken in the country of residence. However I saw a few exceptions online that do homeschool in a minority language, i.e. Spanish, like Pato Pato.

When I express surprise at that fact, I get another surprised look. Perhaps being an immigrant married to an American, keeping my native language at home does not have the same connotation and implication as to Spanish-speaking families. I also wonder why these kids would be deprived of their family’s cultural language for the future. Think about what an advantage proficiency at Spanish speaking and writing would be to these homeschoolers in their professional future!

Why do most not instruct their children in both?

The bilingual families I know around here speak are mainly Spanish speakers. Most of them are very integrated in a non-Spanish speaking community ( which is how I know them). Both parents speak English and went to school in English.

Availability of foreign Curricula

Being unequipped certainly is the best argument for homeschooling only in English. Curricula are very easy to find for English and approaches are diverse also, being able to fit many teaching approaches. This makes teaching multiple kids much more approachable. In many cases, foreign languages schooling ressources are for immersion learners, i.e. Spanish speakers as second language, which is not providing the proficiency aimed at by bilingual families.

If you are aware of good classical Spanish, German, or any other native homeschool curricula, let me know in comments! I will be happy to share with my bilingual community.

Personally, I purchased an excellent curriculum in France that aims at complete proficiency: drafers designed it for French families wishing to homeschool in France. It is a classical curriculum from Cours Sainte Anne ( Catholic curriculum). I also use Cours Griffon for one of my daughters, as it works better with her learning style. I will happily provide a discount code personally if you are interested in any of them.

Overwhelm

Most people new to homeschooling are, like I was, a bit overwhelmed at the task. This is normal! Everyone in their right mind would feel inferior to the task. It is even more understandable to apprehend homeschooling bilingual kids! Besides, although my husband was homeschooled at the time curricula were still very rare and new, that was in English. To homeschool in French, I had to look into curricula and adapt to the limited market ( fact, French put their kids in school because most moms work full time, and homeschooling is subject to State authorization). Having a mom-in-law that did it mostly alone helps !

Is it Twice the work?

Most people would probably think “two languages are twice the work”. This is incorrect.

All classes will naturally translate, eventually.

Many things you teach in one language will apply others: syllabic reading concepts are similar across languages. Once you know how to read one language and you speak a second, you can apply concepts to the second language. My children learned reading French with a syllabic method and could apply it to English easily, since they could speak the language. Grammar concept are similar: in most languages people build sentences with subject, verbs, objects, etc. Literary concepts also will translate for the most part. Math may change some symbols across languages, divisions may be done in a different way ( it is in French and American English!), but it’s still math. Most science topics, geography and history, just vary because of language, not content. You can read on the same topic in geography and history, and switch languages, and your kids will pick up the vocab.

Some classes in one language, some in another.

Another approach is to teach some classes in one language – for example language in French or Spanish, math in English, American History in English, Spanish history in Spanish. Teach sciences in whichever language is easiest on you or books are easiest to procure in the approach you prefer. In our family, we do American History in English as a group with Beautiful Feet Books, because it’s a fabulous boardbooks-and readaloud-based curriculum that makes children love histpry and identify with famous historical characters. France has no equivalent in history despite having so many historical characters worthy colorful story book.

One language only for a few years.

Another solution – and this is what I did – you pick the language you want to start with and stick to just one language for at least a few years (K-3 or 4 in our family). Your children will learn all concepts in a solid way in that language at first. I recommend the language not spoken in the country you live in. Later, everything WILL translate naturally, just with a different set of words. And they also will learn it again later in books, movies, documentaries and in College, in English.

Short answer is – which I will develop in later posts – you can pick what you will introduce to your kids twice , in each language. Or you pick one language to start, and keep the other for later.

General tips to encourage parents who wish to homeschool bilingually

I will develop these tips in different posts, and those are my impression from fails and success over the last 6 years. But I believe they are the proper way to go.

First preschool years most important factors for bilingualism

The first book I ever read about multilingualism in children Trilingual by Six Lennis Dippel nails it. Forget about teaching kids to read and write early, i.e. before six. Teach them a second and even a third spoken language, in practice, within relationships.

First, your kid will never learn anything better than within relationships. No computer can replicate the affective bond that occurs between a child and his coach at anything; parents, sibling, teachers. No amount of TV is as efficient with kids as it was with my adult brain. TVs imagery go too fast for a child to connect an object to a word. Just as teaching your children English just by reading aloud will do much more than any curriculum ( as asserts Sarah Mackenzie of Read Aloud Revival) , speaking, playing, cooking, joking, singing, tinkering with your child and his siblings has no match than human beings ( especially you!) to teach a second language. Even Maggie Blake, who advocates apps, TV and Youtube usage, recommends that parents watch with the child and discuss video content to reinforce what they learn.

Second, your child will catch up to kids his academic age. Even kids his age won’t match the learning he accomplishes when following you along, especially in toddler years.

What to do before Kindergarden

Read, play, have fun, just in different(s) language(s) until they are 6. Learning in sequence by describing actions like Charlotte Mason advocates is very efficient. Remember, it’s not about how many words a child knows, but about his or her capacity to use it. With some of my children, reading aloud was the main vessel because they loved stories very early, and some preferred playing, some loved singing more.

If you are in a multilingual household, you can implement one parent or one side of the family, one language. Your child will associate one language with one person or group of people and progress in each with a clear mind. Maggie Blake, author or “Parenting Multilingual Learners” confirms that households in which one parent speaks one language and the method is used consistently, children “are remarkably good at separating languages when those languages are associated with specific, consistent people”.

When to start schooling

You don’t need to start formal schooling until they turn 6. read, play, sing, get them match and actions with objects around them. Kids catch up easily with academics, and the advance of some doesn’t remain a big advantage for long, especially compared to the advantages early foreign language acquisition provides.

Do we start BOTH languages at once? What strategy to implement

Start formal language with one language

Do not start formal schooling with two languages at once. I know international schools do, probably because it would probably be looked down upon by families if native languages and residence languages weren’t learned at the same time. After all, kids in international school often are expats, and expats need to learn the language of residence as fast as possible.

Start with the grammatically most complex language, i.e. not English

As a homeschooler, you have the flexibility to strategize if and what language to get literate in the first. In my humble opinion, start with the grammatically most complex one. In most cases, it is NOT english. Why? English has no declination ( like Polish or German), almost no gender ( the as opposed to feminin, masculin and neutral in German) simple articles, virtually no conjugation ( he knows, does… and conditional forms are virtually all there is). There is much less material to memorize, and it comes easy to people who do start with a much more formal language structure.

Why start with hard?

First, “harder” languages are more structured and these structures replicate in many languages. But it will be easier if your child has the required vocabulary proficiency. Believe me, I noticed very rapidly my second schooler needed more read alouds, singing and playing in French to learn to read and right with less frustration.

How hard the learning is also depends on the method used to learn the target language. The more you use games and learn interactively, the less frustration linked to the difficulty of the language.

Second, your native child doesn’t know unless you tell him, that a language is harder than the second ( English), until he starts English and realizes it’s so easy! By then, learning is almost fun because it seems so easy – may be besides spelling!

Third, if English is the country of residence, your child is surrounded by it. Books , movies, documentaries are all around. Eventually your kids learn reading English, even without you.

Multikids in the home and its specific challenges.

How can I homeschool bilingual kids when I have several to teach? Bilingual learning books usually are aimed at parents teaching one child. (1) (2) Or they are meant for teachers teaching a classroom setting of kids the same age.

Fact is, many homeschoolers school multiple kids. And that is a challenge. However, homeschooling multiples can have his advantages. It provides space for group learning. Board games playing, read alouds, practicing conversation with a mate, group classes ( like history, geography and science), whether it’s in English or in the minority language, are easier with more children.

Many strategies international school teachers use you can implement within a household with multiple kids. Many parenting strategies work that apply to one child apply to multiples. The most challenging is when children start playing together in the language of the country of residence, or when meal times discussions start to dominate in the wrong language. That is when having read aloud time, board games, movies associated with a specific language help all children remain engaged. Also then, homeschooling in the minority language most of the time is the best way to ensure all your children actually become bilingual