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The Homeschool Spanish Academy was founded by Ron Fortin, a former U.S. Marine. While serving as a principal of a school in Guatamala, Ron envisioned a way to provide high quality Spanish instruction to homeschool students. In 2010, his vision came to life – Homeschool Spanish Academy.
Homeschool Spanish Academy is basically a high quality, online Spanish tutoring service. Students from elementary up to adult can meet with certified Spanish instructors online and learn to read, write, and speak Spanish. The one-on-one approach to Spanish instruction allows students to learn from where they are at and progress at their own pace. Each class is tailored specifically to each student’s learning needs.
The length of the class varies according to age/grade level as they have shorter instruction periods for younger students. Classes can be taken once or twice a week. One of the many things that I like about this Spanish program is the fact that students schedule their own classes. They can decide to have the same time/day slot every week, or they can vary it from week to week, class to class. There are several instructors available, so students have the opportunity to learn from one instructor or several different instructors. There is a great deal of flexibility built into the program.
Homeschool Spanish Academy offers a free trial Spanish class so you can see what the program is all about before making a commitment. Because this is an online class, you are going to need internet that can handle video communication via Skype. Class assignments are submitted via email.
Customized Classes: tailored to fit your child’s specific needs.
The process itself is very easy. First, you head over and schedule a class. On the day of the class (or sometime before the class actually begins), you will receive a call from tech support to make sure your computer is compatible with Skype. They’ll do a chat/video check to verify it. About 5 minutes or so prior to the start of the class, the instructor will contact you via Skype. You’ll need to add the instructor to your contact list. The class will then begin at the scheduled time. The instructor uses a variety of teaching methods including having the student read from the whiteboard displayed on the Skype screen. (Students may also read from their own copy instead of the whiteboard if desired.)
The first class is, for the most part, an assessment which gauges the student’s grasp of the Spanish language. Future classes will begin from that point. Prior to each subsequent class, the student receives the lessons for the day as well as the homework via email. Once the class is over, the student will complete the homework assignment and submit it via email. As you can see, the entire process is easy.
Flexibility: adjust the schedule to fit your needs
One of the things that I love about homeschooling is the ability to tailor learning to Munchkin’s needs and learning style. Homeschool Spanish Academy embraces this idea is seeks to provide a top of the line learning experience for each student. Munchkin liked the fact that she never felt rushed. Her instructor was patient and helped her work through pronunciation difficulties. When her nerves got the better of her, Munchkin’s instructor just walked her through the process step-by-step. She was able to walk away from the class with a positive attitude rather than feeling frustrated.
With a variety of instructors, we were able to find the instructor whose style fit well with Munchkin. We then chose to stick with that instructor rather than experiencing different instructors. We had a little glitch with one class, but the normal procedure is to allow you to reschedule (if desired) when your scheduled instructor is unavailable at the last minute rather than have a substitute instructor. While all instructors do offer a high quality learning experience, it’s possible that not all instructors will work well with your child. We experienced this when Munchkin had a substitute teacher for one class. The nice thing about this program is if this happens, you know that you just avoid scheduling with that instructor in the future.
Ron and the instructors at Homeschool Spanish Academy want each child, each family to have a wonderful learning experience. They want everyone to succeed which makes them work hard with you. We look forward to continuing to work with Ron and the instructors at the Homeschool Spanish Academy as Munchkin progresses in her learning of the Spanish language.
You can connect with Homeschool Spanish Academy on both Facebook and Twitter as well as on the Homeschool Spanish Academy website.
I received free classes to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review. All opinions are my own, and your experiences may vary.
