can a foreigner homeschool in English?

[Joanna07]

Ever since I found out about homeschooling I keep thinking how much I'd love to do it. There's one big problem though, we live in US but English is my second language. We've been here for over 7 years but my English still isn't perfect and I know it never will, also I have a pretty heave accent. I'm afraid that in my situation I can do more harm than good by homeschooling, my vocabulary is limited, how will I be able to teach chemistry, science? How will I teach English?????
This really bugs me

I'm wondering if there's anyone here who is in the same shoes...

[Joha]

OMG! 

I just posted this same question about an hour ago. I hadn't seen your post. Maybe it has to do with our similar names    I'm in your same shoes!  I was actually talking about it with my husband after I posted the subject and he thinks we will be ok. He said he could do the histiry and English subjects Also, he had a good point, you probably review the lesson before you do it with your child, so if you have any questions you can ask your husband or someone else. It sounds sooo easy, I'm not sure how easy it would be in real life! 

I would love to get feedback from other people... maybe people that are homeschooling and can give us a light!

Which one is your first language?

[staceycanada]

Well I don't see why not. Your accent may be heavy but your child understands you right.

I am assuming that your children are learning or have learned both languages. If you can't pronouce something in english say it in the other language and then have someone else say it later. Children are resilient they can roll with the punches and learn.

If you are doing the early learning program with your children/child and they are learning then homeschooling will work just the same. You are only expanding on the learning material.

[Joanna07]

I'm doing program in Polish. Both I and my husband are Polish and it's very important for me that my son speaks our language very well so I was gonna have him speak polish only at home. I hear from many of my friends that once kids get out of the house more and start speaking more English they don't want to speak Polish anymore, that's the reason why I want to do it.

But now if I start homeschooling in English I'll break my own rule. Maybe what I should do is have him speak English only during school and homework? Also ,will he learn good English if I teach him?  Gosh, this so complicated...
I'll have to teach myself better English, I'm going to look into DVD's. I heard about Rosetta Stone being really good, did anyone try it ?

Also, if I decide to homeschool, can I hire someone to teach my son English? Grammar will be to hard for me to teach.

Stacey and Joha thank you very much for your posts

[mmetlich]

I once heard a phrase wich I think is too true. "Children learn, with, without, and in spite of"
they learn with our help, without our good qualities and in spite all our mistakes... and accents.
Don't worry about accents. My mother had an "old" english (she had learned it when she lived in the US from 5 yrs old to 10 yrs old) never practiced again she always lived in Mexico, and then... 30 years later she decided to homeschool us. There was no homeschooling material in spanish back then so she homeschooled us in English  (in a mexican environment with her poor english). And we all (6 kids) did pretty well when studying university in the US.

As I tell you, kids learn easy and in spite of all our lacks.

[Joanna07]

mmetlich, how brave of your mom to make such decision, I'm sure homeschooling in English in mexican environment wasn't easy.

I'll get in touch with homeschoolers in my area, maybe they'll be able to help me solve my dilemma

[[email protected]]

Hi Joanna

I would not worry at all about your accent, try to be natural, that should do, the kid will polish the accent later on, the grammar mistakes as well. Just make sure you speak freely also with your husband - the child will see that it is something natural and follow you. I'm a teacher of English and my kid has zero problems with Polish/English/German. If you live in the Warsaw area, please feel free to contact me.

Cheers

P.

[princessclem]

I would actually say please dont do it. I am desperatly trying to teach my children to be trilingual english french and sign language But I only speak english I know that I cant teach them well enough in french but I am trying because that is the language that they get the least exposure to and I want them to have something I dont a chance to communicate in another language. I am actually using sign as a bridge language so they can literally see that "duck" and "Canard" is the same thing. It will be hardest for your child to learn the language that they are least exposed to so PLEASE if you are surrounded by english do not try to teach your children english they will learn that all by their own, PLEASE teach them the language that you want them to learn. and visa versa of course if you live in germany teach them in english not german if you can. I think you get the idea. JUST do the best you can your kids will figure it out and thank you for it I am sure!!

[Joanna07]

Cosmic, I live in Chicago area so I won't be able to take advantage of your offer. Thanks anyway

Pribcessclem, don't worry   I'm planning on talking Polish with my son, if I decide to homeschool we'll speak English only during school hours. Both I and my husband speak Italian so we will speak it from time to time also. I'm planning on sending my son to spanish preschool for few months, he will learn Spanish there. I would also like him to learn Japanese, we'll do it together because I'd love to speak Japanese too. Hopefully he'll find time to learn English

[princessclem]

Joanna07 all I have to say is WOW good luck with that I am sure the child can handle all the information and languages But I know I cant Kepp up the awesome intentions and I am sure your children will thank you for it later

[trinity papa]

I think there is a dictionary program under yahoo and it can help you pronounce the word correctly if you do not have enough confidence .....

i think if you really want to teach them well and speak say proper english or whatever the language, we ourselves have to be good enough in it too ...... otherwise we mayhave to hire someone who can speak that language properly ..... not trying to be ..... arrogant, ... i personally do speak some japs .... and i do speak alot more chinese, but i still hire native speakers to help out .... because if you stick to the right mind program .... the mistakes we make now will somehow stick in them ..... and they maybe harder to remove subsequently .... especially if you want to teach with intent rather than as a casual conversation .......

eg we speak cantonese at home, but not directly at her, i am sure she will pick it up, but i teach her english since i would say i have better grasped of it and its my first language ....., for cantonese i am sure when she is abot age ... she will ask what's this mean ..... and she will pick it up on her own when she goes to school and mix with her friends etc .... and since she has been hearing it ... it will be easier for he rto pick it up since she would have heard all the tones and pitches from us ...... she will just need to learn how to link it ....

[nohayo]

Here's the thread where Joha posted:

http://forum.brillkids.com/homeschooling/homescooling-in-a-different-language-than-your-native-language/

[Joanna07]

trinity papa I agree with you
my main concern is teaching my son proper English, proper grammar spelling and pronunciation, this is vital for his future since we plan to stay in US. I have to think of ways to make myself more fluent, I will definitely think about hiring a native speaker to help me teach my son, I don't think I can do it myself and do it well

[happymomof5]

This is momof5's husband here. My wife is originally from the Ukraine, and so when we first started homeschooling the kids, we had to face this issue of pronunciation. Although my wife's English was very good already, I found that by her going through the phonics with the kids, it improved greatly. I found the same true for when we were teaching Chinese children in China, that their pronunciation become almost native like as we worked through phonics with them. Now that our kids are in fifth grade, sometimes I help out on lessons where their words are too complicated, or when it's composition and they write essays, I'll step in and help correct them. But that's one of the beauties of home schooling, that whatever the kids are learning, I can learn it together along with them. Also as was stated above, if they are close to an English speaking environment they will pick up good pronunciation, as happened with my kids. At one time they spoke more Chinese than English, and I worried their English pronunciation would lag behind, but when we moved next to some American neighbors, they picked up the native accents almost immediately. So I'd say enjoy learning with them and feel free to fly!

[Joanna07]

that's very ecouraging, thank you very much

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