Bonjour and all That

This morning we launched a new experiment. The older kids have finished their history and math for the year and have only 3 chapters left in science, so I decided it was time to learn a foreign language. Only instead of an hour a day for eternity, we're going to approach language in the most natural way I know how...

...immersion.

The language of choice is French since that's the language I and my husband speak that is spoken in more than one country.

The plan is to do 3 hours of French immersion a day for the week, then increase that amount of time each week through the month.

The first reaction to the plan was from the 6-year old who sat through about 20 seconds of French before announcing, "I don't know ANY of those words. STOP IT!" She settled into the routine with her sisters, though, as we had Bible time, grammar, reading, vocabulary. To celebrate making it through our first morning, we had crepes and played Monopoly, all in French. I'm surprised at how much the kids have learned and retained over the years. Their pronunciation is good and they understand a lot of basic commands.

So we build on a foundation already laid. I wonder if they'll be speaking in complete sentences by the end of the month. I wonder if I'm ruining their ears for true French with my less-than-perfect French/American/African accent.

I wonder if this will be the most brilliant use of homeschooling time we've ever conceived.