Here are some of my favorite resources for learning Spanish, bilingual homeschooling for your children, travel, and global work from home opportunities!
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Learn Spanish
Rocket Languages Spanish (for adults)
See my thorough video review of Rocket Spanish here or read the blog post here.
There has been TONS of buzz about Rocket Languages lately with lots of happy customers and it’s clear to see why! The program is incredibly comprehensive, providing not only interactive audio lessons, but also a voice recognition system to help you improve your pronunciation, cultural lessons, progress tracker, flashcards, and more!
Before making a purchase, Rocket Languages is helping us out with a FREE TRIAL. Click here to get the free trial sent to your inbox!
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Glossika
I love Glossika’s no-nonsense approach to language learning. I’ve been using it for French (they have TONS of languages) and it’s really helping to improve my pronunciation. The basic premice behind Glossika is that you are given complete sentences to repeat, recall, translate, and transcribe. The sentences are set up in a spaced repetition system so that you can review what you most need help with at appropriate intervals. Their program is subscription based and you can cancel anytime. Check it out here!
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Italki (for adults and children)
The most efficient way to reach language fluency is by talking with humans!
No matter how many verbs you conjugate and vocabulary words you memorize if you don’t combine it all with REAL talk with humans then you will always be that person who “knows some Spanish”, “knew some Spanish”, or “understands some Spanish” but isn’t able to hold down a conversation. I get that sometimes it can be nerve-wracking to talk to native speakers of your target language when you’re a beginner. That’s why italki is so awesome. It gives you the opportunity to talk to native teachers with 1-1 lessons in a safe place (your own home or wherever you may be), free from embarrassment or judgment. They have teachers both for adults and kids!
Italki is:
- More affordable than offline tutors – 30% of the cost.
- More affordable than offline schools, which can cost thousands of dollars, aren’t flexible, and have very limited 1-1 attention from teachers
- More affordable than software – Rosetta Stone can cost $200 USD for a Beginner CD. For the same amount you can purchase 20 hours with a live teacher at Italki
Italki also has niche classes available if you’re wanting to learn Spanish in a particular subject.
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Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids ( for children, but adults can benefit as well!
This award-winning program is really cool and inexpensive! The more children you enroll the lower the membership cost, but one child currently only costs $10/month for an annual membership!
In the Spanish video series, kids learn by seeing other kids model Spanish in day-to-day life. The storyline is humorous and engaging.
Click here to see some demo videos. You can also view demo workbooks and quizzes.
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DICTIONARIES:
Wordreference.com – Wordreference does an excellent job of providing words in context with example sentences so that you know that you’re getting the best translation. It also gives various options for translations based on region. Additionally, it provides a forum if you want to get other users’ opinions and alternatives for the translations and definitions provided.
Linguee.com – Linguee is very helpful for searching online articles for you so that you can see the words and phrases that you are searching for in context. That way you’re sure you’re choosing the words that you want!
Bilingual Homeschool
We have a first grader and a toddler who we began homeschooling in the 2019/2020 school year here in Mexico!
Online Curriculum and Resources
Mati Talent Institute (English Website)
Mati Homeschool (Sitio Web en Español)
🔥***UPDATE***🔥 Mati is now offering a 10% discount to those of you who mention me as a referral! So tell ’em Erica sent ya or contact me directly with your inquiries at www.ericaelsewhere.com/contact-me.
Mati ahora ofrece un descuento de 10% a los que me mencionan como referencia! Solo mencionen que conocieron el programa por Erica o contáctenme directamente para que les ayude a inscribirse: www.ericaelsewhere.com/contact-me
After much deliberation, we went with Mati Homeschool as one of our base curriculums. This program uses the online interactive programs Istation and MathWhizz, as a base for teaching reading and comprehension, writing, spelling, grammar, reading fluency, and math.
You can take the program in English, Spanish, or both. We have chosen the bilingual option.
It’s an accredited U.S. “umbrella school” which provides a student ID, reports, testing, and yearly transcripts, so it gives us that needed legal protection in order to get these U.S. studies certified here in Mexico as well.
It’s inexpensive compared to other U.S. accredited homeschool programs, but provides a full language arts curriculum in both languages as well as math. Several science topics are discussed, although I would not consider it a full science curriculum, especially in the younger grades. We do supplement with other materials, especially for science and geography.
My daughter LOVES Mati and has learned so much so far this year! You may contact me directly if you have additional questions about Mati or if you would like for me to assist in accelerating your child’s enrollment process.
See my full video reviews of Mati homeschool (video in English). Click here.
Or watch the Spanish version here! This one also goes into detail about the other homeschool materials that we are using.
Mira el video de mi reseña de Mati junto con una muestra de todos los otros materiales que estamos usando en nuestra escuela en casa bilingüe. Haz clic aquí.
By the way, if you are living in Mexico with children like me, learn all about your options for their education here!
Other online programs and materials
- Time4learning.com – ***UPDATE*** – We are currently not using Time4learning, but did enjoy it in the past. *** We started this before Mati and my 6-year-old really enjoyed the first and second-grade material in Time4learning. Math is my daughter’s favorite subject and in a few sessions with Time4learning, she learned and mastered completely new math concepts that they had yet to cover in school. I used to struggle a bit to get her engaged with reading English. Her reading in Spanish was better. But the fun phonics games in Time4Learning had her asking to do them again and again. I LOVE the simple decodable stories at the end of each first-grade chapter as she feels good about being able to read the whole thing herself. This is a complete curriculum and only costs $19.95/month (and 14.95 for each additional child), so you really can’t go wrong. They also have science lessons and experiments and other “offline” activities included. I’m amazed at the price for such a complete curriculum. Give it a try!
- Education.com – LOTS of free printable worksheets. You can download a limited amount for free or upgrade for a small fee and have unlimited access. They have Spanish printables as well.
- Free printables for homeschool portfolio in English or Spanish – This homeschool blogger has an awesome free set of printables that I used to get my first grader’s binder all set up! Find it here.
Materials | Workbooks and Read-aloud books
- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – A really awesome book with a nontraditional approach to learning how to read English. My 6-year-old currently reads better in Spanish than in English and this looks like it will help her reading in English a lot. View it here.
- Bilingual flashcards – I’ve used these for over a year now. They have helped my daughter with sight words in both languages
- Goodnight Moon/Buenas Noches Lunas – bilingual reading book
- Only One You/Nadie Como Tú – bilingual reading book
- Curious George/Jorge El Curioso – beautiful bilingual book set
- Que Cosas Dice Mi Abuela – Simple Spanish reading book
- First 100 Words Bilingual – purchased for my toddler
- Amelia Bedelia 10 book set – for reading aloud time in English
- Frog and Toad 3 book set – for reading aloud time in English
- Biscuit Storybook Collection – a really beautiful simple book for beginning readers in English
- DK Workbooks First Grade Geography
- Today is Children’s Calendar – A cute velcro hanging calendar for placing today’s day, date, season, and weather (English)
- Big First Grade Workbook – Math, Telling Time, Reading, and Phonics
- Addition and Subtraction Workbook – 64 pages of first-grade math
- Grade 1 Kumon Writing – writing and vocabulary exercises for first grade (English)
Work From Home as a Teacher/Tutor Online
See how to work from home teaching English here!
MyTEFL 120 Hour training is my recommended TEFL certification course. The investment is well worth it if teaching is your passion and you want to be prepared for it both on and offline wherever you go!
- SayABC – My preferred teaching company for teaching kids. I enjoyed my time with them!
- The Mac laptop I use for all of my online work
- Logitech Webcam
- Mpow Headphones – comfy, cute, economical, and great input and output quality
- Ethernet adapter – if needed, for your computer. You’ll need to be hardwired to the internet and your headset may use a USB port
- Selfie ring light – Clip onto your laptop for extra brightness!
- Flashcards – Bright and colorful – the kids love these!
- Background stand for your backdrops
- Jungle Safari Animal backdrop
- Outer Space backdrop
- Map backdrop
Work From Home as a Transcriptionist
Learn about how to begin working from home as a transcriptionist here!
- Sony headphones – These are awesome and clear! I’ve used these both for transcription as well as for music
- Foot pedal – Essential for stopping/starting audio while keeping your hands free for typing
- ExpressScribe – Free transcription software
Start a Location-Independent Online Business
Learn how to start a blog here!
- Launch Your Blog Course by Create and Go – A wonderful course and the one and only reason that I was able to begin my blog in the first place. Alex and Lauren will hold your hand and walk you through the planning and creation of your blog step by step.
- Bluehost – Great, inexpensive hosting for your website. This blog uses Bluehost.
- Divi Theme by Elegant Themes – A gorgeous, no-fuss, beginner-friendly theme. This blog uses the Divi theme.
- ConvertKit – Designed specifically for bloggers, ConvertKit is the simplest, most effective, and only e-mail marketing service that you should even be considering. As a complete beginner, I found it very user-friendly.
- Canva – Create beautiful, customized images for your blog and social media.
- Tailwind – ESSENTIAL for Pinterest marketing. No more spending all day pinning on Pinterest. This automated software will advertise for you so that you can spend more time on content creation or other aspects of marketing
Travel
This site has some really good travel deals to Mexico, especially if you’re interested in the Mexico City area. Click here to check them out!
I wish I had known about travelinsurance.com earlier. I would have saved a lot of money. I’m ashamed to admit that I used to believe that my only option for travel insurance was the airline-suggested insurance that pops up after I make a flight purchase. With travelinsurance.com you can enter the details of your trip and get an easy-to-compare list of competitors so that you can choose the perfect amount of coverage that fits your needs and your trip – no more, no less! Learn more here.