Homeschool French - Rosetta Stone or S.O.S. (Switched On Schoolhouse)?

Question

Which homeschool French program do you prefer -

Rosetta Stone or Switched On Schoolhouse?

Thanks so much! ♥

Answer 1

I prefer SOS, if it's still based on Power Glide.  Rosetta Stone, IMO, is all about memory and if you remember things easily, you don't really have to learn.

My son is using Power-Glide's middle school Spanish I and we both really like it.  It not only sets you into real-life situations (like RS), but also teaches grammar.

You might check with your local library.  Many have free access to Rosetta Stone - which saves a LOT of money.

Speaking of money, SOS is a lot cheaper than RS.

Answer 2

I also prefer SOS - it's what my son is using right now.  My degree work was in linguistics, and there's no way I'd give him Rosetta Stone for anything but vocab review.  That's really all it is - sophisticated vocab review.

Rosetta Stone is based on the inductive learning method, which means that it expects you to pick up the language from hearing it spoken and looking at pictures.  It is based on the theory that young children learn this way, so it must work for adults.  The problem is, most people over the age of 10 don't learn a language this way - older students and adults learn differently than preschoolers.  Our brains just plain work differently, and we need to know the "why" - the deductive side of a language - in order to truly learn it.

Rosetta Stone is good for vocab and review if you can access for free from the library, but there's no way I'd recommend paying for it.  SOS, on the other hand, includes both solid grammar and vocab, to really offer an interactive approach to teaching the language.

Answer 3

I use SOS and have NEVER even heard of RS

(by the way you got GREaT answers on this!)

Answer 4

Huh, I've never heard of Switched on, so I guess I'm the odd person out! I used Rosetta Stone to learn French and it help me a lot. The program is reasonably entertaining, and the combination of pictures and sound drills the word connections into you. I went through all three levels of it (expensive!!) and by the end I felt *reasonably* competent. Best part of it for me was the help with pronunciation since it records and analyzes your voice.

It is easy to follow since it tracks your progress. Every time you complete a module, you get a percentage score. If your score is too low, it "suggests" that you try it again. Once everything is completed, you move to the next module, and they tell you how much time each section will take.

Anyway, it worked for me enough that between that and school classes I just studied abroad in Paris.

Answer 5

I think for a student starting out - S.O.S. - mostly because of the grammar aspects.  It reminds me of a more traditional method of learning a foreign language as a student.  

We actually utilize Rosetta Stone for Spanish BUT we are using it because we are trying to attain a conversational level a bit faster.  I am not impressed by its lack of grammar, spelling, etc.  It's all about listening and remembering and just getting used to a language.

To be honest, our best method to date is one on one teaching with a tutor.  We found a college student - in our case a Latin major - who came to the house to teach my son.  Best method we've tried to date.

Answer 6

Actually, I prefer this free on-line site, it is much more thorough than either of the programs you mentioned, if you complete the whole course it actually counts as French 1 and 2.

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/