Multilingual Homeschooling Questions

When I was first interested in homeschooling my children, I was often confronted with the issue of mutli-language learning. I kept asking myself questions like is it better for them to learn English first and then French, but then what about Turkish and Arabic ? Is four too much ? How about reading and writing ?
As I was researching and trying my hardest to find answers to these tough questions, I stumbled upon this website, multilingualparenting.com and their weekly Q&A sessions. I quickly sent Rita Rosenbeck a question hoping to have some answers so that I could start planning my school year.

I have been following your Facebook page for a while and I have really enjoyed the articles that you post. I may not have read all of them, but I have saved most for later when I find time.
I am contacting you to seek some advice or possible resources to implement in our multilingual and multicultural family. I am American and my husband is Turkish (he speaks two other languages as well). We live in Paris, France with our two children (two and a half and one) and we are a Muslim family so we are learning Arabic all together at the same time. My husband and I speak French together as we are unable to communicate in each other’s languages.
We follow the one parent, one language approach but sometimes I speak French in with my kids. We are going to be homeschooling our oldest in preschool next year and I am concerned that she will not be exposed to the French language as much as she would if she was at school. We will try to visit the library and go out and do activities as much as possible but I am still afraid that she will not be speaking it as much as English or Turkish. Both my husband and I are not fluent in French, I do however speak French a little better than he, so my questions are:
1. How do we teach French to our children as a non-native speaker? My daughter has already started speaking a little French, thanks to La Maison de Mickey that she watches daily.
2. Will she pick up my English accent when speaking French? Will this cause problems later down the road if she goes to school?
3. How do we expose our children to all our languages throughout our homeschool day? Should I do one day in French, one day in English or alternate throughout the day? We’ve been reviewing the alphabet and numbers in French. I have decided that at least one day a week will be dedicated to French, exclusively speaking French. Please let me know if this is or isn’t a great idea.
4. How do I start reading and writing with all the languages?

Although I didn’t get the answer as soon as I would have liked, her answer did help and provide me with the resources so that I could start answer my questions and eventually planning my activities. Still 6+ months later, I am referring back to the answers and using her tips to enhance my activities.
Here is the link to the answer I received : http://multilingualparenting.com/2016/06/12/qa-bilingual-homeschooling-how-to-successfully-integrate-more-than-one-language/

Welcome / Bienvenue / Hosgeldiniz

Assalamu alaykom, Hi, Bonjour, Merhaba, and everything else in between. Welcome to our blog about the multlingual and cutlural adventures that our family experiences while living in Paris, France.

I am an American ; my husband is Turkish ; although we do not speak each other’s languages, our common language is French. My husband (Y) speaks three mother tongues : Turkish, Kurdish, and Zaza. We are also a Muslim family striving towards learning Islamic Arabic and as non-native speakers, the pronunciation is often difficult, but we are up to the challenge. So, we are on the track to learn six languages.

We have two kids : F (girl, 3) and Z (boy, 2).

We homeschool (école à la maison or instruction en famille) and we enjoy exploring and discovering at home and our world around us.

I am always asked why I homeschool instead of sending my oldest to French preschool (maternelle), so here are my top 5 reasons :

1. Islamic responsability – as Muslim parents, it is our responsability to show, encourage and teach our kids how to become responsable Muslims and adults

Homeschool Mission Statement :

We begin with Bismillah (In the Name of God), Responsable for our children’s education, we will strive to love, teach, correct, and encourage our children on a daily basis in a clear and simple manner to become pious, wise Muslims who will strive to uphold Islamic values and have a strong relationship with God.

We also believe that learning pariculary fro the Quran and SUnnah will encrouage a lifelong adventure of seeking knowledge. We believe in facing each day with minds open to knowledge and hearts open to love. We believe in the freedom to wonder, to ask, to explore, to imagine, to create.

We believe that every one of us has special talents and that the talents of each of us help all of us. We belive that success means doing our best, being our best and feeling proud of our effort.

2. Overcrowding in maternelle – we live in an area where there are 3 maternelle (preschools) and two primary schools all right next to each other and still there are not teachers and place available for all the kids ! Plus, islamic school is rather expensive too.

3. Multi-languages – Since we are currently learning four languages – English, French, Turkish, and Arabic – I have decided that it is best at the moment to learn in an at-home setting, and switch between the languages (for example every two weeks we will have class in either English or French – I’ll write more about this later)

4. Hands-on discovery and learning through play, games, and exploration based on the child’s interests

5. Enjoyable – I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and I am very happy to be my kids first teacher. I’ve found it very enjoyable so far to see all my hardwork pay off (the benefits outweigh the time planning, prepping and presenting)

Now your turn :

• Introduce yourself, how many languages do you speak or would like to learn?
• What adventures would you like to hear about ?
• If you homeschool, what are you reasons for homeschooling ?