Speekee Accelerate Review- He's back!

Yes, Speekee is back!  Well, he has not really been gone, but now he is back with a new program called Speekee Accelerate.  If you follow our homeschool journey, you know that we love learning Spanish.  Colby was born in Guatemala, after all, and we really desire for him to be bi-lingual. You may also remember that we reviewed Speekee several years ago and Colby LOVED it.  As a matter of fact, he eventually found Speekee Play online and still plays on that site often.

Now that he is older, his needs have changed.  Thankfully there is a new program for ages 8 and up,  using Speekee Accelerate!

Here's how it works-

Each week we receive an email with the weeks' videos and lessons attached.

You can also access all 40 weeks from your Speekee Accelerate homepage, if you desire to repeat days.  I have a child who would work ahead and do several weeks in one day, so we really prefer the weekly email.  I have him access the videos through the email which slows him down a bit. In his free time after school he is always welcome to go back to the homepage and re-watch any videos he likes.  He finds the kids in the videos pretty entertaining so he re-watches a lot of videos!

I also like the email because it tells you what will be shown on each video and often will give extension activities to do.  Think of it as a mini lesson plan.  If you are a record kind of person, you could print out each week's lesson and date them to have a record of what your child has done.

Four days a week Colby clicks on that day's link and watches the video clip.  If there is a worksheet attached, we simply download it and print it out for him to work on after wards.  Some days there are also sound clips attached for your child to hear specific words or sounds that are being worked on.  He listens to each word being pronounced and then repeats the word for practice.

The worksheets do require a decent level of reading and writing, but Colby has been able to do them at age 9.  If more writing is involved, I will allow him to dictate to me instead.

We love that each week is themed and the videos are short in length, anywhere from just a few minutes to about 15 minutes long. So far, Colby has learned basic conversation, numbers, family members, directions, names, colors, and feelings. One thing to keep in mind is that this program is geared for a slightly older child, so the puppet Speekee does not make an appearance,  Instead, all the videos are live action with children of various ages interacting with the world around them and occasional graphics.  If you have a younger child who would enjoy the puppet, check out Speekee TV.

Also unique to the program is a feature you can choose that will put the English or Spanish subtitles on the screeen, or both, for you to read.  We use this feature the first time Colby watches the video clips, and then any addtional times they are watched we turn it off so we do not become dependant on them, but instead learn to lsiten to the native speakers for meaning.

If you desire the same format as Speekee Accelerate, but for younger students, Speekee FastTrack is geared for ages 4-7, and also has a 40 week curriculum that is emailed to you.

I highly recommend Speekee Accelerate!  Because of the combination of videos, worksheets, and audio clips, it is a great fit for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners, making it a winner in my book! 

Blessings,