My son was adopted from Ethiopia and has been home 2 months and has an amazing grasp of the English language so far BUT do you recommed "special" ESL training for learning phonics/reading?  He's four now and starting preschool in the fall. I didn't know if we should just do regular schooling or specialized ESL classes.... SIGH!

Amharic (Ethiopian language) puts the verbs at the end of the sentences. He's 50/50 on putting his sentence together in correct English but that'll come. His vocab is great!

Congratulations on your new son! It sounds as though he is already grasping English very well.  Second languages are usually well-learned naturally before the age of 8, so you may not need to do ESL with him.  Second languages are learned in the same way as first languages when the brain is young.  I'd recommend lots of reading with him and singing nursery rhyme/children's songs with him to allow him to hear language all the time.  Best of luck! 

Just out of curiosity, what made you ask in the homeschooler's forum about what school to send your son?  I'm not being snarky at all, just wondering. Homeschoolers generally don't know as much about schools as other families.

Congratulations!!!  I would try some free sites.  Starfall is great and FREE!

www.starfall.com/

Also, when he's watching TV, videos, & DVD's, turn on the closed captioning.  That way he can follow along with the people/characters.  It's one thing I did with my kids that made them early readers.

Also, the Leap Frog DVD's are fantastic also!  My autistic daughter learned a TON from them.

To Lynne - I'm a "half & half" family - one child who's HS'ed and one who's in PS on an IEP.  So I'm in "both worlds".  :-)

JC

THANKS! I can tell that he's a "sponge" right now...so i was thinking the same thing you said Lynne!  English does seem to be coming naturally... And I was referring to doing ESL AT HOME with him....hence the homeschooling. :)  (I forgot to mention his age...he just turned four last week!)

He has been on starfall but doesn't seem to grasp the ABC's he'd rather do the fun ones like "Who am I" and "What is my toy". So, for now we're doing that and working on how a computer works/ how to use the mouse, etc.

I never thought of using the Closed Captioning! GREAT IDEA!

Are there other good preschool sites? We've been doing Nickjr. for the mouse control, etc. but I don't know it's educational value.