Resource Description
"Rosetta Stone Homeschool is a powerful learning tool that provides students with an immersive, interactive and engaging language-learning experience while also giving parents the tools and resources needed to track and manage student progress. Utilizing a variety of immersion techniques and administrative features, the software accelerates language learning and provides quantifiable measurements of success. Rosetta Stone Manager is a built in management tool that delivers real-time reporting capabilities, details on student progress and user-friendly administrative functionalities. Rosetta Stone Homeschool is available in more than 30 different languages."
Rosetta Stone is used by the State Department to prepare employees and contractors for overseas jobs and is available in the following languages:
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Website: Rosetta Stone (may contain affiliate links)
(14 Reviews)
Before investing in any homeschooling resources, please read "How to Choose the Best Homeschool Curriculum."
Contributor Reviews
Reviews are solely the opinions of the contributor.
Cons: Support, Price, Tech, Worksheets
Grades Used: Highschool
I purchased this after reading MANY positive reviews. I am sure the program teaches conversational Spanish in a way that would be helpful if you were visiting a Spanish speaking country. However, it is not appropriate for a high school course. The worksheets in the Homeschool version do not work well with the program. They are frustrating and confusing. Many times we simply gave up and went to Google Translate! The support for the program is ridiculous. We purchased this in July and began using it in August. By October we were fighting it on our system. Several times it crashed and would not open. Usually we could get it to open after several reboots, but finally it stopped altogether. So, I called them. Guess what? It was November and I was over my "3 month telephone support" free subscription. So, I could pay for help or I could use the email support. Since I had already spent $300 on the program, I opted for the email support. So began the litany of emails. Every day I would get an email asking for my information. Everyday I would send back my information. By the end of the week, I had enough. I responded that they had my information and I needed a fix to my program. The next email informed me my case was closed. At this point I purchased a new computer and had to install Rosetta Stone on it. We began using the program again in January (however all my son's data had been deleted...so I have no records). In February it began crashing again! This time I had used up my "2 computer installations" and couldn't reinstall to fix it. When I called support, I was given a case number (which turned out to be bogus) and told they would email me an upgrade (which they didn't). I called again and was told I was outside my "window for support". This time I lost my cool. So, the manager gave this poor guy permission to help me today. And guess how he fixed it? Yep, he deleted the data file AGAIN. So, now my son is without records, AGAIN! Do not subject yourself to this frustration!
Cons: Microphone does not pick up my kids, price
Grades Used: kinder, 2nd, 3rd
Kids love to do it and is self guided. But they get frustrated when it does not understand them. have the home school edition and I think it will be great as they get into high school, we use it now more for understanding and an introduction.
Cons: I would say price, but if you wait until the holidays you can get levels 1-5 for almost 50% off. That comes down to about $50 per level and is a GOOD deal IMO.
Grades Used: Middle School
First, I have to say that those who think that Rosetta Stone doesn't teach grammar, you are mistaken. Grammar is integrated into the learning. Verbs ARE conjugated by learning that they have different forms whether you are saying "I run," "He runs," "They run," etc. And grammar is also taught in the usage of correct pronoun and verb cases by learning them in correct context.
They don't take it apart and call it "Grammer" per se, but it IS being taught and learned the natural way that kids learn grammar by hearing it spoken around them. We all learn basic grammar before we break down the grammar rules in school.
This teaches language the way kids naturally learn their own native language. I think kids do better with this than adults because adults don't want to have to look at a picture and figure out what is being communicated. My 10 year old had fewer issues with this than I did.
We did French levels 1-5 and are ready to go to Paris. This is complete, all-inclusive.
NOT a supplemental program. A good deal for the sale price if you can wait until sale time.
Cons: Wish it wasn't so expensive
We are getting ready to move to Germany in about 8 weeks, we picked this up a couple of weeks ago and already know an remember some basic German. Can't wait to get over there and give it a try.
Cons: trouble, at times, with the speaking sections/ seems microphone was not picking up the sound well enough
Grades Used: 9th
My son loves this program, but has experienced problems having his voice "picked up" on some sections. It does not seem to be a problem with the computer microphone. It may be that some tweaking of the program is needed to fix this. Overall, I still give this program thumbs up.
Cons: It is targeted to older students
Grades Used: Kindergarten and 2nd
I really do love Rosetta Stone. I recommended to anyone who wants to learn a new language.
Cons: price, one computer usage
The fact that the children could learn Spanish without my help was a buying factor for me. However, I was disappointed that I couldn't install the program on each of their own computers. Also, one child has a difficult time getting the computer to accept her pronunciation. The pictures help to connect the word with the object.
Cons: Kind of expensive
Grades Used: 7 and 8
My daughter is using the Latin course and she really enjoys it. She does each lesson on her own. I want her to learn Latin as I believe it will help her become a better writer and reader as much of the English language comes from Latin. I am not worried about the grammar side of Latin as we are doing a thorough study of english grammar.
Cons: price
Grades Used: 3-5
We love this program, very comprehesive and the kids really enjoy sitting down at the computer and doing it.
Grades Used: 2-3
Rosetta Stone is not a language course in the usual sense; it is a supplemental resource. It prides itself on not teaching grammar, without which you cannot learn a language! And it costs way too much to be used as a supplement unless you happen to have a lot of money to throw away.
Further, while the kids do learn to match a picture and word/phrase, it is not always clear just what the spoken word/phrase means. There are so many good language learning materials available (some of them free) that I don't see any need to ever spend a small fortune on Rosetta Stone.
Cons: the price
Grades Used: 8th & 10th
We are extremely happy with our Homeschool Version of Rosetta Stone - German Level 1. My children use it on their own, the software keeps track of their progress. It is an interactive, multi-sensory approach to learning the language. You can print out worksheets, quizes & tests if you want to but I prefer to have the children learn the language naturally and at their own pace. We chose German because it is an easier language for beginners, a lot of words are similar to English, and it was a better alternative to the usual Spanish or French taught in public schools. Overall, we are very pleased with the program and are saving up for Leve 2 & 3.
Cons: Difficult to understand correct pronunciation.
Grades Used: 7th - 12th
We have Rosetta Stone Hebrew and it has been frustrating for my two children to pronounce the words correctly into the microphone. They might have to say the words 10 times or more before the computer would recognize the word. With the interaction of pictures, voice and computer it was interesting to begin with and they lost interest as the level of difficulty increased. I wouldn't recommend a computer program for such a intricate language.
Cons: The price
Grades Used: jr. high to freshmen
We used the computer program for the fun part of doing the lessons on the computer versus using a book. We did not do much as far as grammar plus we did not do much writing. I would like to do it over but my boys had already given me a hard time about it. They saw no point in learning Latin.
Cons: kids said sometimes they felt it was a guessing game
Grades Used: 5th through 10th
We used Rosetta Stone Spanish level 1 and 2. They felt they learned a lot of vocabulary but not much of the grammar etc. though there are workbooks on the CD-Rom you can print up with more info. on grammar. We have moved on to another program to go more in depth with the language and culture.