REVIEW - Llamitas Homeschool Spanish Curriculum

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I’m a lifelong lover of Spanish- my husband and I are raising bilingual kids. Over the years, we have expanded our village to include a lot of different support resources- but the best thing we have invested in is Llamitas Homeschool Spanish Curriculum.

In the unbiased review, as a Spanish teacher and bilingual mom, I’ll give you all the details on the Level 2 curriculum so you can decide if it’s a good fit for you and your family.

Ready? Buy Llamitas Homeschool Spanish Curriculum here.

TL:DR

This homeschool Spanish curriculum is Level 2. If you are looking for Level 1 or a curriculum for preschoolers, you can read about Llamitas Spanish here.
Level 2 Spanish homeschool curriculum from Llamitas Spanish is for kids who have already completed Level 1, or families who are already bilingual.
Llamitas Level 2 Spanish curriculum provides strong biliteracy skills, culturally rich materials, and cross-curricular materials- it’s not just vocab and grammar!

About Llamitas Spanish

Llamitas Spanish is a Spanish-language curriculum company created by bilingual mom Corrie Wiik. Originally a blogger, Corrie did tons of reviews of different homeschool Spanish curriculum companies.

While so many of the homeschool curriculum companies did a great job teaching grammar and vocabulary, Corrie noticed that many of the options on the market did not include authentic Spanish literature or school readiness skills.

So- Corrie armed herself with a big team of bilingual educators and native Spanish speakers and she made her own curriculum. Since its inception, Llamitas Spanish has been dedicated to making sure bilingual parents and parents who want their kids to learn Spanish at home have a comprehensive Spanish curriculum to follow.

Currently, Llamitas Spanish offers a Preschool Morning Binder, a Level 1 Curriculum, and this new Level 2 Spanish Curriculum.

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Who Is This Level 2 Curriculum For?

Level 2 homeschool Spanish curriculum from Llamitas Spanish is a sequential follow-up to Llamitas Level 1 Spanish. It includes phonics and math in Spanish, which we love because it’s cross-curricular.

Bilingual kids in lower elementary grades 1-3 will find the content relevant and engaging, but not too hard. It’s a great way to reinforce academic Spanish that bilingual kids who are not in bilingual schools may not get at home.

The entire program includes bilingual scripts, audio in Spanish, and bilingual folktales, which means non-Spanish-speaking parents can help their kids follow the program. That’s with the caveat that the student has completed Level 1 already.

Level 2 from Llamitas Spanish is, as founder Corrie Wiik says, “not a dip your toes into Spanish type of curriculum.” This is a comprehensive program designed for bilingual kids.

To find out exactly if this curriculum is for you, you can take the Llamitas Spanish placement quiz.

About The Level 2 Homeschool Spanish Curriculum

The three main benefits of the Level 2 curriculum are that it develops biliteracy skills, it’s culturally rich, and it’s cross-curricular.

Biliteracy Skills

One of the biggest goals I have for my daughters as they become bilingual is that they are also literate. This means that I want them to be able to read and write Spanish as well as they can English.

It’s a hard job for me because they are not in a bilingual school, so they are not getting academic Spanish all day every day. But they ARE getting really solid reading and writing skills and strategies that they can transfer over to their academic Spanish at home.

That’s why I love that with the Llamitas Spanish Level 2 curriculum I can use the same best practices they know in English to increase their academic Spanish skills. There aren’t verb charts, vocab lists, and grammar drills in this curriculum! Instead, the kids learn Spanish through authentic, engaging stories in Spanish.

There is an amazing Anthology of Folktales from Latin America and Spain that is part of the curriculum. Each lesson provides grammar and vocabulary in the context of the stories. My daughter had grabbed the anthology book in Spanish and said it was too hard to read because she didn’t know the vocabulary. However, once we went through each lesson and amplified her topic-related vocabulary, she could read the stories on her own.

Culturally Rich Components

Language is culture, and living in the United States, I am always looking for more culturally rich resources and experiences for my bilingual kids.

What I most love about the Level 2 Homeschool Spanish Curriculum from Llamitas Spanish is that there are 10 different voice actors from 10 different countries doing audio for the curriculum. This means that throughout Level 2, my girls are exposed to different Latin American accents in Spanish.

Each unit is chock full of relevant and fun cultural components that teach bilingual kids about many different Latin American and Spanish traditions and art. My favorite is Unit 6, which includes original art from El Greco, photos of Latin American currency, and a lesson on Antoni Gaudi and his architectural work in Spain. And that’s just one unit!

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Cross-Curricular

Bilingual kids need to see that Spanish is relevant in every part of their lives. Sometimes my kids think that Spanish is just spoken at home or with their grandparents. I am always looking for more ways to show them that Spanish is everywhere- and that we can do anything in Spanish that we can do in English!

So I love the math questions, the science connections, the original music, and the geography components. Because the curriculum is based on Dual Language Immersion standards, bilingual kids are getting many of the academic components that dual language students are- but at home!

PURCHASE LEVEL 2 HOMESCHOOL SPANISH CURRICULUM

What’s Not To Like

When you buy Llamitas Level 2 Homeschool Spanish Curriculum, you will almost be inundated with resources! There are online resources, printed resources, and resources you can print on your own.

Truthfully, I was overwhelmed with everything at first, so I took an hour or so to familiarize myself with the curriculum and where everything was located in the online portal. It’s not hard- it just took me a minute to get my bearings. It’s billed as an open-and-go curriculum, but I did have to do some (admittedly not too much) legwork at the outset.

The curriculum does have an option to buy only the digital access and print on your own. I would highly not recommend doing this- just spend a little extra money and have the materials sent to you. There is a lot of color on each of the pages- which is what makes the curriculum vibrant and engaging. But, if you wanted to print at home you would probably use a ton of ink.

Finally, people sometimes complain about the price point of this curriculum. I have reviewed a lot of homeschool Spanish curricula, and I can say that Llamitas Spanish is the absolute best bang for your buck. Corrie has put SO MUCH thought into the entire curriculum, and there is literally nothing on the market that can compare- or even rival it.