Questions from a 10 year old

Bethany, a 10 year old girl who has 8 siblings, recently emailed us with these questions:How do your children learn to understand Spanish and English, and can they understand both without any trouble? Do they understand Spanish speaking people easily?My last question is for Rebecca. Do you like horses?

Answer: Good questions. Because we live in Mexico, we know that all of our children will eventually learn Spanish simply because that is what everyone here speaks. Because we want them to also know English well, we speak only English in the home (unless we have Spanish speaking visitors). Many children learn another language in a foreign country by attending school. Since we home school our children, they are learning a bit slower. Our two oldest boys (ages 11 and 10) now speak and understand Spanish and are able to ask for an explanation if they don't understand something. As they are the oldest, they have had the most opportunities to be out with Daddy as he preaches, enjoy spending time in the afternoons with our neighbors playing soccer, and have studied the language on their own as well.Our younger children are learning, and have various levels of understanding, but mainly just use English right now.

And yes, Rebekah does like horses. Our neighbors have a horse and have given the children rides from time to time. The last time Rebekah was on a horse, she had quite the adventure. A couple of men were riding horses down our street. The children were outside watching them, and they stopped and asked if the children would like a ride. Rebekah wanted to ride with her Daddy, so Daniel mounted the horse first and then the man helped Rebekah get on as well. While she was getting settled in behind her Daddy, she accidently kicked the horse's side and it took off running! Daniel has only been on a horse a couple of times himself and they both just hung on for life. Rebekah was quite shaken up, so when the horse finally settled down, the man helped her get off. Daniel stayed on to ride a bit, and the horse decided he wanted to go home and took off running again toward his corral. :)