Why Duolingo is not a Homeschool Foreign Language Curriculum (and What Actually Is)

My Unpopular Opinion About Duolingo

If you’ve recently asked about how to homeschool foreign languages in a Facebook group, you’ve probably seen one tool recommended by parents over and over again: Duolingo.

Since its release in 2012, Duolingo has become immensely popular among homeschoolers. I get why: it’s free, it’s fun, and it’s easy to use. I’ve detailed its smart design in my extensive review of Duolingo for homeschoolers and in general, I consider it an excellent tool to help students practice foreign languages.

I put a key word in that last sentence, however—the word “practice.”

After all, Duolingo, despite its strengths, is not a homeschool foreign language curriculum. It can help your child practice a language, but it won’t teach your child a new language. At least, not in the systematic and comprehensive way that we should expect from an actual curriculum.

Perhaps you’re asking yourself why this all matters. Maybe you’re thinking, “Who cares if Duolingo (or any other tool) is an actual curriculum, as long as my child is enjoying it and learning something?”

Maybe you’d like to ask me just why I’m being so harsh.

If that’s where you are today—if you’re tempted to click away and discount this whole thing—then I would kindly ask you to hear me out.

Here’s why I think this is so important: because knowing the difference helps us provide our children with the tools that they need to learn languages with the least amount of frustration and greatest chance at success.

Less frustration and greater success? I know those are two things that I want in my homeschool—and I bet they’re goals that you have for yourself too.

What Is the Difference Between a Curriculum and a Supplementary Tool?

So, how do we determine what to use as a curriculum and what to consider an extra tool?

Well, as a group, we homeschoolers are actually pretty good at doing this.

Take a look at how we teach reading, for example. Generally speaking, homeschoolers get the value of teaching phonics. We’ve read the educational research and we know that phonics has been proven effective; therefore, many homeschool parents use a phonics-based curriculum. Now, the teaching style of those curricula may vary—there are differences, for example, between All About Reading and The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading—but they are built around the same basic principles. At their core, these programs all do the same three things: they teach phonograms explicitly, they provide children with opportunities to practice using those phonograms in context (i.e. reading), and they build in challenges (i.e. harder words and longer passages) so that children will grow in their skills. Reading Eggs and ABC Mouse might be great, but I’ve never seen anyone promote them as a curriculum. We know that they are practice tools.

Now, imagine a reading program that takes a different approach. This (completely imaginary) curriculum comes as a set of storybooks that parents are supposed to read to their children. After reading through them a few times, they ask the children to “read” one word per sentence. Then, after a few more readings, the children are asked to “read” two words per sentence—and so on and so forth. The curriculum promises that with just ten minutes a day, your child will be able to read in three months.

Do you think that this would actually work?

Undoubtedly, some children will learn to read from that sort of instruction. They will figure out the relationship between letters and sounds without any formal teaching. And some of those skills might transfer to other books, once they move on from this (completely made up) curriculum.

But there’s another group—in fact, the great majority—who would be completely mystified by this curriculum. Maybe they’d learn to parrot the words their parents are reading, and eventually, the “reading" would click, but I bet that would take a really long time. I can imagine those children needing remedial instruction to correct the not-quite-right inferences that they made about how words work. Finally, I can imagine a lot of tears being shed in the process.

Wouldn’t it just make more sense to actually teach phonics—in a way that works for the child—and then use the storybooks for extra practice?

Of course it would! Yet this scenario helps us see what happens when we confuse curricula with supplemental tools. We frustrate our children, we waste their time (and ours), and some of us get to a point where we decide to give up language learning all together because “it’s just too hard.”

But it doesn’t have to be this way. We just have to learn how to use the right tools.

So, Can I Still Use Duolingo in my Homeschool?

Yes, of course, with a caveat: if you want your children to actually be able to use a foreign language in real life, treat Duolingo as a fun and motivating practice tool, NOT as your primary foreign language curriculum.

You can pair Duolingo with any of the curricula listed in my popular round-ups:

Spanish Homeschool Curriculum Round-Up

French Homeschool Curriculum Round-Up

Latin Homeschool Curriculum Round-Up

You can also use it for extra practice if you’re outsourcing foreign language study to someone else, such as an online tutor. You can even use it to supplement an online class that your homeschooler might be taking. These are all great uses for the app.

If those aren’t an option for any reason, and you’re convinced that you need to use Duolingo as your primary curriculum, I would encourage you to have appropriate expectations. Duolingo can help your children gain exposure to your target language and maybe even master the absolute basics of conversation, but to go beyond that level, you’ll eventually need to supplement with other materials. It would probably be worth your time to just start with something else.

Does your family enjoy using Duolingo for language practice? How do you pair it with other curricula that you might be using?

Related Posts

Scheduling Foreign Language Practice
Ten Questions to Ask When Choosing a Foreign Language Curriculum
How to Choose a Foreign Language to Study in Your Homeschool