Our Fluency Family Vision: A Year in Review

At the beginning of the year, I had a vision for our family’s languages.

Not a perfect plan. Not a checklist. Just a sense of where I hoped our kids would grow—and what I wanted language to feel like in our family.

Some of that vision played out exactly how I imagined. Some of it surprised me completely.

I’m Adelaide from TalkBox.Mom, where we help families start talking in a foreign language the very same day they start our program.

In this video, I want to walk you through the languages we focused on this year, why we chose them, and what actually happened along the way—because I think it might help you see what’s possible for your own family.”

Asia — Chinese, Korean, Japanese

At the beginning of the year, three of the languages we focused on were Asian languages.
And the reason might surprise you—it didn’t start with travel at all.

My eleven-year-old had to read 42 books for his Eastern Hemisphere studies.
When we opened the curriculum… he cried.
Like real tears.

I remember thinking, Okay. Therapy? Tutors? How do we survive this year?
So instead, I made him a deal.

If you can read all 42 books in 90 days, I’ll pay you $1,000.

He finished them in 53 days.
And then he bought NVIDIA stock… which has only gone up.
So honestly, that worked out for everyone.

But once he finished, I thought:
What if we bring what he read to life?

So we planned a trip to Asia—using points.
Flights and hotels were covered, just small fees.
And we decided this trip would be an introduction to Asian languages: Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Chinese wasn’t even part of the original plan.
But we could only find great point tickets into Taiwan, so we decided—if we’re going, we’re going to speak Chinese.

We practiced with the Consistency Crew at home, which was needed because I was really scared and dragging my feet.
In my unrealistic dream world, we would’ve practiced more. But thank goodness we did anything. Thank you, Consistency Crew.
My kids were definitely using what they knew—ordering food and interacting with people. It made the languages feel more real to us.

And something incredible happened.

Each of my kids—independently—said the same thing afterward:
“I want to keep going with Korean.”

That wasn’t my plan.
That was their clarity.

Next year, we’re going deeper with Korean.
And we’ll never forget that trip—not because of how perfect our language was, but because our kids felt seen. On the trip, they said multiple times, I can’t believe were in Japan. I never thought we would come here. They love anime, and they were so touch we went to Japan for them.

My seven-year-old, though?
He asks about China every single day.
Multiple times a day.

Because we did not go to China.

And even if that interest is fleeting, I want him to know:
What you care about matters to me.

So I’m going to keep practicing Chinese with them next year, and maybe we’ll find a poitns flight to China.

Spain — Spanish Coming Home

Now Spanish has been part of our home for years.
So this next trip felt… more in our comfort zone.

My husband and I went to Greece on a couples trip.
Right before that, my husband did a reading challenge with the boys—if they finished, they could go to the Harry Potter Studios outside of London.

Instead of flying home to get our kids, we realized something.
It would cost the same amount of points to fly my parents and the kids to Spain.

My parents had always wanted to go.
The kids love time with their grandparents.
So we said—why not?

In Spain, the boys spoke Spanish constantly.
Not because we told them to.
But because they wanted to.

That’s the magic of real-life fluency.

Even though in Spain, they speak with a lisp. 😉
They felt confident.
And my oldest—who used to protest Spanish the most—loved how capable he felt.

It reminded them how far they’ve come.

Mexico — Deeper Immersion

Mexico was one of the most meaningful trips we’ve ever taken.

We traveled with close friends whose kids are on a school schedule that allows for three weeks off every eight weeks.
The parents speak Spanish and want their kids to feel more willing to try to learn.

We chose San Cristóbal de las Casas, high in the mountains near Guatemala.
Not touristy.
Mostly Spanish spoken.
Unless people were speaking Mayan dialects.

For this trip, I hired and trained three women to do morning activities with the kids—in Spanish.

My kids started each day reviewing with TalkBox.Mom.
Then all the boys played outdoor games.
Did crafts—like making piñatas over several days.
Went on outings.
And finished by cooking each day. Traditional dishes like, empanadas, sopes, enchiladas.

Honestly, the best part?
Eating their food for lunch.

In the afternoons, both of our families explored together, drinking lots of hot chocolate, because this town is famous for it. I think we tried every hot chocolate cafe.

My oldest son was very serious about going even deeper with his Spanish on this trip.
He joined a teen class. He made friends that came over. And my two oldest also took a photography class in Spanish.

Three of us adults also took Pilates classes in Spanish. They were $8 a session, and I was so thankful for TalkBox.Mom because everything transferred over, and it was easy for my to understand new technical words.

By the end of the trip, my friend’s boys were more willing to speak Spanish. And all of the boys had a deep sense of gratitude for their lives in the United States.
I heard multiple times how thankful they were for strong water pressure and central heating before we even got home.

German — Immersion at Home

We didn’t travel to Germany this year.
But we brought Germany to us.

We flew friends out from Germany for Easter on points—friends we’ve known since before any of us had kids.

We each have three boys, similar ages. 

At first, their kids were a little shy…

But by the end of the trip?
They were switching seats in the car to ride together and playing in German.
I even heard brain rot—in German.

We took them to a baseball game, NASA, the Stockyards, and Tulsa.
German came alive—not through lessons, but through relationship, which is what TalkBox.Mom prepares you for.

Russian — A Work In Progress

Russian was my son’s choice for high school.

Our vision was to practice at home… and honestly, we did a spotty job.

I’ve used my Russian with native speakers in Canada and Greece—and they were shocked by my pronunciation.

Thank you, TalkBox.Mom Companion App.

But as a family?

We need to step it up.

And that’s part of vision too—being honest about what’s still growing.

And accepting that my son chose German instead of a language we already speak.

English — Yes, This Too!

And of course, we still practice English. I didn’t want to leave this out.

Sometimes people assume that because we focus on other languages, English just… takes care of itself. It doesn’t.

This year, the boys have been working on reading, spelling, and writing. Reading has been the easy win — they all love it.

With the Harry Potter Studios challenge my husband made, our most unwilling reader hit a turning point. Once he had a reason that mattered to him, something clicked.
Now he’s choosing books he’s genuinely interested in and reading on his own.

Writing is still a work in progress to get them to willingly write on their own… One of my kids did make a lot of progress this year, and I find things he’s writing all over the house.

We’ve also invested a lot of time in spelling this year. At least an hour a day.
Schools in our area don’t teach spelling, which made it harder at first to convince one of our kids that it was important.

But over time, his motivation shifted. It stopped being about “because we said so” and started becoming internal. And that’s when we began to see real progress.

Looking ahead, next year I really want to focus on their writing — especially journaling and copywriting — helping them learn how to organize their thoughts and express themselves clearly for themselves and for specific audiences.