#4 Become (basically) fluent in Spanish

Oh Spanish . . . in high school I hated you. Refusing to learn more than I had to in 9th and 10th grade, I quickly forgot everything but the few sentences I had been taught in 3rd grade Spanish class. The I went to college and realized the amazingness that knowing you could bring. You were a piece of my heritage, a way to get me closer to my roots, and I longed to know you. Alas, my "I will pay for my last three years of college in cash," hardworking self refused to take a Spanish language course because of lack of time and wanting to graduate early. So there I was, 16 years of school under my belt and no foreign language to show for it.

But my desire to know Spanish did not diminish. I bought a number of at home study courses, but never really followed through with them. I also spent 6 weeks in Spain taking language course. While I am now somewhat conversational, I still want more.

So the plan is to finally use all of those at home study courses. Once those are complete we are going to buy Rosetta Stone and do the whole program. Once I feel like I've got a good set of knowledge under my belt we will make a trip to some non-touristy Spanish speaking area where I can practice my new skills. Hopefully by the end of this I will be able to speak, read, and write a whole lot better.

Then when I send my kids to Spanish immersion school I can keep up with their skills :)