10 juli 2026

 

Random list of Swedish Language Resources


https://www.youtube.com/@swedishforyou/shorts
A Russian immigrant to Sweden who teaches new immigrants. She still has a little bit of a Russian accent, but her pronunciation is very clear (and correct!); she explains well, and since she has gone through the difficulties of learning Swedish (and becoming a Swedish language teacher), she knows what she's doing. She has about 300 shorts on her YT, many of which consist of variations on a theme. (e.g., I have a matchbox, I take out a match, I light a match, I blow out the match.)
The shorts aren't enough to learn the language's structure, but they're a good supplement for vocabulary and pronunciation. (She also sells full courses on her website, but they're pricey and more suited for adult learners.)
A somewhat "boring" but very organized series of 34 lessons for beginners. Mostly vocabulary with basic grammar. My children would not have been able to endure this until middle school, but YMMV…

A playlist for beginners with the most common pronunciation rules that make reading Swedish much easier. And a bit of other really basic Swedish.
And a newer compilation from the same channel with more on Swedish pronunciation.
This is one of the few YouTubers using English to explain the Swedish language. (Most use Swedish only, as we have many immigrants in Sweden, many of whom don't know any English.) Now, this is a comprehensive playlist on Swedish pronunciation, and as she uses English to explain how to pronounce the Swedish vowels, it is very helpful if you don't have access to a native speaker. (For most beginners, the hardest part about Swedish is the vowel sounds!)
The YouTuber also has playlists on grammar and vocabulary, as well as a cute list of Swedish Christmas customs. At https://www.funswedish.com/, she offers courses that seem good but are also more expensive than other options.
A playlist with Swedish nursery rhymes. The animation isn't the most exciting, but the singing is very clear, and the lyrics are in both the video and the description below the video. (Copy the lyric in the description and let Google translate it to help with comprehension.)
A playlist from the same account as above, mostly featuring Christmas and Lucia songs.
A linguist's take on basic Swedish, especially the vowels. (Helpful for parents and high school students!) This channel also offers a playlist with Swedish pop music with Swedish lyrics. (Yes, a lot of Swedish pop music has English lyrics…) Modesty rules are very different between mainstream Sweden and American homeschoolers – consider yourself warned and preview before showing your kiddos.

A playlist with a few videos of Swedish words from InformationSverige.se made for immigrants to Sweden.

The platform outschool.com usually has at least some classes in Swedish. I have never used them, but the current teacher, Jessika O'Sullivan, has good reviews.

https://www.theswedishschool.org/ offers online Swedish classes, but unfortunately only for adults.
Serie of short animated videos teaching basic Swedish everyday language. Beneath each episode, there is "Pedagogiskt material" with a description of the episode, a link to "Lärarhandledning" (the "teacher's material", most helpful for homeschoolers would be the "Begreppslista" (List of Concepts or New Vocabulary) that is in bold print at the beginning of the teaching notes to each episode in the Lärarhandledning. The series was made for adult immigrants in Sweden but is gentle enough for children as well. It assumes that the teacher knows Swedish, but by running the "Manus" also available in the Lärarhandledning through Google Translate, it should be pretty easy to use the series to practice hearing everyday Swedish that is very slowly and clearly spoken, and while the grammar is correct, it still has a very restricted vocabulary.
Unfortunately, the first season is only available online until December 31, 2026, and season 2 until May 7, 2027.

This is the most attractive option for combining YT videos with extra material. The YT channel has "fun" extra-vocabulary videos, and while they're not intended for children, most seem acceptable. (Remember that Swedes have somewhat different views on what is appropriate for children compared to most Americans…) Preview, preview, preview! Or just don't leave your young ones alone in front of a screen…)
The webpage offers audio lessons outside the paywall, but lesson scripts and extra vocabulary lists for building more sentences require a subscription (currently about 10 USD per month).
There's also a grammar book and workbook by the YouTuber Joakim Andersson: A Lagom Guide to Swedish: A Say it in Swedish book and A Lagom Workbook for Swedish, both available on Amazon.com.

At the bottom of the page: Swedish Made Easy, Day 1 – Comfortable in 6 days
A Swedish male teacher spent 30 hours sitting at a table, talking to a Canadian woman and teaching her the basics of Swedish over about 10 days. (The course is edited into six "days" of roughly five hours each.) The video course is free, but the corresponding PDF files are available on the teacher's Patreon page for any donation. The intro video suggests a minimum donation of 1USD.
The videos are quite chattery, so they might be hard to follow for younger students, but the price really can't be beat…
There are other video courses on Udemy.com. I don't have information on them, so I can't recommend a specific one. (Except for the Korean class my youngest son took some five years ago – It was really good!)


Some podcasts teach spoken Swedish (from English). One that starts from the very beginning of language learning is Sweasy Lessons. I found it on Spotify, but it might be available on other platforms as well. (Though not on YT.) The episodes are only around 5 minutes and build on each other in very small steps. 

When you've learned a little bit more Swedish, you can add the podcast Lätt svenska med Oskar. Every five-minute episode centers on a word or phrase. In the first, Oskar asks, "Where do you live?" and in the second, he is talking about "Coffee".


There are, of course, many books on Amazon claiming to teach Swedish, but I haven't found any that would be very suitable for kids, except for random vocabulary picture books. (I linked one below that has audio files on YT.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4mpXWeVI2Y&t=29s Video from the publisher with audio for the book Learn Swedish for kids (ISBN-13 979-8876000545)

For teenagers or older, I recommend "From English to Swedish 1: A basic Swedish textbook for English speaking students" and "From English to Swedish 2: An intermediate Swedish textbook for English speaking students", both by Bengt Hällgren and Carol Hällgren. The books are printed both in black & white and color editions. The color editions are much nicer in my opinion, but also a bit more expensive.
There is audio for the books on YouTube, not very engaging but very thorough.
The book follows an American girl who comes to Sweden as a high school exchange student. The first book tells of her adventures during the fall semester, and the second of the spring semester. She lives with a Swedish family and learns a lot about Swedish culture from them. The book is clearly written for exchange students who need to learn a lot of Swedish rather quickly. (The vocabulary lists for each chapter are long!) But if your students are motivated and you are okay with them learning that she's packing lots of sanitary pads in her suitcase because she doesn't know the Swedish word for pads, I guess you could use the book with younger children if you go a bit slowly. The books are good, and, unlike most other textbooks produced in Sweden, all explanations are in English.
For book 1:
For book 2

8sidor.se (8 pages) is a Swedish weekly newspaper for Swedes who, for some reason, struggle with reading. The newspaper has a web edition with speech synthesis. The voices aren't the best, but there's a lot of short text about current events to listen to and try to understand. 
swedishpress.com is a monthly magazine for Swedish expats and their descendants, and sverige.se is a website by the Swedish Institute that presents Sweden to the rest of the world. 

This last YouTube playlist might not be for beginners… But there are subtitles, if you turn them on, to help with understanding. The books she reads are among the most classic Swedish children's books from the 1900s. E.g., Elsa Beskow's books about Aunt Green, Aunt Brown, and Aunt Purple. Her diction is clear and a great example of how "singing" many Swedish dialects are. And the pictures are so pretty!

I hope this helps a little. Teaching a language that is foreign to both teacher and student is not easy. I tried to teach my Tae Kwon Do-enthusiast some Korean, but it was hard! The best luck we had was with the Udemy course I mentioned. And I believe the main reason why that class succeeded was the simple fact that my student and I did the lessons together.
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25 juli 2021

Dagboksanteckning under Corona 2020-04-08

Jag bor sedan tio år i Central Texas. Vi har suttit i karantän sedan sportlovet slutade i början av mars. Det finns viss, begränsad smittspridning i samhället enligt myndigheterna, men i vår county/stad (stor som Uppsala kommun ungefär) har bara en person dött, åtta vårdas på sjukhus varav fyra får intensivvård.

Många, många har förlorat jobben och antaligen sina bostäder också fast inga avhysningar kommer att ske förrän i juli, säger man. Folk här har i allmänhet inga ekonomiska marginaler (undantaget ett mindre antal riktigt rika förstås). De stödpengar man talat om räcker till mat för en tvåbarnsfamilj i ungefär tre månader, om man snålar riktigt ordentligt.

Att handla mat har blivit ett helt företag. Affärerna håller koll på hur många kunder som släpps in i taget. De flesta varor är begränsade till två/kund oavsett hur stor familjen är. Så en större familj måste handla ofta. Toalettpapper går inte att uppbringa annat än i jättestora rullar i 12-packlådor, typ. Min man och jag har varit inne i affären var sin gång, i övrigt beställer vi online, kör till butiken och får kassarna inlastade i bakluckan med minimal kontakt med personalen.

Just nu gäller "lock down" för alla sorters skolor och dagis till och med 21 april, men ingen tror egentligen att skolorna kommer att öppna mer det här läsåret, möjligen till skolavslutningen för dem som tar studenten. Föräldrar som arbetar hemifrån får lov att hjälpa till med de skoluppgifter som heroiska lärare skickar ut varje morgon. De barn vars föräldrar fortfarande jobbar utanför hemmet får klara sig själva, eller vara med mor-/farföräldrar.

I vår normalt sett välbeställda bekantskapskrets har isoleringen triggat en tonåring till självmordsförsök, hitintills... Vår egen familj har inte träffat några bekanta på över fyra veckor. Just nu är vi extra glada över att vi inte har bara ett barn. Våra barn kan ju leka med varandra.

Frågan är hur länge civilsamhället överhuvudtaget kan fortsätta att fungera när en stor del vuxna inte kan jobba och tjäna pengar. Och vad händer sedan, när politikerna inser att det inte går att hålla folk instängda längre. Det kommer att fattas oerhört många arbetstillfällen, och dessutom kommer nästan ingen att vara immun mot Covid-19, så risken är stor att sjukhusen kommer att bli överfulla två veckor efter att karantänen upphävs. Visst är det bra att vi undsluppit massor av sjukdom och död, men det känns som om vi sitter i karantän för att de är sjuka i New York, fyra flygtimmar bort.
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Do I Live in Holland, Italy, or Beirut?

With a high-functioning kid, I guess I ended up in "Holland." The problem was (is) most people, including pediatricians and educators, for a long while insisted I actually was in "Italy" (even though I tried to tell them that as far as I know, "fields of tulips" are not typically Italian!!). They refused to give me even a tourist map of Haag or a Dutch dictionary. Insisting that if I spoke nothing but Italian with my child, told him everything about Roman mythology, and read Cicero and Plutarch for bedtime stories (gold stars, time outs, and even some very harsh - not to be mentioned - methods ☹️) he would eventually become a true Italian... 
I love my "Dutch" son, but the years when I gave in to my fears and tried to turn him into an "Italian" truly are the worst years of my life, not because of who he was/is, but because of my fears and others' expectations.

He is now very well versed in all things "Italian," to the point that most people outside his immediate family think he is "Italian." Still, deep down, he is and will always be a true "Dutch." He has to learn to advocate for himself for a disability that very few outside of his family ever see any traces of - until the moment when he has been treated as an Italian for too long and simply has a meltdown...

I hear you, the Netherlands is an awesome country, and for many parents, ASD-country is anything but awesome.
But my HF/ASD son is an awesome kid. In fact, the vast majority of the adjectives you used to describe the country also describe my son. Nevertheless, he is not "Italian" (neurotypical, NT), and treating him like an NT - not adjusting for his very specific sensory needs, etc. - is exhausting to him in the long run, just as most (real) Dutch people probably would feel a little exhausted being expected to behave like (real) Italian people all day long. (Whatever it is to be Dutch or Italian for real; like all analogies, this one is not perfect.) And if an analogy helps other people see my son for who he is, and maybe cut him some slack when he, for example, insists on wearing the same jeans & hooded jacket regardless of the weather - we live in a very hot climate - then life would be so much easier for him, and so much less anxious for me as a mom when he takes his first steps into adulthood.
:)

For our family and me, it (now) is a "Welcome to Holland" experience. I totally realize and am very humble about the fact that for many parents, "Welcome to Beirut" is a way more accurate analogy. And if I would have been writing this some eight or ten years ago, I would have totally described my situation as more like a war zone than a tulip field... 
I can see *now* that what I thought were mine fields in my kid's brain, things that I thought would damage his possibilities of being accepted in society, and eventually even hinder his independent living as an adult, all those things he did that I was so ashamed of, and all the fighting I felt I had to do, both with him and for him, all those "mines," in reality, were tulip bulbs developing...

And by grace, I didn't have time nor energy at the time to let the minesweepers destroy all the bulbs before I realized their true nature. Some bulbs survived, and now they are starting to blossom as my kid matures, despite all my shortcomings and mistakes. This, too, by grace.

I realize, I unintentionally imply that not all ASD-kids are awesome, that is NOT what I want to say!
Holland is a great country, just like my kid is a great kid. All kids, ASD and NT, are, in fact, great kids. But for some families, the environment in which you have to live with your kids is anything but great. Many ASD-parents live in a hostile environment, which makes it hard to fully appreciate all of the awesomeness of your own child. Not sleeping well for months at a time, for example, can make any environment feel like an apocalyptic desert... and you might even mistake your own beautiful "tulip"- child for a "prickly cactus."
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And even if your child *is behind* due to developmental delays or disabilities; because of death or disease in your family; or perhaps your home was flooded by a hurricane or burnt in a wildfire...

Even then, if you faithfully did your very best to present to your kids the riches of a CM education and gathered them at the kitchen table to do their math and sat down on the couch to read the books... however little it seemed that you could manage at the moment...
If you did that faithfully, with the measure of grace that God gave for each day, your kids would have had a rich education preparing them not only for the workforce but for life. And in the end, when it really matters, you will hear the words: Well done!
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On 12-year-olds with or without self-discipline

"Help, my tween has started to refuse to do his schoolwork. He does sloppy work, and sometimes he's lying about being done..."

One more too-long comment on a FB post...
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I have a 13yob. He is as far from disobedient as a kid ever could be. He's intelligent, kind, and very, very self-disciplined. He just tested for his 2nd-degree black belt in Taekwondo and spends about 30 hours each week in the dojo helping to teach less-advanced students (both kids and adults). Still, he is always doing his schoolwork on time. He is an awesome kid. BUT he has two older brothers... ...and let's just say, I know pretty well what you're going through... Though now, at 18 and 19, they're starting to get their acts together. So, I still have good hope for them...
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Anyway, last year this then 12-year-old boy really wanted to do his math with excellence. He could solve any problem in his book if he only had to do one at a time, but he could not get the ten right in a row that the curriculum required for a passing grade. Even when he sat next to me trying, trying, trying, he ended up with two or three wrong. His brain just couldn't do ten problems in a row! If he took a break after a few problems to jump on the trampoline for ten minutes, then he could focus again and get another two or three right. For most of the school year, math was a mess. His spelling was also outrageous. No matter what spelling rules he tried to learn, he just couldn't remember any of them.
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School started to get easier again a couple of months after he turned 13, but instead, he began to crave social interactions. He could do anything just to be with friends, in real life, or online; it didn't matter. He just had to have someone to interact with. Now we are another couple of months down the lane. He has had a lot of activities during the summer break, so it's a bit better; he doesn't feel as alone as he did in May. And it is easier for him to let go of his gaming friends when I remind him of bedtime.
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Six or seven years ago, his brothers were this age. Their problems include things like ASD and ADD, both of them intelligent but lacking in self-control and emotional regulation... Let me tell you, life as a homeschool mom was a mess. The chargers and keyboards to their computers were locked into a cupboard until they showed me proof of being done with their school work. They had to narrate each book they read, show me everything they wrote, every math problem they solved before I took out the key and let them have those chargers and keyboards. And they both had at least an hour of P.E on the schedule, e.v.e.r.y. d.a.y!
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Looking back, I can see all three boys struggled with the same issues at the same age, but this third kid pulled the longest straw in the genetic lottery of our family, so he's had a very easy ride compared to his older brothers. It seems to be hard to be a 12-year-old boy. I don't remember much from those years; maybe it is hard to be a 12-year-old girl as well? I don't know. But I know my boys have needed all the love and grace and mercy I could find within myself, and then some!
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Love him, cuddle him - if he allows you to, use very few words, lots of sleep, lots of real food, lots of exercise, and fresh air. Always make sure he's not afraid to tell you the truth. A truthful no is a hundred times better than a deceitful yes! Tell him almost anything goes, even sweeping streets for a living, but not being dishonest because a dishonest man is a disgrace to himself.
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Schoolwork will eventually have to be done if he wants his high school transcript; we simply added a year of school for our two oldest to compensate for the work they didn't do during those hard middle school years...
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Driving is only possible with gas in the car, and gas costs money, and money comes from working.
My 19 yo figured out that equation all by himself when he found a girlfriend...
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Children's author Astrid Lindgren said: Give the kids plenty of love and then some more love, and common sense will grow by itself.
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Love him, but don't bend yourself over to suit him. Reassure him often that you have good hope for him; his brain will eventually mature, and if he keeps practicing, he will be more and more able to focus and get his work done. If he used to be a "good student," he might even be scared about what is happening to him... Tell him his brain is rebuilding itself for adult life; he will be ok. But right now, he doesn't have much executive functioning capacity.

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5 maj 2020

Debattartikeln på Skolvärlden.se följdes av en debatt på Skolvärldens Facebooksida. Där skrevs bland annat så här:

"Ta efter Finland här. Ingen skolplikt men däremot läroplikt. Bättre resultat i Finland enligt Pisa undersökning. Nu när eleverna skall tillbaka till skolan är det ändå föräldrarna som bestämmer om dom skall ha barnen hemma eller i skolan. Även om regeringen öppnar skolan i Corona tider, 15 maj så är det upp till föräldrarna om dom släpper sina barn till skolan. Man har helt annan frihet som förälder i Finland. Man behöver inte vara rädd att barnen tar smitta hem och kanske i värsta fall blir utan förälder efter Corona. Det är tomma ord i Sverige att man tänker på barnens bästa! Skitsnack!"
"Väldigt okunnigt resonerat. Det finns enorma risker med att ge föräldrar den makt du beskriver. För många barn är skolan den enda tryggheten och det ska inte vara möjligt för en förälder att välja bort den. I de fall skolan inte fungerar för en elev måste fokus ligga på att lösa det problemet. Till det krävs resurser. Vi ska inte bara ge upp och konstatera att skolan inte är för alla. Det är ett enormt svek mot barnen."


Mitt svar, som vanligt allför lång, kommer här:
Det finns inte en hemskolare värd namnet, som inte tycker att samhället bör utöva viss tillsyn över hemskolande familjer; en del barn far illa i sina egna hem. Men en del barn far också illa i skolmiljön! När det är skolmiljön som ställer till svårigheter har man som förälder väldigt små möjligheter att komma tillrätta med problemen.
Det finns också barn som kanhända trivs i skolan, men som faktiskt inte lär sig särskilt mycket där. Oftast beror det på att man inte tillhör de "50%" som debattartikeln talar om - skolan är för lätt eller för svår.
Hemskolade barn måste i de flesta länder redovisa, genom tester eller portföljer, hur mycket de lärt sig varje termin. De som inte lärt sig tillräckligt mycket under året får vackert finna sig i att den som utövar kontrollen (oftast en lärare i det allmänna skolväsendet) bestämmer en åtgärdsplan för eleven - mer aktiv hemskolning med specifika läromedel eller till och med att eleven måste börja i allmän skola. Om den tillsynsansvarige misstänker eller upptäcker brister inte bara i barnets kunskaper utan också i omvårdnaden görs en orosanmälan till socialtjänsten.
För de barn i allmän skola som har svag kunskapsutveckling kan en individuell studieplan upprättas, men om det inte hjälper, så är svenska barn ändå tvungna att uppfylla sin skolplikt och sitta av lektionerna i klassrummet. Om problemet är att barnet är högbegåvat finns i Sverige ofta inget annat alternativ än att flytta upp barnet en årskurs, vilket ju bara är en temporär lösning.
Långt ifrån alla föräldrar är beredda att ta det ansvar som hemskolning innebär. Men det finns familjer som är beredda att ställa om sitt vardagsliv och sin familjeekonomi så att barnet har tillgång till en förälder hela dagen, och som dessutom är beredda att lägga både tid och energi på att finna läromedel och andra inlärningsmöjligheter som passar barnet, både i mötet med människor ute i samhället och via distansutbildare.
Varför måste vi i Sverige alltid utgå från att det är farligt för barnen att vara med sina föräldrar? Hemskolning kräver i de flesta länder någon typ av anmälan och/eller tillståndsprövning. Det ger myndigheterna information om vilka barn vars skolgång och hemmiljö behöver särskild tillsyn. Varför inte låta de föräldrar som vill ta ansvar för sina barns skolgång faktiskt få möjlighet att göra det? Självklart behövs tillsyn och utvärdering, men det behövs ju i den vanliga skolmiljön också!
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6 augusti 2019

Children do well if they can

"Children do well if they can." (Dr. Ross Greene) This is a way of thought that has been helpful in my house. We have had years of more or less chaos, but have since four or five years reached a much more peaceful way with each other, mom, dad and four kids 7-17 years old, the three oldest are boys.
The idea behind the saying is that no one likes to be scolded or to fail their loved ones. So when a child doesn't do what it was told to, or when he/she makes an emotional mess of him/herself or others, it is time to teach the skill that is lagging. The skill to be kind, the skill to unload the dishwasher, the skill to not mention every little thing you find offensive with your younger brother and on and on... Or, if it doesn't work to teach the skill: to simply lower the expectations in that area, by not putting them in that situation. (But, of course, keep teaching similar situations, we do expect them to learn those skills over time!)
Kids that usually have success with being good kids learn from punishment when they occasionally mess up. But kids that mostly fail usually learn very little from punishment after punishment after punishment. For those of my kids that used to fail all the time, I've found it much more fruitful to use Charlotte Mason's idea about making sure the crime is never done by distracting the child who is about to commit said crime. ("Please, go get the milk in the fridge for me!", "Please, go and check the mail!")
One recent and very practical example: We had a reoccurring fuss between my 17 yo and 16 yo. every breakfast, both wanting to place their feet at the same place. Telling them to stop didn't work, teaching them where to put their feet didn't work either - they're almost adults, they know how to sit! But they didn't have mental power (or Executive Functions) enough at 8 o'clock a.m. to will themselves to do what was right to each other. So to break the bad habit that was developing, I simply announced that we all would switch places at the breakfast table. They now sit next to me, and if they would like to kick each other, it would be me they're kicking. I don't think I need to say that kicking stopped immediately.
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