VfCR: how important is it to go through this?

[Colleen in NS]

Hello,

 

Ds11 started going through VfCR last year, and is up to book B in the series. He has no trouble doing it. He does it mostly as prescribed in WTM, with putting roots and prefixes into a chart, and doing the exercises. At first, I had him memorizing derivatives, then I dropped him back to just memorizing the roots and prefixes from the books. Lately I've dropped back to just having him fill out the charts, pronouncing the words aloud to me (so I'd know he knew how to pronounce), having him read the definitions on his own and doing exercises (except the writing ones in the review lessons - we skipped those) on his own. He has no problem doing any of this.

 

However.

 

I'd like to know how important it really is to "do" these books, in the whole scheme of a classical-style education, where I am trying to teach him how to write, teaching him grammar and math, and teaching him Latin and logic, all for the sake of teaching him to read/think/express himself clearly with confidence.

 

I'm not looking to get the TM to give me all sorts of enrichment activities, I'm not looking for other vocab programs to do instead of VfCR - VfCR is great the way we are doing it. But he's not storing all these derivatives in his brain...maybe he would if I still drilled him on derivatives and definitions, but to what end? Does it really matter that he gets these derivatives memorized? I see the benefit in knowing roots, but I am also starting to see a lot of overlap from our Latin studies. I know there is Greek in VfCR...

 

I know there is the whole argument of "you acquire vocab from extensive reading" and that he has done and probably will continue to do so. I also like the idea in WTM rhetoric stage of keeping a list of unfamiliar words from your reading (with definitions, pronunciation, and sample sentence) - that I could see doing in high school, because then it would be relevant to his reading and interests.

 

But if we dropped doing VfCR, which really doesn't take him long to do but is one more irritating thing to check off the "to do" list a few days a week, will it be detrimental later? I know the analogies are useful for certain kinds of tests later on, but is that something I can reteach him later, quickly, if the need arises, or will I regret dropping VfCR?

 

This is my 11yo distractible-and-bright son, for whom I am trying really hard to narrow down what is *really* necessary, and make time for reading, rest, play, and hobbies and "real life" learning. I'm one of those who would really like to keep high school hours down to 5 or 6 hours, including lots of reading time, and yet make sure my kids are prepared to go to university if they want to. But I am stupidly worried that I will miss something important if I drop VfCR! :D

 

Thanks.

[Brenda in MA]

My oldest did books A & B during 8th grade, but I found that he retained very little. This is just him. He has an excellent short term memory and can cram for tests, but his long-term retention isn't there without a lot of review.

 

We just didn't have the time to continue with this series, and I didn't see the need if he wasn't retaining it anyway. He does read a lot, and he did quite well on the PSAT & ACT in vocabulary-related sections, so no harm done for him.

 

I definitely hear you on the need to find what is absolutely necessary for school so you can make sure he has time for other worthy pursuits.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[Peela]

I found my daughter retained virtually nothing of VfCR either. I didnt realise others felt the same, actually. She too did it in reasonable time. I felt it was busy work and dropped it. Its a nice idea, but in practice it felt like a waste of time, and more vocabulary is learned through Latin, and literature.

[Colleen in NS]

My oldest did books A & B during 8th grade, but I found that he retained very little. This is just him. He has an excellent short term memory and can cram for tests, but his long-term retention isn't there without a lot of review.

 

We just didn't have the time to continue with this series, and I didn't see the need if he wasn't retaining it anyway. He does read a lot, and he did quite well on the PSAT & ACT in vocabulary-related sections, so no harm done for him.

 

I definitely hear you on the need to find what is absolutely necessary for school so you can make sure he has time for other worthy pursuits.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

 

I found my daughter retained virtually nothing of VfCR either. I didnt realise others felt the same, actually. She too did it in reasonable time. I felt it was busy work and dropped it. Its a nice idea, but in practice it felt like a waste of time, and more vocabulary is learned through Latin, and literature.

 

I'm so embarrassed, I discovered today that I asked pretty much the same thing last fall. Thanks for your replies, though.

 

I think I'll just keep plugging away at it - ds has no problem with doing the exercises, and I guess the practice of those will come in handy later. I may step up the memory work of at least the Greek roots and de-emphasize the Latin roots so Latin doesn't become overkill. Someone else pointed out to me that biology contains a lot of Greek roots, so it seems it will come in handy. At least I've figured out how to slow down the study so we can fit it in around some edges or on days where the grammar or Latin aren't so intense.