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Pacing for Vocabulary from Classical Roots?


LisaNY
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Hi everyone,

 

My 7th gr. (13yo) dd seems to be bogging down with the pace she currently keeps for VfCR, book A. She has been doing one lesson per week. She says she's overwhelmed with the amount of words she has to memorize.

 

Does anyone do one lesson over two weeks? How many books *should* be covered per year? At this point, I'll be happy if we cover one, and my dd retains the info.

 

Thanks!

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I was hoping to see some experienced replies, too.....

 

I can only tell you what my plan is with my ds when he starts 5th next year - we plan to cover one book per year, with one lesson taking two weeks, as you described, for the reasons you described. Now, that's the plan, but I don't know how he will handle it, with being younger. We'll see how it goes.

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Well, there's some question in general about how much kids actually retain from these programs. If they're not using the words on a regular basis, I think they may not "retain" them in the sense of being able to pull them up out of the blue and apply them. But they may still be able to recall enough when taking the SAT's to choose the correct words, so the programs may provide at least *some* degree of help.

 

We did books A and B in seventh; books C and half of D in eighth (pace picks up in D); and finished D and did E in ninth. After having done that, I will start with the new, lower level programming they offer for my younger son. I will also probably only do one book a year for him. I'm still not certain whether that will make overall retention any better, but it might help.....

 

Regena

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He spent 14 weeks with it, which I think is a bit more than one week per lesson. I like the program in theory, but in practice, I'm not sure it's particularly effective. He did well on the exercises and tests, but I seriously doubt he retained much if anything from the lessons. I am debating right now whether to move on the Book B or hold off until we start we school year in the fall. I never did have him use Spelling Workout G (he used all the other SWO books), so maybe I'll have him do that. As for VfCR, though, I don't see a point in trying to cram two books in per year.

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Thanks, everyone!

 

I think I will go with one lesson every two weeks. From the general concensus I get here, I think it may be more beneficial to cover less words per year with a better chance of retention instead of cramming more words in and forgetting them. :rolleyes:

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Thanks, everyone!

 

I think I will go with one lesson every two weeks. From the general concensus I get here, I think it may be more beneficial to cover less words per year with a better chance of retention instead of cramming more words in and forgetting them. :rolleyes:

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Regena,

 

Do you use VfCR as outlined in WTM? If so, do you still find retention to be a problem?

 

When I saw in WTM that two of the books were covered each year, starting in 7th grade, I thought about trying to start the series earlier, so we could spread it out, hoping to make retention easier.

 

Actually, I did try book A this year (4th grade) for my ds, who had finished his spelling program and is quite a detailed thinker. I figured a book a year until the end of 8th grade. After a few lessons, he said the exercises were too hard, so we put it away, to try again in 5th grade.

 

But I'm just wondering what you think about the method outlined in WTM, combined with spreading the study out, in order to retain more. I did start book A myself, to try it out. I figured that once I got into a routine of filling in the roots chart and doing flashcards every day for two weeks and using the words in the exercises, that it would ingrain them in my brain. Of course, I did not continue, but......what has been your experience?

 

I also figured that the more important aspect of studying VfCR would be on the Greek and Latin ROOTS and not so much the individual English words - wouldn't the idea be to learn the roots really well, so a person can figure out more English words?

 

Colleen

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Yes, I think the main point is to learn the roots and I really do think that these studies aid in doing the SAT's. Some folks just seem discouraged that their children do them and then don't retain and incorporate that vocabulary into their regular writing, speaking, etc. I've seen discussions that indicate this to be true for vocabulary programs across the board. And while it makes sense to me that perfect retention will not remain where there isn't regular usage, I still think that familiarity with these roots will aid in recall and in figuring out words within the context of a reading later on.

 

Boy, I think 4/5th is really young to do these books. I thought the publisher had come out with a 5/6th grade program now that's written at a lower level. That's what I meant about maybe starting in the series sooner. The G and H levels of Spelling Workout also provide great beginning vocabulary root studies. We're working through those the next two years and I plan on trying to begin using those words in conversation, etc. in order to help cement learning. I may add in the lower level VfCR books along with those.

 

I did use the WTM recs for accomplishing the study and I do like that plan of action. I think the only thing that I will try differently next time around is to take it more slowly and actually work with using the words some in conversation and in writing (in addition to the written exercises in the books).

 

Regena

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We did the 5th grade one with a group of kids I was teaching, and that seemed to help retention - we'd discuss the words, think of other words with those roots, (spent two weeks per lesson, one per review) they'd do the exercises on their own, we'd come back and do oral tests, and then 3 times we did a big Vocabulary Spelling bee.

 

That said, I don't know how much she's retained, though recently she was talking about terr meaning earth (it came up in a word she was trying to figure out) and going back and forth about whether Aqua was water or sea and marine was water or sea, (So she tried to think of other words using those roots and found her answer) so something stuck...

 

Good luck,

 

Kris

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We were doing one lesson a week and it was a bit much for her. We put it away for a month over Christmas and are starting back with 1 lesson over 2 weeks. I am having her review the words every day and do an exercise every other day. I'm hoping that she will not get so frustrated with it that way. I love the books though!

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