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Wordly Wise, Voc. from Classical Roots, EFTRU


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I'm drawn to different programs and want to narrow, but not sure what to do! My kids will be 5th and 8th.  Fifth grader has pretty good voc., 8th grader struggles a bit w/voc. and reading comprehension. My plan for next year was to have them both do Spelling Wisdom (dictation), Wordly Wise at grade level, and continue on with English from the Roots Up together. My goal w/EFTRU is to know all roots well before SAT's. 

 

My dilemma is I'm curious about Voc. from Classical Roots. I like that it's a workbook format and I'm trying to give them as much independently as I can next year. What does it cover compared to EFTRU? Is there an advantage to using Voc. from Classical Roots over EFTRU? I'm assuming it would be redundant to use both? Thanks for any input! Blessings, Gina

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I've been looking at samples and reading reviews about this for my upcoming 4th grader.

 

eps.schoolspecialty.com/vcr

This site has samples of Vocabulary from Classical roots under the Resource tab. You can also find the roots at quizlet.com

Red Hot Root words sounds promising and you'll probably get lots of posts for Caesar's English for MCT.

 

I was too eager to start so I made word root cards to play Go Fish with my soon to fourth grader using a list from quizlet.com.

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Thanks for the input! The sample pages are very helpful.  And thanks for the input on the difficulty of Voc. from Classical Roots. I guess my main question for those w/familiarity w/all 3 programs is which might be a better option for voc. development: 

 

1) Wordly Wise independently w/EFTRU done together (mainly orally)

2) Voc. from the Classical Roots independently

 

Thanks for the help. I thought I was all set to go w/option one, but am wondering if them doing more writing w/option 2 might be more helpful (and easier on me:) Blessings, Gina

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Thanks for the input! The sample pages are very helpful. And thanks for the input on the difficulty of Voc. from Classical Roots. I guess my main question for those w/familiarity w/all 3 programs is which might be a better option for voc. development:

 

1) Wordly Wise independently w/EFTRU done together (mainly orally)

2) Voc. from the Classical Roots independently

 

Thanks for the help. I thought I was all set to go w/option one, but am wondering if them doing more writing w/option 2 might be more helpful (and easier on me:) Blessings, Gina

It depends on whicch way you want to go. EFTRU and VCR are root based vocabulary. We do Wordly Wise for grade 4 and it's not root based, but still very good.

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We tried Wordly Wise one year, but the word choices for each week seemed very random and unconnected, and the combination of that along with the fact that workbooks just are not what best help our DSs learn, nothing really stuck. Classical Roots would likely have stuck better, since each lesson revolves around a cohesive idea. However, Classical Roots first came out just a little late for us to have tried it.

 

We used and enjoyed English from the Roots Up, which really helped vocabulary-wise by giving them roots from which to work.

 

Another completely different resource you may want to look if you are specifically wanting to prep for SAT vocabulary is Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power. Words are learned through the mnemonic device of a goofy picture/story association with the word pronunciation and definition.

 

A just for fun vocabulary game: Free Rice, which donates grains of rice to World Food Programme for each correct answer.
 

BEST of luck in finding what works best for your family! Warmly, Lori D.

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I've been trying to implement English From the Roots Up for some time. The teacher book IMO is sort of all over the place. I have been eye balling the Vocab Classical Roots books. I think that combined with the EFRU cards would be great. The cards could be periodical review. I don't have a lot left over in my budget each year for an extensive Latin, so focusing on roots vocab has become my compromise. 

 

I've done two books (grades) of Wordly Wise with my ds. And they're great books, just not something that my ds enjoyed at all. For regular vocab I just have him using any spelling words that are unfamiliar and I've taught him to make note of any unknown words as he reads/hears them. He uses the dictionary independently. The reading selection and questions in Wordly Wise were great. But studying the list of words was sort of underwhelming. 

 

Wordly Wise IMO could be a good summer book. Fitting it in with the other subjects was sort of a problem. I've been trying to combine all of those language arts topics as much as possible to cut down on the juggling of workbooks. 

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Yeah, I'd prefer them to pick words from their readings but struggle to be disciplined with that and knowing if they're retaining. Do you just tell your son to look up all words he doesn't know from readings? Does he write anything down? Workbook seems simpler, but likely same retention issue...not sure. I think studying the roots is preferable. I don't really use the teacher book for EFTRU. I bought the pre-made cards and we've made it through 25 or so...having them make their own cards as EFTRU instructs. I think we'd be disciplined getting through the roots if I add the pre-made cards to our memory box since we're pretty disciplined w/that. Is there any reason to get Voc. from Classical Roots if we diligently study EFTRU orally?  If we need to take time to write them out, etc. it might be just as well to buy the Voc. Classical Roots to be independent. Does that make sense?! I totally get trying to streamline LA....it's a struggle for me!! Thanks, Gina

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I've been trying to implement English From the Roots Up for some time. The teacher book IMO is sort of all over the place. I have been eye balling the Vocab Classical Roots books. I think that combined with the EFRU cards would be great...  I've been trying to combine all of those language arts topics as much as possible to cut down on the juggling of workbooks. 

 

Walking Iris, you may find these past threads with ideas of how to use the program helpful in your combining efforts. There are even links for making worksheets, game ideas, and review ideas. Cheers! Lori D.

 

How do you use English From The Roots Up?

If you have English From the Roots Up (how do you use it?)

How do I use EFTRU cards?

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Walking Iris, you may find these past threads with ideas of how to use the program helpful in your combining efforts. There are even links for making worksheets, game ideas, and review ideas. Cheers! Lori D.

 

How do you use English From The Roots Up?

If you have English From the Roots Up (how do you use it?)

How do I use EFTRU cards?

 

Thanks, I'll check those out.

 

 

Yeah, I'd prefer them to pick words from their readings but struggle to be disciplined with that and knowing if they're retaining. Do you just tell your son to look up all words he doesn't know from readings? Does he write anything down? Workbook seems simpler, but likely same retention issue...not sure. I think studying the roots is preferable. I don't really use the teacher book for EFTRU. I bought the pre-made cards and we've made it through 25 or so...having them make their own cards as EFTRU instructs. I think we'd be disciplined getting through the roots if I add the pre-made cards to our memory box since we're pretty disciplined w/that. Is there any reason to get Voc. from Classical Roots if we diligently study EFTRU orally?  If we need to take time to write them out, etc. it might be just as well to buy the Voc. Classical Roots to be independent. Does that make sense?! I totally get trying to streamline LA....it's a struggle for me!! Thanks, Gina

 

No, my ds doesn't write anything down. In our spelling there are activities for finding the definition of homophones, and other vocab activities. We do those activities because the workbook style page is a part of the spelling workbook. We just talk about words. He will look up a word in his dictionary on his own. Sometimes if I see him searching the dictionary I ask him what he's looking for and he'll tell me the word and where he read it or heard it and then we talk about it for a minute. That just really works for him. And he seems to find more enjoyment from this self-education as needed than studying a list of unrelated words. 

 

After reading your posts, I am for certain adding Vocab from Classical Roots this year. We don't study those cards in a regular way. It's a program that is ignored in my house, sitting on the shelf taunting me. Maybe I'll get some ideas from the links Lori provided. If you are very disciplined at the cards, maybe you wouldn't need an extra program. I think that was my thinking when I chose EFRU, but it's not getting done here. 

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Walking Iris, thanks for sharing how your son does this. My similarly ages son is like this too and I think it would work. But my older daughter is  not and I'm getting more concerned!

 

I understand about fitting EFTRU in. On one of the links here (don't remember which one) somebody recommended the below site. It seems the most helpful to me, and FREE!  She has notebooking pages, schedules, tests, and games to go with both volumes of EFTRU. I'll probably do this since I own the cards and book already. But if I didn't I'd be tempted to just go with Voc. from Roots Up!  Blessings, Gina

 

 http://www.cyncesplace.com/Journal/english-from-the-roots-up/.  

 

 

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I actually liked Wordly Wise in the elementary years 3,4,5 and Voc. from classical roots for middle school 6,7, and 8.  We have done/are doing VCR A, B, And C.  We have not done the levels lower than the middle school levels.  We also haven't done latin and now my oldest is taking German for high school credit so I do sort of see VCR as our last ditch effort to get a bit of latin in there.  My kids did really enjoy Wordly Wise and no matter which grade that I started it with them I bought the 3 book set from Seton"s 3 books set with Wordly Wise A, B, and C to complete.  It is sold geared to be for 3rd grade, but my one child who came home in 4th started with it and she continued with WW1 and 2 from Seton (think it may be older versions) before transitioning to VCR in 7th.  Since we switched in 7th to a virtual school VCR B was provided for her.  Anyway, I don't think you can wrong vocabulary wise, but if the younger VCR is the same style....I know my kids would have gotten down on completing vocabulary whereas starting with the 3 books set with Wordly Wise they started off enjoying vocabulary.  

I went back and looked at your ages of your students and personally I would go with Wordly Wise for the elementary age and VCR for the Middle School age.

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Lori D.,

 

What ages were your boys when you used EFTRU?  I'm interested in it for my rising 6th and 8th graders.

 

We used it when DSs were grades 3-6. It would still be fine for grades 6-8, you'd just be able to go through it much quicker -- probably 1 semester per book (there are only 100 roots per book). You might also want to look at the Vocabulary from Classical Roots, esp. for the 8th grader, as that program is designed for middle school/high school students, and goes more in-depth than EFTRU.

 

BEST of luck, whatever you decide to go with! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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