Vocabulary for the High School and College Student

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Is there a place where I can see samples of these books?

 

I'm thinking of switching from Wordly Wise. Dd actually likes Wordly Wise, but I'm not sure if we should stick with it during 8th-high school. Many on this board use Voc for the HS and College Student, so I wanted to check them out.

 

Besides WW and VftHS and College Student, what other vocabulary programs do you like for 8th-12th that prep for ACT/SAT?

 

I've also been interested in Jensen's Vocabulary, but it just doesn't seem to be talked about compared to other books. Is there a reason for this?

[CBryant3]

You can see samples of these two books at Rainbow Resources.

 

:)

[Jean in Wisc]

I use Levine's books. For most students, I would use WftHS in junior high, WftCS for 9th/10th and Joy of Vocabualry in 11th/12th. However, I would never do all 3 of these books. My kids did one (or part of one). It depends upon what you think your child needs.

 

I looked at Jensen's so long ago, I can't remember much about it.

 

I like to give my kids an electronic dictionary--one that has a history of what words they looked up. Then we can talk about the words or have them use them in sentences...and I can see if they have been looking anything up. LOL! This means they need to read material that is written with a higher vocabulary than what they use.

 

FWIW,

Jean

[Sweet Home Alabama]

You can see samples of these two books at Rainbow Resources.

 

:)

 

 

Thank you so much!

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I use Levine's books. For most students, I would use WftHS in junior high, WftCS for 9th/10th and Joy of Vocabualry in 11th/12th. However, I would never do all 3 of these books. My kids did one (or part of one). It depends upon what you think your child needs.

 

I looked at Jensen's so long ago, I can't remember much about it.

 

I like to give my kids an electronic dictionary--one that has a history of what words they looked up. Then we can talk about the words or have them use them in sentences...and I can see if they have been looking anything up. LOL! This means they need to read material that is written with a higher vocabulary than what they use.

 

FWIW,

Jean

 

Thank you, Jean. I'm just curious why you say not to do all 3 of the books.... Would you help me understand?

 

Thanks again!

[Jean in Wisc]

Thank you, Jean. I'm just curious why you say not to do all 3 of the books.... Would you help me understand?

 

Thanks again!

 

Weeeeeeell....this is my take on it:

 

There are so many things that need to be done in high school--so many classes, so much reading, prep for ACT/SAT/PSAT, high school activities (drama? debate? cross-country? volunteer work? CAP?...), applying to college, searching for scholarships... Every class takes more time than it did in elementary/junior high. More memorization, more, more, more...

 

Vocabulary is just one portion of English--composition (progymnasmata/rhetoric, the essay, grammar, research paper, resume, precis...) Literature (poetry, modern, ancient, literary terms...) and on and on. Vocabulary is just one segment of that big pile of work that is ahead of your child. There are only so many hours in a day, and it is nice to have a few of them left over for sleep, life, family living, hobbies, and relaxation.

 

So studying vocabulary is important, but there just is not enough time to do so many hours per semester, EVERY semester, doing vocabulary. Those Levine books take time--my kids cannot finish one in a year if they do it only 15 minutes per day for 160 days--a 2 year schedule would work better for each book. I simply want them to do other things before they get out of my homeschool...and vocab is something they pick up in Latin and Spanish class and in the reading of literature. (I should probably mention that I lean towards the kind of homeschool that an hour per day for 160 to 180 days should be enough to get the class work done for one credit.)

 

And then there is the argument that says that one does not REALLY learn vocabulary AT ALL while doing a vocab texbook. How many of those words are really learned, used, and remembered? Would a higher level reading assignment with a good dictionary by her side be more effective? Using an electronic dictionary 1) you can tell if they are looking anything up 2) you are giving them the fastest way possible of looking up a word and 3) they don't have to write anything down to be able to review the words they looked up.

 

Why not so much vocab? Because life is short and I'm not convinced they learn a lot by spending hours filling in blanks in a textbook.

 

Just sayin' from my perspective.

:) Jean

Edited February 8, 2011 by Jean in Wisc

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Weeeeeeell....this is my take on it:

 

There are so many things that need to be done in high school--so many classes, so much reading, prep for ACT/SAT/PSAT, high school activities (drama? debate? cross-country? volunteer work? CAP?...), applying to college, searching for scholarships... Every class takes more time than they did in elementary/junior high. More memorization, more, more, more...

 

Vocabulary is just one portion of English--composition (progymnasmata/rhetoric, the essay, grammar, research paper, resume, precis...) Literature (poetry, modern, ancient, literary terms...) and on and on. Vocabulary is just one segment of that big pile of work that is ahead of your child. There are only so many hours in a day, and it is nice to have a few of them left over for sleep, life, family living, hobbies, and relaxation.

 

So studying vocabulary is important, but there just is not enough time to do so many hours per semester, EVERY semester doing vocabulary. Those Levine books take time--my kids cannot finish one in a year if they do it only 15 minutes per day for 160 days--a 2 year schedule would work better for each book. I simply want them to do other things before they get out of my homeschool...and vocab is something they pick up in Latin and Spanish class and in the reading of literature. (I should probably mention that I lean towards the kind of homeschool that an hour per day for 160 to 180 days should be enough to get the class work done for one credit.)

 

And then there is the argument that says that one does not REALLY learn vocabulary AT ALL while doing a vocab texbook. How many of those words are really learned, used, and remembered? Would a higher level reading assignment with a good dictionary by her side be more effective? Using an electronic dictionary 1) you can tell if they are looking anything up 2) you are giving them the fastest way possible of looking up a word and 3) they don't have to write anything down to be able to review the words they looked up.

 

Why not so much vocab? Because life is short and I'm not convinced they learn a lot by spending hours filling in blanks in a textbook.

 

Just sayin' from my perspective.

:) Jean

 

Wow... this is excellent perspective. Thank you so much!