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Vocabulary?


FlutterbyMommy
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I have DS going through Wordly Wise book 5. Honestly it's pretty easy for him but he's the type of kid I just need to find quick things to fill up a bit of his time. I don't have him do the writing. Each lesson has a group of list words, and then a few activities to follow. One example, 2 phrases on the left, 2 on the right. Write a sentence using the list word. Only one option makes sense, and I just have him write #1, #2 next to them. He hates to write. Then there is a passage using the list words, and some fill in the blank type things.

 

Vocab enrichment is not a bad idea. Some kids read books for 10 hours a day apparently, but mine do not do that on purpose. :glare:

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I am currently teaching a college prep class at our co op. The students are really struggling with what the questions are asking in the English section because their vocab is not good enough. Many of them read a lot, but that is not sufficient. I make my kids do vocab all the way through high school.

 

We use Wordly Wise every year. From 8th grade I add Vocabulary from Classical Roots each yea, and in 11th grade they do Word Power made Easy. In addition, they have played various apps and online games to improve their vocab.

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I started formal vocab study when I discovered that vocabulary was the limiting factor in my DD's reading comprehension. She could decode anything but it might as well have said The garglezonk fribbered with the snarfblatt. Easy to decode but impossible to understand without knowing what the unfamiliar words mean.

 

Also, if your children may be applying to a selective college (or high school) some day, they will need very good standardized test scores. My DH swears that using Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop at the Catholic schools he attended growing up really helped him with the verbal section of the SAT.

 

I use Michael Clay Thompson's Caesar's English series and then start VW. My oldest also learns a lot of vocab through the Hexco spelling bee prep materials.

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Vocabulary Workshop and the Royal Fireworks Press options are both quite good, in my experience (I used VW in school myself, and have had my older son use it as a homeschooler, and we are using CE 1 and WWtW for DS9 and DS11 right now).

 

Why vocabulary? My kids are both voracious readers with excellent vocabularies. However, these programs really induce them to think about words very specifically. This will later help them in writing, when a single, powerful, correctly chosen word can make a big difference in the clarity and concision of an essay, letter, or paper. It can make the difference between sort of saying what you meant and saying exactly what you meant. It can also make the difference between sort of understanding what an author you are reading meant and getting exactly what the author meant-- including some pretty subtle jokes.

 

Although along with many homeschoolers I am loathe to think in terms of testing, yes, the SAT's and ACT's are a reality for my college-bound kids, and the Royal Fireworks Press materials directly teach how to approach analogies correctly and decode the answers. Vocabulary Workshop also gives extensive practice with analogies, synonyms, antonyms, and both programs work on shades of meaning (VW does this more explicitly; MCT/RFP does this dependent upon teacher/student interaction) and usage, which can definitely improve test scores.

 

The RFP/MCT materials focus on stems and roots more than VW does, though VW does also highlight them, and this skill can make the difference in subjects such as biology, anatomy, and other sciences which some students find very vocabulary heavy-- if these stems are down pat, the vocabulary is a no-brainer in these subjects, compared to student who has not studied them explicitly.

 

Nothing improves vocabulary better than reading extensively, but given that it doesn't take more than 10 minutes or so per day, I find the benefits of vocabulary study, at least from years 4--8, are well worth the effort.

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Thanks so much all. I understand better why vocabulary is useful. I am going to start with a basic book with dictionary look-up exercises and look into the better curricula to move on to using once we finish these two little workbooks.

 

Now to see which program will fit us well!

 

Wordly wise is probably your easiest and best bet. It starts with list words and has their dictionary definitions, then the words are on each page of activity. It's quick and painless to get done.

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