Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 I am looking for your favorite vocabulary building resources for 6th grade. My son has been taking Latin for a long time, but I still feel his vocab needs work (and so does my DH, who was surprised my son didn't know the meaning of the word frugal. Sigh.) He does very well on standardized tests for vocab, but in reality, I don't think he really knows what the words mean, kwim? We do LOTS of challenging reading, and often pause and discuss word meaning, etc, but he often has a vague understanding of the meaning based on context and nothing else. We have tried Vocab Cartoons, Vocabulary Workshop and Worldly Wise...mabye Red Hot Root Words? Thoughts? ETA: We have Teacherfilebox.com so if it's an Evan Moor book, all the better ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Thanks Wendy. I will check it out. I have used some MCT before, but I don't think it's a fit for my older. I just checked out vocabulary.com which looks good. THe problem, again, however, is that the questions are multiple choice. My son has no problem choosing the right answer based on context. But out of the blue, if you asked him to define "aplomb" he wouldn't be able to. Which basically means he can't use these words in his own writing because they really aren't part of his "vocabulary set"...does that make sense? Like, if he reads it in a book, he will probably get the gist of it, but he wouldn't use the word on its own, either because he isn't familiar enough with it to come up with the word on his own, or because he truly doesn't know what it means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Okay, just checked out Word within a Word...it looks pretty darn good. Is this a stand alone? Do you need the teacher manual? Thanks-I would never have considered it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Oh neat, thanks. We use quizlet a lot. Would you recommend starting with CE? I could do both kids together if I did (younger has a very good vocabulary so would be able to join his brother). If I do, can I get just the workbook? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Would you recommend starting with CE? I could do both kids together if I did (younger has a very good vocabulary so would be able to join his brother). If I do, can I get just the workbook? Thanks! I would start with CE1, then 2, then start WWtW. The MCT vocab isn't my kids favorite thing to do, but I do have to agree the retention is close to 100% (and it's not like any other vocab program has made them dance for joy). My older two (freshmen in ps high school) I think appreciate it much more now that they've had to go through Sadlier-Oxford for a year at school (where they already know most of the words, so what's the point? And for kids who don't know the words, it's so random - I can't see that the retention would be there. My kids rarely retained anything from Word Roots when we did that.). I think I might be able to convince them to WWtW with me over the summer, because they can see such a difference in how much they learn and retain. ETA: oh, for what to buy - I just bought the TE, but I had the old edition. I'm not sure if you'd also need a student book with the new edition. There is no workbook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Yes I would recommend starting with CE. It is definitely challenging enough. I only bought the TMs with those. The answers are in the back only. "I" learned a lot of vocab with those books. I can now read old books without so much pain. LOL Perfect. And thank you for telling me to buy the TE. I would have bought the SE, stupidly. Could I use one book for two kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Chiming in late here to say, yay! CE is totally the way to go - CE1, then CE2, then WWW. We're about 2/3 of the way through CE2, and the retention has been great. Yes, just the TM, and yes, you can use it for both kids. If you let your ds7 listen in, he will learn a lot of new vocab - dd7 is constantly surprising me with what she's picked up just from listening to us! It's a really, really great vocab program, not the least because it really motivates kids to read classic lit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 I should add, the reason it's good to start with CE 1, (however old your dc are, within reason, and wherever you are in MCT, if you are using other components) is that the way the program was constructed is that MCT fed the text of many hundreds of classic novels into a database and generated the word lists based on their frequency of occurence in classic lit. So, it doesn't start with easier words and progress to harder words - it starts with more frequent words, the very ones you want your dc to know, and moves on to less frequent words, the ones that trip up even we well-read adults. I think it's a brilliant way to organize a vocab program. We started noticing the words in our readings immediately. We now giggle over how frequently A. Conan-Doyle uses the word "singular"!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professormom Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 We started noticing the words in our readings immediately. We now giggle over how frequently A. Conan-Doyle uses the word "singular"!!! :lol: We just finished Mysterious Island and Jules Verne uses that word liberally as well! I wanted to chime in with a big ole "thanks!" For the CE recommendation. I have been trying to decide on Vocab for the year and this is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 I have found similarly high retention with Caesar's English (and we also use Vocab Workshop). Heck, I'd start with Caesar's English I as an ADULT, there will definitely be things in there anyone would enjoy learning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 i guess it's unanimous! I will be ordering this for next year. Another subject tackled--woohoo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 I should add, the reason it's good to start with CE 1, (however old your dc are, within reason, and wherever you are in MCT, if you are using other components) is that the way the program was constructed is that MCT fed the text of many hundreds of classic novels into a database and generated the word lists based on their frequency of occurence in classic lit. So, it doesn't start with easier words and progress to harder words - it starts with more frequent words, the very ones you want your dc to know, and moves on to less frequent words, the ones that trip up even we well-read adults. I think it's a brilliant way to organize a vocab program. We started noticing the words in our readings immediately. We now giggle over how frequently A. Conan-Doyle uses the word "singular"!!! That is so interesting! I didn’t know that about MCT but one of the most fun things about CE this year is seeing ds notice the words he is learning everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted June 11, 2013 Share Posted June 11, 2013 MCT was replaced in our house by the Knowji app on iPad. I love it because the grade 7 to 10 vocabulary module cost about as much as one vocabulary workbook, and the computer is in charge of scheduling review of difficult words to keep learning fresh. MCT is good, too, but honestly, one of the main problems with vocab in our house is that I don't make enough time to do it, and MCT is best if there is a Socratic discussion element. Knowji is basically independent, I just check up a little here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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