SA Homeschooler Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I would love the hear comparisons of Vocabulary Vine, English from the Roots Up and Vocabulary from Classical Roots. So far we have used only Word Roots; I love the concept of learning roots and being able to decipher unknown words. I definitely want to continue along this route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cathy in MA Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I don't have any experience with Vocabulary Vine, so can't comment on that. We've used EFRU and VfCR and definitely prefer EFRU. My oldest used VfCR last year (8th grade) and found it very boring and nothing was sticking. We switched to EFRU this year and now all my dc are working through it together. We learn a new root everyday about 3x per week. I begin by writing the root word on the white board and they try to think of English derivatives. We discuss these words together and try to come up with the root meaning. Retention is excellent and we're having fun too. I found lessons plans, work sheets, review crosswords and word searches as well as tests from www.cyncesplace.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I posted a similar question a while ago and a bunch of people said I should check out Caesar's English instead, so I'll blindly recommend that to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 We have Vocabulary Vine and have used Vocabulary From Classical Roots. VV was far too unstructured for me. It was more like a long list of roots and you are supposed to play games and such to memorize them. We aren't fans of this kind of method at all. Vocabulary from Classical Roots, for us, was a lot of exercises in busy-work - circle the antonym, circle the synonym, circle the sentence where the word is used correctly etc. The roots and words themselves were okay, but the work seemed silly and didn't actually contribute to the memorization. Instead we are using something completely different. I have Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder, Verbal Advantage, and Picture These SAT Words in a Flash. Between these, I should be covered through the end of high school. I pull the words from one or more of those sources and DS enters the words, definition, and a unique sentence into a Spaced Repition System (SRS). We use Anki now because it can be synced to both his laptop and cell phone, but we have used Mnemosyne in the past. The SRS is a type of flashcard, but it utilizes some sort of algorithm that shows you only the cards that need to be practiced based on how you rate how well know each word. Then, you simply flip it on and study for a specified amount of time or until you go through all of the words in that day's group. This seems to help MUCH BETTER with retention than workbook exercises because you are always reviewing both current and past words/roots all at different intervals. We are also using this for foreign language memorization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SA Homeschooler Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thank you so much!! I will definitely have to check these out. I appreciate the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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