In your opinion, which is the best vocabulary program ?

[pjssully]

I am trying to decide between three different vocabulary programs and I would love some feedback from those who have been there!!  What have you found to be the best voc. program for SAT/ACT and college and beyond......

 

Thank you so very much-I know this is where to go to get wisdom!!

 

pj

[Kareni]

Shh ....  I think the best vocabulary program is reading -- first being read to by a parent and then reading independently. 

 

I'll confess that we did not use a formal vocabulary program at home. I do recall that my daughter used Vocabulary Cartoons in one out of the home writing class. My daughter has always read voraciously, and she studied Latin for five years. Her vocabulary is excellent.

 

If you're looking for some less formal resources, here are a few:

Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power by Sam Burchers

and the sequel Vocabulary Cartoons II: SAT Word Power by Sam Burchers

I learned a lot of my vocabulary reading the column It Pays to Increase Your Word Power in the Readers Digest when I was growing up. Here's a link to an out of print collection of the column.

 

Some older threads that might be informative:

 

Pros & Cons of Continuing Formal Vocab Study?

 

Best Vocab program to do well on SAT?

 

Vocabulary

 

 

Regards,
Kareni

[Sebastian (a lady)]

My kids also learned mostly from lots and lots of reading. They have also studied Latin and German.

 

We did do some specific vocab work when they were younger. We would print out an interesting article and have them read it. Then we'd circle 4-8 words and ask them to explain what they meant.

 

This is similar to the way vocab will be tested in the revised SAT in about a year.

[merylvdm]

My 3 oldest kids all liked Word Power Made SImple best. It is a book and is pretty inexpensive.

 

But my youngest is using Vocabulary.com and the "game" element is working well. I translate the points she earns into money and it is amazing at how good her vocabulary is becoming   :glare:  (Yes, by the 4th child you are ready to do anything to get them to do what they need to do)

 

 

[TechWife]

Reading a lot of good quality literature and good quality magazine articles (not twaddle, as Charlotte Mason would say) as well as studying Latin and Greek roots. We used Word Roots A1  B1 and B2 from The Critical Thinking Company and the game Rummy Roots. DS reads voraciously and I never had to use a specific reading list with him, but A Reader's Guide from Classical Academic Press and Reading Roadmaps from Adam Andrews/Center for Lit are both representative of the books he read. 

[HS Mom in NC]

Great Literature read alouds (preK-all of high school) for at least an hour every day+ high quality independent reading +Latin and Greek Roots=an excellent vocabulary. We never do baby talk with out kids, even right out of the womb.  We always talk like adults.

 

Rummy Roots

More Rummy Roots

 

We start when the kids are studying The Ancients (ages 6 or 7.) We use them as a simple matching game with about 5 pairs at a time and work our way up to about 10 pairs at a time because using them as a rummy game is too complicated at the age we start. When I introduce them I mention and write out a couple of words we would see these roots in.  For example, "Astro.  Astro is the Greek word for star.  Here it is in the word Astronaut.  (I underline the astro in astronaut.) An astronaut is someone who travels out where the stars are."  Then we just keep it simple during the matching part.  We flip one over, read it and say what it means.  Then we say what word would match it.  We flip over another card.  If it matches, great.  If not, we read what that card says and say what word would match it.

We frequently review and if a match has been forgotten it gets moved into the next set for more practice.

 

English from the Roots Up (EFTRU) 1 and 2

 

I don't give the kids the pages with the definitions on them, I give them only the words. 

 

So I would give them a list that includes things like:

 

telephone

telescope

telegraph

 

We use this as a notebooking assignment when the kids are old enough to look things up for themselves in a dictionary and after they have mastered about 100 roots in Latin and Greek. There's a lot of cross over from Rummy Roots to EFTRU so it's an easy way to add in review and transition to definitions in a notebook.

 

It looks like this in the notebook: 

 

They write down and translate each word root found in the words on the list:

 

Tele=far away

phone=sound

scope=see

graph=write/draw

 

Then using the words they translated they write a very simple definition for each word based on what they already know or, if it's unfamiliar, based on the definition they looked up in a dictionary. I also have them underline each root they come across in a word. Depending on the words being defined, you can also have them add in some synonyms and some antonyms.

 

A  tele phone is used to hear sounds from far away.

A tele scope is used to see things far away.

A tele graph is used to send writing far away.

 

 

I wasn't a big fan of the Critical Thinking Company's Word Root workbooks. Too passive, too shallow, too fill in the blanks, too matching up terms. It's better than nothing but I wanted something more active that reflects how I want them to break words down in their heads during future reading and studies.

 

All 3 of my children have been described by others and being very articulate for their ages and having incredible vocabularies.  My older two have specifically said having the background in Latin and Greek word roots makes reading college level texts very easy.  Between having a huge vocabulary, being able to break down new terms in Latin and Greek and having context, it's very rare they're unable to follow along easily with new information.  Other kids are struggling to learn the new terminology and mine are buzzing along almost effortlessly.

[lllll]

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