English From the Roots Up

[TheAttachedMama]

Could anyone please tell me more about the program "English From the Roots Up"?   I saw it mentioned in another thread, and I am curious about it.      Our library has the book, so I've reserved it so I can see it in person.   However, while I wait for my reserve to come in,  I would love to hear some first-hand reviews too.  :)

 

For those of you who have used it, did you like it?   How long did it take you per day?  How often did you "do" it?   One reviewer on amazon wrote that you don't really need the book if you buy the flashcards.   Do you agree with this statement?   Does each child need a flashcard set?  Or can they share?   

 

 

[Flowergirl159]

I just have the book, so I make up the flashcards myself. Each day during morning basket, I hold up the previous cards for the girls to read, then they tell me the meaning from memory (I have those written on the backs of the cards).

 

Once we have gone through all of the review cards (we only have about 12 at the moment) I introduce the new one. We usually have a lovely discussion and I see light bulbs going off :)

 

This only takes us 5 minutes.

[Lori D.]

Similar to Flowergirl, we had the book and made our own flashcards (single set we used as a group) -- you can easily just use either the book OR  just the flashcards. We did 4 roots per week (2 on one day, 2 on another). That took about 25 weeks. We spent 2 years on each level of EftRU -- we'd go through the entire program in year 1, and then review and "cement" the roots the next year.

 

We used just the book as a group "brain warm up" game in the morning: we'd cover up the definition and list of words using that root, and try to come up with words that had that root in it. From that we would try to guess what the root meant (ex: "photo" -- we'd come up with telephoto, photograph, photon, etc. -- "Oh look, those words have to do with cameras or light; cameras need light; maybe it means light!") Then we'd read the definition, the list of words using that root, and the explanation about the root. If we came up with words not in the book's list, we'd look them up in the dictionary; if they did come from that root, we'd add them to the the flashcard that we made.

 

The roots in volume 2 are harder than those in volume 1 -- a little less common, and the vocabulary words based on the roots are at a higher level or are more abstract kinds of words. Vol. 1 can be done with grades 3+, but vol. 2 is more of a grade 5+ to me.

 

See more about how people have used EftRU in these past threads:

"English from the Roots Up" -- some great ideas quoted from past posts

"How do I make English from the Roots Up interesting?"

"I bought the flash cards for EftRU -- now what?"

"How do you use English from the Roots Up?"

"If you have used English From the Roots Up"

 

- Cynce's Place -- clickable link for free downloadable pdf for EftRU games, + free schedule, notebooking pages, and flashcards
- Shelby Family Academy -- word search puzzles of the roots for fun review at their new website: TTKreations

Edited July 23, 2016 by Lori D.

[Wholesomemomma]

Disregard post

Edited July 23, 2016 by Wholesomemomma

[Kat w]

Ditto what flowerfirl said.

[Um_2_4]

I am using the flashcards with all this year. I am using Quizlet for the older 2 and the tests/schedule from Cynce's PLace that LoriD linked.

I also made a notebook for the older 2 to fill in as we go with these free printables: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/329677635206651942/ (they are free on teachers pay teachers). I printed 50 of each of the root pages (2 versions) and bound them up.