How do you teach Vocabulary from classical roots?

[wyomom]

I feel so lost with this vocab program. I always make things much harder than they should be and I'm sure I'm doing the same with this. I started my 7th grade dd in book A this year and she and I are both scratching our heads about how it is structured. I have the teacher manual and the test book along with the student book.

 

I am confused by the way the TM has the lessons broken down for each list of words. We can get through each one in 2 minutes. It takes us longer to get the book out. If we just go by the student book without the TM suggestions, dd gets the whole thing done in 15 min and is ready to move on to the next group of words but I know she hasn't done enough word study on that group of words in 15 min time to actually learn them or remember their meanings.

 

Maybe it's just the format of how the workbook is set up that is throwing us off. It really doesn't seem like dd is actually "learning" the words. Maybe because there isn't alot of written exercises involved. I just don't know.

 

Anyone have ideas or can share how they use this vocab workbook? Are the words sinking in with your dc? My dd just seems to be zipping through it without retaining any of it.

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Julie

Edited December 12, 2008 by wyomom

[newlifemom]

I believe it is the TM where they give you ideas about exercises. My friend lent me the books last year for 2 girls I was tutoring. Our week looked something like this:

 

Mon-Read the section do exercises.

 

Tue-Write 5-10 sentences with a vocab word, clearly showing an understanding of the meaning. (I got this straight from the TM) i.e. You can't write "That building is a monolith." You could write "At 40 stories high, that building is a monolith"

 

Wed-Write 1-3 paragraphs using where one word is emphasized. This got interesting and very funny.

 

Thur-Write either a few sentences or a paragraph with one of the words in mind but don't use the word. Put the word in parantheses at the end.

 

If there was a test do it on Fri.

 

 

FWIW, I thought the program was fabulous and plan on using it for my own dd probably in 7th grade. I would go over the sentences with the girls and show them better ways to use the word. It worked great. HTH

[wyomom]

Thank you for these examples. I knew we werent doing this right. I haven't had a chance to sit down alone, in a quiet place and actually read the TM explanations in depth in front of the book. I am usually trying to do this while someone is yelling MOM, my 7th grader is getting bored and antsy waiting on me to figure this out because she just wants to get school DONE for the day, and the two yr old is climbing on something he shouldn't be climbing on.

 

No wonder I need someone to hold my hand through every new step we take during this homeschool journey.

 

I am always, always very thankful for these WTM boards. Every time I am stumped, I come here and get so much help.

 

A daily plan of what to do each day is exactly what we needed!

 

Thank you!!!!

[Peela]

I was just reading in TWTM about this last night- SWB suggests writing the words on index cards and learning them that way. Monday- read the words, put them on flash cards. Tue-Thu- drill with the flash cards. Fri- review flash cards and complete exercises.

Pams way looks good though.

[Terri NS]

For what it's worth here's what I do...

Day 1- go through all roots & words with dd together. Talk about the familiar words too. Then she will put on flashcards and file in her box... the roots on one side with language of origin and meaning of root, the corresponding list words on the other side. Day 1 is the longest day for us around 30-40 minutes

then independently dd will (Day 2-4)

Begin exercises in book, this will take her 2 days to complete. She has to look up the words frequently to answer the questions. She begins each day studying her flash cards. She also chooses a challenge word each day and looks it up in the dictionary and writes it in her notebook.

Day 5 Go over all of dd's exercises, orally quiz on vocabulary meanings. I give her a spelling test. We test vocabulary and roots after every 2 lessons with an extra day of review before the test.

Edited to say- my dd is really quick with words and language so I don't bother with writing sentences out, if she wasn't getting the meaning I would add this into her independent work.

Edited December 12, 2008 by Terri NS

[wyomom]

Thank you all for even more great suggestions. I haven't had a chance to look through my WTM book much this year so I didn't realize it had ideas in there too. Thanks for mentioning that Peela. I actually have the grammar stage thoroughly scoured since I started hsing dd#1 in 2nd grade but now that she is in 7th grade I need to dust off that book and read the suggestions for the middle grades.

 

She is really happy about having a plan now and also likes the flashcard idea.

 

Thanks again!!!