Home is where you start from: word hog

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

word hog

Time for Homeschool Show and Tell! We just started a nifty program called
English from the Roots Up. This program teaches Greek and Latin vocabulary words pretty painlessly. All you need is the book, index cards,and a box to put your index cards in, but you can also purchase the pre-made word cards. I purchased just 1 set of the pre-made cards for my older kids to use as a model, I actually wanted them to make their own cards, I strongly believe that the process of making them and writing them will help them learn them.

Here is a photo of the cards I started Sunday night. I used a smaller card as a template for the borders. The red borders are for the Latin words, the green for the Greek words. I wrote the first word on the cards, and left the back blank for the 2 older students. For the 3 young students (ages 6, 8 and 8) I wrote the derivatives on the card since my handwriting is neater and you have to write small, I had them print the definition themselves during our lesson.

For the lesson, I used a whiteboard to write the word and defintion, gave the definition and talked about the derivatives and their meanings. It took a few minutes, tops.

We did the word "photos" for this week. I am toying with the thought of doing two words a week, since it was so simple and easy...but I'm not sure if it would be too much for the 3 littles, I want them to actually 'retain' the info, kwim? We will be starting Latin next week, so I don't want to throw too much at them. I do think the two older girls (ages 11 and 13 ) could easily handle two words a week.

This program is really easy to use, and the instructors book is very informative and lays out each lesson in a concise, easy -to- follow way.

This one is a definite keeper!

Labels: homeschool, show and tell

posted at 9:12 AM
2 comments

2 Comments:

At 9:01 PM, mathmom said...: Hi Jenny,

I'm not a homeschooler (though I am very involved in my kids' educations). But in any case, I am planning on starting English From the Roots Up with my 3 boys aged 7, 12 and 15. Any BTDT thoughts on doing this at home with a mixed group of kids?

Also do you just give them the derivatives in the lesson plan, or ask them to come up with derivatives on their own, and then look up the parts of the derived word that you haven't covered yet? (The latter is the author wrote about in the preface, but that would obviously take longer.)

Have you made a decision about how many words to cover per week, and what kinds of activities do you do to review and/or assess retention?

Thanks!
At 8:52 AM, Hen Jen said...: Hi Mathmom,

thanks for visiting and commenting!

Well, about teaching this to a mixed group- I do think this is possible, that is what I am doing. My group consists of 5 kids, a six year old, 2 eight year old boys, an 11 year old girl and a 13 year old girl. I have decided on 2 words a week-only 2 because of my younger 3 students, I do think my 2 older students could handle 4 words a week.

Because of my mixed group- and because of the short attention spans of the 8 year old boys, I am not doing the word study suggested in the TM (looking up the word parts in the dictionary...) I write the word on the whiteboard and the definition and then I ask the kids if they know any words with the root word in it- my 2 older girls will usually come up with something. Then I write the derivatives on the board and discuss their meanings. The kids then complete their index cards.

We do review everyday by getting out the flashcard and I ask if anyone remembers the definition and then I ask about the derivatives and if anyone remembers what they mean. We discuss.

that is it so far. I am thinking that on Fridays it would be fun to come up with a game with the flashcards..I just haven't thought of one yet.

Good luck with the program!

This Page

2 Comments: