I've read the following advice more than once, especially in regards to homeschooling: If you want to know what to do now, decide where it is you want to end up and work your way backward from there. It's good advice. If you want your child to do Calculus in twelfth grade, you need to know when to begin Algebra so that you can get there. And so it goes for any other subject you teach.
Jill J. Dixon takes this line of thinking and applies it to vocabulary study. Her creation, Roots and Fruits, is an easy-to-implement way of getting your child to an SAT-ready vocabulary by the time he takes those tests. Not that scoring high on the verbal portion of the SAT is the only benefit of vocabulary study. Vocabulary study also enhances independent reading (by increasing decoding skills and as well as known words), prepares a student for better writing, improves spelling, and, in this program, improves dictionary skills.
The heart of Roots and Fruits is the extensive list of vocabulary. It is a compilation of prefixes and roots, arranged in alphabetical order. For each of the 673(!) roots and prefixes, there is a definition and sample vocabulary words. Any vocabulary regularly found on the SAT tests are clearly marked. You, the parent, decide which vocab you want your child to learn. Depending on the age of your student you can work on just one prefix or root, or you can do several at a time. You can simply go down the list, taking as long as it takes to work through the entire list, or you can pick and choose off the list, doing the vocabulary you find most important to learn.
Once you have chosen which vocab to teach for the week Roots and Fruits tells you to put it up on a chart on the wall. This chart will hold the information on the wall for several weeks, adding reinforcement and review. On the first day of lessons you introduce the new root, prefix, or suffix and make a flashcard for it. On subsequent lessons you review the vocbulary using a variety of techniques. Students will spend time finding the meaning of the vocabulary words in the dictionary, writing sentences with the vocabulary words, and doing a few games to review the roots and words. The next week you start with new vocabulary. Bit-by-bit, one block on top of the other, you build your child's vocabulary.
The curriculum is very flexible without losing it's backbone. You can tell that Mrs. Dixon has a Masters in Education and has spent many years teaching. Recommendations abound for adapting each part of the program to younger, middle, and older children. I found the recommendations appropriate - not a stretch of the curriculum beyond its means. You really can improve your child's vocabulary in 15 minutes a day.
If you have a high-schooler that you wish to prepare for upcoming college-entrance tests, this curriculum will work well for you. Your high-schooler would do numerous words per week, and would need active review, and would need to focus on the SAT-specific vocabulary. If you have a middle-schooler and wish to increase their overall vocabulary while preparing them for high-school, this 15 minute a day curriculum would be an excellent choice. If you have an elementary school student this curriculum is an excellent way to slowly, but surely, increase your child's vocabulary for life.
Educational Diagnostic Prescriptive Services makes this available either as an ebook or in printed form. The security software is not compatible with Macs, and only allows you to print twice. Take the time to read through all the instructions in the beginning, without them you'll lose your place as you begin looking through the list and trying to implement it.
After spending time reading through the thought and philosophy behind the program, I began to use it with my son. Since he's only in Kindergarten (and because I don't have much of a dictionary) I've skipped the dictionary work. The whole concept of root words and prefixes has not quite clicked with him yet. Still, I can see that with just a few minutes of work a day he's already increasing his vocabulary. I can only imagine how much he could absorb by diligently using this over the years.
So here's the lowdown:
Roots and Fruits prices:
the ebook is currently on sale for $11.25
the unbound, printed book is $17.48
the bound, printed book is $19.98
Roots and Fruits is an excellent idea and well done. However, I'm not sure of its necessity in my family. I plan on having my children learn Latin, which would cover much of the vocabulary on this list. For those roots and prefixes which are not covered in Latin, I think something less formal might be a better fit for us.
EDUDPS also offers academic diagnostic assessments, Write with the Best writing curriculum, and a career guide.
This review is one of my reviews as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew 09-10. I am not compensated for reviews, though I do receive the product free of charge to use and review.
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