heartofdakota.com

Tell me the purpose of doing vocabulary please? We've been doing it but are we supposed to go back and look at them sometime later in the book? Or are we writing them on cards and drawing pictures just to help remember them?

I've thought of just doing them orally. But is this pretty important that we should be doing them? If you tell me their are important I'll feel better about doing them.

Thanks
Katherine

I find the vocabulary work beneficial.

1) My son is actually having to articulate what the word means. You know when you "know" a word but you can't really explain it to someone else? By having to write it down, draw a picture, dictate a sentence, he is demonstrating understanding in a variety of ways.

2) He is learning the habit of actually stopping and saying, "Do I understand what this word means?" rather than just blowing past it.

3) Writing it down, as opposed to doing it all orally? For us this is just one more chance for him to practice content writing. We use Lakeshore's Vocabulary Journal but the 3x5 cards work just fine also. My son likes this journal though so it gives him a bit of motivation. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca ... iewall.jsp

4) Every week, he shows his Dad the vocabulary word he wrote into the book. They have a fun way to doing this. My son shows Dad the picture and he has to try and figure out the word/s. Too funny. Every week he is getting review of those words because they enjoy looking back at what he has written previously.

5) Finally, if for no other reason, we would do it because my son doesn't want to. LOL. Sounds horrible. But the thing is that this particular activity makes him really think. He has to look up the word, figure out how to re-word it, come up with a synonym, figure out an illustration, use it in a sentence, write it down. You just can't beat an activity that covers that many skills. We are such mean mommas.

Thank you for putting it like that, I didn't even realize all the skills required.

Do you think it's okay to only do 2 of the words? We've been doing all 3 but I write the first two and he has to write the 3rd. He helps me look up all 3 in the dictionary.

I just needed the reminder that it is important.

Thanks,
Katherine

Kiloyd, we are only doing ONE of the words right now.

We talk about the other two but only ONE does he practice all the skills on.

I told him after Christmas he would start writing out TWO.

We are stretching BIGGER out into next year (doing a 4 day week). So the final third of BIGGER, I plan on having him do all THREE vocab words.

HTH.

I think I may do only two for a little while then go up to all three. Or do what you are doing, talk about all 3 words but only write two of them.

Thanks!
Katherine

We did one of the words for awhile, and then worked up to 2. It's a tough skill to learn, but so worthwhile. I so agree with what Daisy said here:
He has to look up the word, figure out how to re-word it, come up with a synonym, figure out an illustration, use it in a sentence, write it down. You just can't beat an activity that covers that many skills.

My ds scores very well on the vocabulary section of his standardized testing, and I know it's due largely to these lessons (as well as to copywork and DITHOR). Nothing helps dc figure out the meaning of words better than using contextual clues first,and then checking their "hunch" in the dictionary. This is an amazing skill to have! I'm so glad you asked this - it's a good question.

In Christ,
Julie

Katherine,

Good question! It's true that kiddos for the most part will not enjoy this particular activity, but it is full of important skills and is a good way to cover these important skills within one activity. I agree it's fine to do one word and work your way up to two and then three.

Another benefit will be that time spent helping your kiddo be confident with the skills needed to complete this activity will pay dividends in Preparing Hearts, where he'll be able to do it MUCH more independently. So, think of it as time well-spent in training that will result in future independence.

Blessings,
Carrie