One of the biggest struggles in my homeschool with my ninth grader, hands down, is grammar. He blames it on his friends who are "true southerners." This is where ain't is an actual word. My son even looked it up in the dictionary to prove to me that is was legit. Now don't get me wrong. I know that contractions are not usually used in professional writing, but I will use them one in a while. But never will I use the contraction "ain't." I just can't do it. Now, my son likes to pick on me because I love grammar and he could care less about it. I think the biggest laugh we had was when I picked out a top of the line novel and one of the main characters often used that contraction. This means my son laughed hysterically as I would cringe and read "ain't" over and over again.
Well the last laugh is on him because I found a way to sneak grammar into his homeschool without it technically being a "grammar" book. Word Roots Level 3 is part of the ninth grade Timberdoodle curriculum kit
This book is filled with the roots of words while adding the prefixes and suffixes. When I saw this book I said, "yes, please!" I knew that this would be a perfect fit for my son. When a child can learn the "whys" behind a word it can help him remember the meaning of the word. I realized this year with his older brother that I had fallen behind in building up his vocabulary skills. He had passed a college-level dual-enrollment English class, but struggled with some of the vocabulary. He has been working diligently to build his vocabulary skills and has even made it to the Championship level of the NAHC (National Academic Homeschool Competition) but he is still working hard to strengthen these skills.
That said, I am determined that my ninth grader has all of the tools to have a wide vocabulary bank so that he is prepared for the years ahead. In addition to the quality lessons, this books has a list of Greek and Latin prefixes in the back of the book. Each lesson is self-explanatory and easy for the student and teacher to follow.
After several lessons, your student is exposed to a wide variety of root words, their definitions, and a list of prefixes and suffixes commonly associated with those words.
The answers are included in the back of the book. You might choose to tear these pages out or keep them in using the honor system. Overall, this is a great find!
Disclaimer: Many thanks to Timberdoodle for this product in exchange for an honest review.
