When we started our Robinson Curriculum (RC) path we used the vocabulary words and some of the activities with our fifth grader but a few books in he was struggling to pass the vocabulary test at the end of the book and RC says to not pass them to the next book until they can. This started to be a problem. I think it's that the vocabulary lists are fairly long and it was too much to memorize that many words and their definition and spellings (which are unrelated to each other). Perhaps if we had been doing RC from the beginning this would not have been an issue but we are where we are so what do we do now?
I shall surely tell you what we do! I am sharing because it's working so well for us and has improved our homeschool and decreased stress and disappointment while moving forward learning and problem-solving. I have three resources I use daily but not all three everyday. I will explain. I consistently assign our alternate vocabulary and structured spelling often. Let's start with vocabulary.
The base of our alternate vocabulary curriculum is Red Hot Root Words Book 1. The price of this book has gone up on Amazon from when i purchased it so I would look for a used one if possible but, in my opinion, it's worth the money. For Red Hot Root Words the vocabulary lists are much shorter (like 5 a list) and all related in meaning and therefore spelling to a point. Studying these root words also helps my student in decoding other words with the same root word. There are some activities in the book but not enough to fill a week and I like the weekly rhythm so I created a resource of my own that digs into the study and practice of these words. (I also made an Independent Vocab Packet to be used with the RC-or any really-vocab list and we may go back to using that with RC when we finish root words.) This Independent Vocab Work Packet is what is really making the words stick and it makes prep for the week insanely easy, just print and put in his book for the week. The first day of a new vocab list I have my student read and spell the word, give the part of speech and define it for me as I write is on the board (he's looking in the book). I leave this up all week. Then I ask him what all the words have in common (i.e. they all start with cir or circum), then we talk about what that prefix means (in the book) and where in the definitions we see that prefix meaning reflected (i.e. cir/circum means "around." We see it in circulate: to move in a circle from place to place. in the word circle.) Then he moves on to the first page of activities in the packet to work on his own and I check it's done later.
Those are two of the three resources we currently use. The other resource is for Spelling. We found Professor K spelling to not be the most effective resource for our student so I went with the McGuffey Spelling Book included in RC and made an Independent Spelling Work Packet for 1st- 5th grade. I linked the fifth grade version. The spelling lists are broken down and included with the packet. Again, there are fewer words than the RC vocab lists and they are more on his developmental level so they are words he can actually master and prep is just a matter of printing the weekly packet. They also have a related spelling pattern to them so that is taught to him as well. I use this pretty consistently but if there is an especially difficult week I will pause Spelling and pick it back up when I feel the time is right. With this method my student is truly studying. When we finish the Red Hot Root Words Book I plan on finishing whatever is left of the spelling packet and then start Red Hot Root Words Book 2.
I give a Vocab and Spelling test on the last day of each week and so far this year, since we switched to these resources, he has aced every one and there is no more pausing the reading and he feels good about himself and he actually enjoys the activities. School isn't supposed to be boring and miserable, right?!
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