Words are many things, but dull or boring is not one of them. If your kids are not having fun learning words, something has gone wrong.
A love of words is essential for any budding genius because words are what we think with and better thinking capabilities will only improve your child's life.
Here are my top tips for putting the fun back into learning words, because there was a time when it was fun for your child. All learning is fun for a child until we ruin it for them.
“Dum spiro, spero (while I breath, I hope)”
But we can always turn things around—never give up hope. It might take longer to get where they’re going but it is never too late to begin.
Tip #1: DITCH THE WORKBOOKS
Workbooks are probably not something your kids look forward to every day, so the good news is that you can ditch them. Instead of vocabulary workbooks, keep the vocabulary lists to yourself and play a game with them.
Start by making a list of ten words, and then ask your kids if they want to play a fun game.
Here's how it works:
Tell your children the first word.
Each child takes a guess at its meaning and writes it down on a piece of paper.
Each child shares his best guess.
You share the actual meaning and see who got the closest.
You can finish the game by having your children write a short story (a paragraph or two) using each of the words used in the game for that day. You can even write the story together—that might be even more fun.
Next, put the list in a visible place, i.e., the refrigerator or a bulletin board, or tape it to the wall; challenge them to test their new knowledge by using the words as many times as they can during the week.
Ask the kids if the game was fun. If they say yes (and they will!), then tell them they get to choose a name for it and you'll play it again when you have time. Treat it like a special game they play when you "have time." Of course, you'll make time at least two days out of the week!
Every week, do a game review (without calling it that). See who remembered the most definitions. Since you'll have children of varying ages playing,
Don't give any prizes for winning because of the age differences of your children; otherwise, the older kids will always win and the younger kids will feel cheated. Let it be about the fun.
Also, make sure you have some words for the younger kids and some for the older kids. You don't want it to be too difficult for the little ones or too easy for the older set.
A way to choose the words for your list each week is to take note of interesting words in the books you are reading to them. Choose the words surreptitiously, as you don't want to spoil it for them.
Tip #2: Ditch the Word Root Books
I bought word root books for my kids because, in the early days, that's what I was told I needed. While the books were not boring, it was a dull way to study fascinating words. I have since discovered that a better way is to hire a Latin teacher.
Children love learning Latin!
They really do. There are different opinions on the subject of when to begin teaching but as most Latin teachers teach online, my recommendation is to wait until the children are older, as the screens are too damaging for them.
A child of about eight or nine is at a good age to begin studying grammar, because he is old enough to understand grammar but not so old that he may prefer to do other things besides memorizing Latin conjugations. On the other hand, an eight or nine-year-old child will find it great fun.
“Latin is, quite simply, the most utterly wonderful...thing.”
Many of our English words derive from Latin roots. A child who is studying Latin and comes across an English word from a Latin root may not know the word, but he'll be able to figure it out because he knows the Latin.
One little boy I taught got so excited when he read the back of a penny and understood the Latin words. Latin is sort of a secret language too because probably no one else in your family knows it, or any of your children's friends.
If you have two children studying Latin, watch out! They'll have a lot of fun communicating in Latin while knowing that you can't understand a thing.
When it comes time for the SAT exam, your Latin students will ace the language arts section, because knowing Latin will give them a much larger vocabulary. If they do come across a word they don't know, the Latin will help them figure out the meaning of it.
When you consider that language arts is half of the exam, you can see the advantage Latin will give your children when it comes time for them to go to college.
But there's more! Besides being an excellent and fun way to help your children build their vocabularies, Latin is a useful language that will improve them in every way.
“Animus risu novatur (the spirit is refreshed with laughter)”
Studying Latin disciplines the mind and strengthens the memory, both of which contribute to higher intelligence. It also teaches one to have patience because studying Latin is difficult, and one has to have patience to stick with it. It teaches perseverance and resilience for the same reason.
By studying Latin, children learn to become versatile with language and to have more mastery over putting words together in creative and beautiful ways, plus they'll learn a lot of grammar.
One last thing: if you want to understand the importance of learning Latin, pick up a copy of Gwynne’s Latin and read Mr. Gwynne’s opening chapters. Very eye-opening!
Tip #3: Ditch the Dumbed-Down Literature
Raise your children on quality literature. You want to respect their intelligence by meeting it with good books instead of insulting it with silly stuff. Besides that, quality literature will help to increase their vocabularies while enjoying a great book.
If they read books with an extensive use of vocabulary, they'll learn more words. Reading, if the love of reading has not been ruined for your child (only 14% of children read for enjoyment now), is an excellent way for a child to develop a good vocabulary, as long as he is reading quality literature.
One thing I would not do is have your children look words up. You want to have a dictionary for them, note the words they do not know, and figure out a way to help them learn the word, but do not make them stop reading to look a word up, unless they want to.
An easy way to ruin a child's love of learning is by making them look up words when they're in the middle of a good story.
Instead, take the above strategies and use them to instill a love of words in your child, have a dictionary on hand, and chances are they'll look up the words that sound interesting to them.
I look words up all of the time because I love words. And having studied Latin, I love digging into the history of a word.
Your kids will too because words really are fun!
Get a copy of Liz’s “could not live without” book, Education’s Not the Point: How Schools Fail to Train Children’s Minds and Nurture Their Characters with groundbreaking Essays on educating your kids by John Taylor Gatto, Dorothy Sayers, and Liz herself.
About Elizabeth Y. Hanson
Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a “whole” child, based on tradition and modern research, Liz devotes her time to helping parents to get it right.
Liz is a homeschooling thought-leader, as well as the creator of three unique online courses, Raise Your Child Well: Preserving Your Child's Natural Genius by Laying a Solid Foundation During the First Seven Years; the Smart Homeschooler Academy, educating children who are brilliant, happy, and well-socialized; and How to Teach Your Child to Read and Raise a Child Who Loves to Read.
As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, Liz has 23 years of experience guiding parents through the amazing journey of raising and educating their children.
Liz is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.
"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”
—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. For a copy of The Short Angry History of Compulsory Schooling, click here.
