English from the Roots Up Review

After purchasing English From the Roots Up a few years ago, we used it off and on over the years. This book helps your children figure out what words mean by learning the Latin and Greek roots. It gives them the foundation they need to help them understand English words and excel at vocabulary and standardized tests.

This program is not too schooly or intense. It is simple to understand and use. You don't need to know a foreign language to be able to use this. There is little teacher preparation (my favorite feature) and you can open this up and use it right away. English from the Roots Up can help your child improve not only his/her vocabulary but also his/her reading, writing and spelling.

How to use English from the Roots Up

The book is non-consumable so it can be used for several children at a time or several children over a period of years. You can purchase the 37 Greek and 63 Latin cards already made up with the word on the front and the meanings and examples on the back, or you can make up the cards yourself. If your children really enjoy making up these kinds of cards, then the instructions are in the book for how to do that. I, on the other hand, preferred to buy the cards already made up. I either give my children 10 cards a week to learn or let them choose what they want to learn from the list. You can go over the cards with them and learn them together or they can learn the words on their own and come to you for review or testing.

If they learn 10 words a week they should be able to learn all the words in 10 weeks. Review is very important too, so you might want to include a weekly review after all the words are learned so they stick in their heads for a little while longer.

Children from age 7 through High School can use this program with success. When they take standardized tests or read different books and come across a word that they don't know, they will be able to figure out what the word means based on their use of this program. It helps them know what each part of a word means giving them the tools they need to be able to know the full meaning of the word.

I highly recommend English From the Roots Up if you want to give your children an edge in their vocabulary and language development.