Building a Better Vocabulary

Having a high schooler means that I have to get real intentional about vocabulary building.

It’s a lot of newness with grades and schedules, and teaching her to budget her time well. We have to make lists and check off the assignments and stay on task. We’re not used to having to be so diligent keeping track and recording.

I am blessed to have four children who love reading and words as much as I do. My husband complains there is never anywhere for him to sit because every surface is covered in books.

I don’t see the problem.

5 Tools for Vocabulary Building

Reading and writing are the best tools to building a strong vocabulary. But sometimes we need a little help.

1. 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary

30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary is a great little book that helps with test scores and cramming vocabulary in that style. I used it when I taught study skills and test taking tips and my husband and I used it to refresh for grad school entrance exams.

2. Reader Notebook

Keeping a reading writing notebook makes my daughter own her vocabulary lists. Ideally, she jots down words in the quotes as she reads literature and looks up definitions to keep a running list. Sometimes it’s an archaic word or a term in a new context, but this helps her be responsible for learning. With the Kindle app on her iPad, it’s often instantaneous to learn definitions and she gets lazy, but she’s only cheating herself. She loves adding Notebooking Pages to her reading writing notebook. She uses it for all her literature reading.

3. Reader’s Digest Word Power

My father and I have been competing for decades on the Reader’s Digest Word Power quizzes and I am so pleased that my kids are now joining in the competition.

4. Word of the Day

When I was a teen, my parents bought me a Word of the Day tear-off desk calendar. I loved that thing. My kids now love to check the word of the day app every morning.

5. Spelling Workout

My kids love Spelling Workout for quick and fun vocabulary lessons. I love the various activities in each lesson – prefixes and suffixes, analogies, synonyms and antonyms, dictation, editing, freewriting exercises, puzzles, riddles, and more. Books recommended for grades 1-8.

These are fun vocabulary building tools for the whole family to learn new vocabulary.

It can be a challenge to try to fit those new words into regular conversation throughout the day. We have done copywork in the past, but I think that just focuses on good penmanship. I love to work with my kids and these vocabulary builders have assisted our kids increase their word count. I am blessed that we have strong readers and they all love words and learning how to use them well.