And if not---or even, if so---are you looking for an excellent vocabulary course for him or her? Wordly Wise 3000 might be right up your alley, as it was for us!I received the newest Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Set (Fourth Edition), which includes two 8 ½” x 11” softcover books. These are the Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Teacher’s Resource book ($69.00) and the Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Student Vocabulary Book ($13.95). These books provide 20 weeks’ lessons, plus five reviews (covering four lessons apiece) as well as a midterm test. The Teacher’s Resource book also includes a series of final examinations which cover all words taught in this program. This curriculum is Wordly Wise’s vocabulary course for high school juniors. It can be used by teachers and students in public or private schools, or, as we did, as a homeschool curriculum.

The Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Teacher’s Resource is a softcover, 200-page comb-bound manual. The Wordly Wise program teaches what they define as mostly Tier Two vocabulary (which are general academic words commonly found in standardized tests, articles, textbooks and novels) plus some Tier Three (content-area specific language).Wordly Wise also teaches word roots and suffixes, which can help students discern the meanings of words that they may not know. The lessons are interesting and organized to help the students move beyond simply defining words, to applying them in various types of lessons, writing assignments, and even quizzes to really help the words become cemented in the students’ minds.

The Teacher’s Resource provides three different daily and weekly plans that instructors can use while teaching this curriculum. These include direct instruction by the teachers as well as five days’ worth of daily exercises and lessons completed by students. Each week’s lessons include: the weekly word list; a “Rate Your Word Knowledge” exercise; activities for determining word meaning; word study; understanding vocabulary in context; word parts and origins; vocabulary reading passages; review exercises; and vocabulary extension activities. Wordly Wise has also partnered with Quizlet, an online learning website where students can (using the code included with the curriculum) play fun games and take quizzes and tests to further each week’s vocabulary lessons.

In addition, the Teacher’s Resource provides a short, activity-based lesson plan for the teacher to use to introduce each week’s lesson. It includes blank master sheets that teachers can copy for students (like the “Rate Your Word Knowledge” weekly activity), reading passages from the student book, lesson review exercises, and all the tests (for each lesson, plus midterm and final tests) and answer sheets (for tests and lessons). An alphabetical list of all the Book 11 words rounds out the book.

The Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Student Vocabulary Book is a consumable, softcover 232-page book. It includes 20 weeks’ lessons, review pages for all lessons, and a pronunciation key for the words covered in the curriculum. Each lesson begins with the word list. This is followed by daily activities (seven in all, that can be completed in a week’s time) and reading passages that expose the student to deeper learning and use of vocabulary. Fill-in-the-blank, short essay, and multiple-choice activities keep learning interesting and varied. And, the online Quizlet tests and games can be utilized alongside this book’s daily writing work.

Both my son (who’s a junior in high school) and I found Wordly Wise very easy and enjoyable to implement into our daily homeschool routine. We began each week’s vocabulary work with the “Rate Your Word Knowledge” exercise. The 15 words from the week’s lesson are written (by the teacher or the student) on this form. Then, the student fills in one of four choices for each new vocabulary word:

• I’ve never seen this word before.
• I’ve seen this word before, but I don’t know what it means.
• I think I know what this word means.
• I know what this word means and can use it in a sentence.

This gives a fantastic assessment of the student’s understanding of the words for the week, before any actual word study begins. After this introductory activity, we review the words for the week and I assign 1-3 of the weekly activities per day, which include both the Quizlet and the book exercises. He was able to complete them all on his own, each day, and even to discuss interesting points with me. As the teacher, I was able to grade all the exercises (either on my own or utilizing the answers in the Teacher’s Resource Book) as well as review the online assessments via Quizlet.

I give high marks to Wordly Wise 3000 Book 11 Set, for both the teacher’s use and the student’s learning. My son really did increase his vocabulary well, little by little, each week. He was able to improve his scores on the Quizlet activities and really soak up (or inculcate, as Wordly Wise would tell us) an impressive number of new words, as well as their etymology. I was impressed with that, because I personally didn’t learn much about word origins until college! Whether your student plans to take the SAT and/or ACT or not, this curriculum will enable him or her to become a better communicator, writer, and user of interesting words. It’s very easy to utilize this in homeschools (although some activities may need to be altered for a fewer number of students) and I really believe you’ll find it enriching and enjoyable.

-Product review by Melanie Reynolds, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2019