by R.I.Chalmers
Word games like Hangman and crossword puzzles are by far the most exciting way for homeschoolers to learn, remember and master new vocabulary. Word lists are by far the least exciting way for a homeschooler to learn. Word games make learning and practice fun, while word lists make it a chore. Kids don’t want to learn, they want to have fun, so if you can convince your homeschooler that they are not learning new vocabulary but are having fun, their progress will be so much faster.

One of the best ways to convince a homeschooler that they are having fun rather than doing chores is Hangman. Played since Victorian times, the motif of the gallows and the hanging man are thought by many adults to be inappropriate due to the imagery’s inherent brutality, but this very aspect of the game is what appeals to children and has kept the game popular. There have been attempts to sanitise the game by substituting less violent images but falling apples and lost ducklings lack the appeal that the hangman’s noose holds for children.

For the homeschool setting Hangman is often used to practice spelling, revise vocabulary while keeping the child focussed and motivated. It has been played for years with a piece of paper and a pencil. The child guesses which words fit in the gaps in the word and a piece of the gallows is assembled for each wrong guess. This continues until the “victim” is finally hanged or the word is correctly guessed.

The number of guesses a child can make is dependent on how many parts of the stick figure and scaffold must be drawn to end the game. Many children insist on having the eyes, nose and mouth drawn to prolong the game. The game normally allows around ten to twelve guesses. There are twenty six letters in the English alphabet. If too many guesses are allowed, the child will always win. Too few and winning becomes too difficult. The homeschooler can be taught some simple strategies to help in guessing the correct word.

Letter frequency is something that any homeschooler will benefit from learning, not just for playing Hangman and other word games, but for spelling and vocabulary in general. The six vowel sounds that appear in almost all English words, including words like rhythm, are a, e, i, o, u and y. Along with finding at least one in most English words, they also make up six of the twelve most commonly used letters in English. The others in the top twelve are in order of importance, t, n, s, h, r, d, and l. Any homeschool child who learns about word frequency will find it much easier to win word games and will achieve a better overall vocabulary.

For the homeschooled child sight words are important, but many other word groups are too. The correct choice of group, or lexis set, can help steer your child in the right vocabulary direction. By using a particular lexis set, you can focus your child’s attention on the words you want them to learn. Such lexis sets can be written in your child’s notebooks, placed on flashcards, or stored in a computer database where they can be reused again and again.

Though the Victorian inventors of Hangman would be astonished at the power of the modern computer, they would have been no less enthralled by playing the game on the computer rather than on paper than their modern counterparts in the homeschool environment. There are many sites on the internet where a homeschool child can enjoy playing Hangman and other word games. Some of these sites allow the homeschool parent to enter their own lexis sets rather than relying on a list of words that does not always coincide with what they want their child to learn.

A quick search on any of the most popular Internet search engines will soon bring up a list of sites that will help the homeschooler make great strides in vocabulary acquisition. With very little effort, the homeschool parent can transform the mundane into the magnificent and ensure their child will not get hung up about learning new words.

Linguaspectrum has become one of the most used word games sites on the Internet. Homeschool parents can make their own crosswords and hangman games more easily than ever before and can host them online for use over and over again. There has never been a better way for the homeschooler to learn new vocabulary.

Article Source: Using Word Games for Homeschooling Vocabulary Progress