Vocabulary….please help/evaluate!

I am not an expert, but I think most ADULTS in our modern world would not know those words.  Perhaps someone with older children can tell you if this is “okay” or not.  I can’t tell you how to fix it either.  We’re just entering the world of formal language lessons.

Not much help, but my initial thoughts are that it’s not a problem and you don’t need to freak out quite yet.  It’s impressive that she can read the books you listed and she’ll learn as she goes.

Did a family quiz.  I knew all the words, so did my 18yo, my 16yo knew all but one, and my 12yo knew 16 of them. 

This is just an idea.  Is she reading this book on her own?  Are you reading it out loud?  What do you/she do when you encounter a word she does not know?  Do you try to figure it out by context?  Have you shown her examples of this?  I always begin here–“Can you guess what it means by the rest of the sentence?”  If it doesn’t seem important, I skip over it for now.  If it seems an important word, I jot it down.  We revisit them at the end of the reading, and again try context.  If that doesn’t work we look them up.  Then we read the sentence again and put in another word. 

You probably just need to be a bit more explicit with her in teaching her what to do.  She needs the contextual skills and then the encouragement to look a word up.  Also, when you again encounter a word (for example, the next time you read “dimity” then remind her of the previous experience.)  A lot of these words are old-fashioned and not common today–but a number of these she will encounter again and again.  I HATE vocabulary programs.  I HATE making kids write down definitions.  But it’s also good to have a big vocabulary–it’s the most reliable predictor of student success.  She’s old enough to start working to increase her vocabulary.  Some thoughts–you don’t want to interrupt readings more than necessary.  Save some work to do AFTER the reading is done, and just provide a little help when needed.  And help her know an older word like “dimity” or “hitherto” but really emphasize words she’ll see often, like “economical” or “industrious” or “equivalent”  (Surprised she hasn’t run into that one in math!)  We often play games like trying to use words we just learned over the course of the day.  So I used to tape up the index cards we would jot the words down on, on the wall over the table so we could see them and remind ourselves to use them.   This should be FUN and not a drag.  Words are MAGIC.  Just a few sounds, a few letters and we can communicate amazing shades of meaning.  A good vocabulary is like a treasure trove of wonderful ideas and ways to communicate.  Not to mention the different pictures we can see in our minds as we read, if we picture a girl in “dimity” instead of “muslin” or “cambric”.  She’ll enjoy her increasingly-difficult readings more if you teach her the skills now to use context, look up when necessary, and review and practice the words she meets.