Disclaimer: I received a Complimentary copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC Regulations.
Do you have a favorite homeschool company that you always seem to navigate back to? I am a huge fan of The Critical Thinking Co. so I was thrilled when we were picked to receive Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary to use with my youngest daughter, McKenzie, who is in the 6th grade. The Critical Thinking Co.™ provides fantastic critical thinking resources for young students, let me tell you a little more about this one.
The Critical Thinking Co. is a family-owned business that has been “empowering the mind” for more than 50 years. They sell critical thinking products/supplements that cover reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history. Instead of rote drilling and memorization, students are encouraged to “carefully analyze what they are learning.” The Critical Thinking Co. is on a mission to develop the critical thinking skills in all children.
Vocabulary Virtuoso: Mastering Middle School Vocabulary is written for students in 6th – 8th grade and is available in print or as a digitial PDF eBook. We received the digital copy which only works with PC computers and retails for $16.99. The book includes 15 lessons that have twelve words each with the goal of helping kids gradually increase their vocabulary. The best part of this program is that all of the words are taken from the PSAT so your child is getting a head start on learning 180 PSAT vocabulary words!
Each lessons list of words includes the pertinent information about the word including the part of speech, pronunciation, definition, and a list of synonyms, idioms, or phrases that pertain to the word. A variety of lesson exercises are included to help use the words in context including multiple choice, fill in the blank, unscrambling words, and writing sentences to name a few. As your child progresses through the lessons they will encounter words that they may encounter while reading.
Vocabulary is one of our focus areas for McKenzie this year in addition to spelling. During our review period we took the lessons really slow by working with the words and lesson for a minimum of two weeks. Since there are 6 activities within a lesson I scheduled our vocabulary time out to be 3 days a week. Because I had the eBook version of the book I was able to print out the lesson pages for McKenzie to work on. We simply stapled the lesson together so we would not lose any of the pages as we worked with them over the course of the two week time period. 
McKenzie had a little bit of trouble at first because the program actually uses different forms of the words given and not just the standard words on the list. Once she figured that out though, she didn’t have as much trouble completing the activities. She also liked that the words were being used within the context of a story.
Overall, I found this to be a great vocabulary program and I am excited to continue using it with McKenzie. I do plan to set it aside until January as we work on completing her current vocabulary program but we are both excited to pick this back up in January. Be sure to click the banner below to read the thoughts of my CrewMates who reviewed this curriculum and the following others; Building Thinking Skills® Beginning 2, Tell Me a Story , Science Mind Benders®: Animals, Science Vocabulary Crossword Puzzles, and Understanding Fractions. 
Company ~ The Critical Thinking Co.™
Format ~ digitial eBook
Price ~ $16.99
Ages ~ 6th - 8th grade
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