Roots and Fruits, A Comprehensive Vocabulary Curriculum covering Grades K through 12 by Jill Dixon is the most affordable vocabulary program I have ever reviewed. If you are familiar with Spelling Power, and its "all in one book" approach to teaching spelling, you can imagine how Mrs. Dixon's book works. One book for all grades and just 15 minutes of work per day to build your child's vocabulary! Included are 673 English forms of Greek and Latin roots and prefixes with their meanings, plus 1716 vocabulary words. Mrs. Dixon has included the most commonly tested words from the SAT in this curriculum.

Included in Roots and Fruits are games and activities, a thorough how to use the program section, a detailed weekly schedule, an alphabetical listing of the roots and prefixes, and 55 pages of roots, meanings and words. Along with Roots and Fruits, you will need a good dictionary, 3x5 index cards and chart paper. I would also suggest colored markers and a notebook to hold your papers and cards. The author recommends An American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster or The Oxford Universal Dictionary.

In addition to improving vocabulary, a child using Roots and Fruits will get a lot of hands-on practice using a dictionary. For a younger student this will take a lot of parental involvement, but I cannot think of better training for dictionary usage than looking up words. This activity cements alphabetizing and spelling skills.

One thing I really like about Roots and Fruits is that students learn the English form of Greek and Latin roots and prefixes. About 80 percent of our language comes from Greek and Latin, and learning one root will help students figure out the meaning of words they have never seen. Many other programs merely teach vocabulary words.

The only drawbacks to Roots and Fruits are that it requires parents (or older students) to make flash cards and charts and many of the activities are for younger students. If you prefer a workbook or minimal parent homework, look into a different vocabulary program but expect to spend a lot more. Even with the additional parental work, I think Roots and Fruits is an excellent program. I like the flexibility and the fact that I only need ONE book, not years and year' worth of workbooks and teacher manuals. Even if you choose to use another vocabulary program, Roots and Fruits would be a terrific reference book.

Check out Diagnostic Prescriptive Services at www.diagnosticprescriptive.com. Their website was easy to navigate and contains a lot of handy information.