Have you ever had one of those days when you couldn’t get your child to do vocabulary or spelling words?  At our house we have had to come up with some pretty interesting ways to get those vocabulary words learned.  Some children enjoy the structure of writing the words, and looking up the definitions.  I only wish it was so easy at my house!  Here, learning vocabulary words is like taking an awful flavored medicine.  You know it has to be done, but could we find a way to make it go down easier?  We figured out that games make every thing easier. Vocabulary and spelling words both got easier after we tried word ladders.  My daughter actually asks to do word ladders each day now.  If your child doesn’t like word ladders there are many other choices of word games that increase knowledge and are fun to play.  You could try some fun riddle games.  Hig Pig is a game that uses rhyming words to answer simple riddles.  For some families, games are not the answer.  We also found out that anything related to animals was something my daughter enjoys.  It is not unusual to hear her explain some fact or other she learned from Animal Planet, or a book.  Next time we have a problem learning something we are going to put it in the form of educational animal games. 

Every child is different and nothing says that the old ways of learning things will work on our more savvy children.  Learning is not one size fits all,  and it is up to us as parent to come up with the solutions that will work for our children.  Next time you hit a stumbling block try having a little fun!