Vocabulary: Grades 5 - Adult
Bethump'd with Words
Publisher:  Mamopalire of Vermont, Inc.
For more information or to order:  www.bethumpd.com

Okay, I'll admit it -- this game sat on my shelf for several weeks before I was brave enough to ask my kids (boys ages 11 and 8) and husband to play it with me.  It wasn't that I didn't want to play it - I did.  It's just that none of the men in my life are "into" vocabulary or learning about the origins of words.  When the time came for me to write this review, I told them they had to play the game so I could write the review!  There were a couple groans, but we moved forward anyway :-)  Imagine my surprise, when after playing the first game, my oldest son said, "Let's play again!".  Actually, I wasn't too surprised -- this game is FUN!  I never dreamed that teaching my kids about the history of the English language would be so entertaining.  Today my son told his friend that we have this cool new game called Bethump'd with Words -- wow, vocabulary and word origins are now cool at my house!

So where did the name Bethump'd with Words come from?  The phrase comes from Shakespeare's play King John!  After enduring a very wordy outburst from an angry crowd, the character states that he had never been so "bethump'd with words".   For this review we were sent the Discovery Edition for grades 5 - 12.  It consists of a game board with a circular path for players to move from space to space, either landing on a letter or a special instruction space, a deck of question cards, 6 playing pieces and a die.  The rules are simple, which just adds to the enjoyment.  A 5 - 7 letter word is chosen to be the "game word" (a list of suggested words is provided), the goal being to travel around the board and collect the letters that make up the game word and then be the first one back to the starting block.  In order to move around the board, a player rolls the die and then must answer the corresponding number question on the card correctly before they can advance.  The questions on the cards come from 25 different categories, such as: Idioms, Americanisms, Britisms, Eponyms, Word Origins, Slang, and Acronyms.  Believe me, the kids are not the only ones learning!  I found that I really know very little about our language and the history of words.  The questions have varying levels of difficulty making it ideal for playing with the whole family.  We did find that it is best to team up a parent and a child when possible -- many of the questions are quite challenging!  Due to the placement of the letters on the board, as well as the special instruction spaces, there is some strategy needed which just adds to the fun of the game. To add more challenge to the game, the authors provide instructions for 2 more levels of play.

I think the following quote from the literature sent with our game sums it up nicely, "Question by question Bethump'd with Words weaves the stories of the origins, history, and evolution of everyday words into the fabric that makes up the story of English.  The result is a game that aims to do more that efficiently build vocabulary.  It triggers interest in vocabulary."

I am a firm believer that building a good vocabulary takes more than just memorizing a bunch of words and their definitions.   With this game, real learning is taking place AND your whole family is having fun!  What more could you ask?  For those that want to dig deeper, the creators of Bethump'd with Words provide you with a definition for each of the categories used in the game and provide a free Educator's Companian. "The Story of English" is available by request and consists of four lesson plan units to be used with students in grades 4 through College.

So, save some of the money you have budgeted for buying your Language Arts curriculum and splurge on Bethump'd with Words! 

Making the Grade:  A+
Cost:  $29.00
Value for Your Homeschool Dollar:  10
Review provided by Cindy Prechtel, Editor