Checking Middle Schooler's Vocabulary

My son is entering middle school. He reads a lot and seems to have a good vocabulary. Nevertheless, I'm wondering if this is really true. Do you know of any lists of words that will let me check out his vocabulary? -- Word Conscious
Answer: One list that you might look at is "100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know." This list was taken from some of the books most often read in middle-school English classes and lists of favorite books of children in grades six through eight. They are the words your son is likely to see time and time again from now on.
Here is the list of words that was created by the editors of American Heritage Dictionaries, reprinted with their permission:
adversary, aplomb, apprehensive, aptitude, attentive, banish, barricade, bluff, brackish, brandish, circumference, commotion, concoction, conspicuous, contortion, counter, cunning, debris, defiance, deft, destination, diminish, disdain, dismal, dispel, eavesdrop, egregious, ember, emerge, engross, exasperation, exhilarate, falter, foresight, fragrance, furtive, grueling, gusto, habitation, hasten, havoc, headway, ignite, illuminate, impending, imperious, jabber, jargon, jostle, jut, kindle, knoll, luminous, malleable, materialize, meander, meticulous, misgiving, momentum, monotonous, multitude, muster, narrate, obscure, ominous, outlandish, persistent, pertinent, potential, precipice, pristine, quell, recluse, recuperate, replenish, repugnant, restitution, sabotage, scarcity, scurry, serenity, sociable, somber, specimen, stamina, subside, swagger, swarm, tactic, terse, translucent, uncanny, unsightly, versatile, vigilant, vulnerable, waft
Once your son has mastered this list, he can challenge himself further by learning "100 Words Every High School Freshman Should Know," and then after that, "100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know." Use a search engine to find these lists online. These lists are also in books by the same name. For each word, the books give a definition, use it in a passage and give its origin.