Quarter Words

For years I have been passing out quarters to my children when they use a word that atypical for their age range.

It has been a gratifying experience for them and I have enjoyed it tremendously.

We are a family of avid readers and so the vocabulary building was easy because they read fabulous books.   Our oldest daughter got so fast I could not keep up with her even when she was only bringing books home from the school library.

She was tested in 7th grade and found to have an 11th grade reading level. Our current 8th grader reads at an 11th grade level as well.

What I find enjoyable is listening to our youngest.  Because we do not choose words that she would use at a 7 year old level to speak to her, she hears new words all the time, in context, and picks up the meaning quickly.

I have started a list of her quarter words just because I can't remember all of them.

The other day she said , "I saw a picture and the caption said..."  I just stared at her.  "The caption said"??  Who taught her that?

Other words she has come up with lately are visible, successful, dignified, apparently and orderly.  She keeps talking and I just keep handing her quarters.   The limit is one dollar a day and many times she makes that.  The best part is, she does it without trying.  She just talks and out they come.

A day older and a dollar poorer.  I can live with that.