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Alyssa C's avatar

I love this. First, one key component that you mentioned - quality literature. Most books today use "age appropriate" vocabulary and it drives me nuts. Kids will only learn words they hear and use. Older children's books are vastly superior in this regard. Not that modern books are all bad, but for the purposes of vocabulary building, you can't beat something written at least 40 years ago.

Secondly, I'd add that the other simple answer is to use the vocabulary ourselves. Kids model adults and we shouldn't talk down to kids. They understand more than we give them credit for.

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George Kappus's avatar

Excellent thoughts. I know that my mother read to me a lot from a very early age. I had the extraordinary luck to be a quick learner and an early adopter in this regard. I have no meaningful memory of it, but I was told that I was told that I began reading at a reasonably sophisticated level at three. Since then reading broadly and intensively on some subjects. I wonder how many young children could have had the same luck that I have had had their parents done for them what my mother did for me.

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