Wednesday, May 5, 2010

GENDER-SPECIFIC TERMS

As the daughter of a retired English teacher, I am always looking for ways to expand my children's vocabulary.  We have a plethora of books for ages birth to 5 years, which are available to the cherubs any time, but we also read more advanced books every night at bedtime.  It's part of the classical education model.  I've been surprised at how much the girls are starting to pick up from the books in terms of plot and vocabulary.  We just finished reading "A Little Princess" and are working through "The Secret Garden" now.

In reading, Bean just finished a unit on vowel combinations that produce long vowel sounds, and she likes to define the words as she reads them.  One of the words she learned to read recently was "male."  We talked about the difference between "male" and "mail," and about the opposites "male" and "female."  Apparently, Cakes was listening closely, because today she announced, "Uncle Ney is a male, and Aunt Kimmy is a email!"

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