[Holly] said "Okay, but I don't know what 'tertiary' means." I held up two fingers and said "Marty's secondary." Then I added another finger and said "You're tertiary."

I'm sure I had to write out the definition and use it in a full sentence, in 8th or 9th grade, so I have cursive writing and my kids don't because I spent many years writing and writing and writing in school, but my kids have the vocabulary with NONE of that writing, which is honestly pretty remarkable.

Clarification and context... Marty had been invited to a party; Holly was possibly going and possibly not, but only if Marty wanted her to.

I'm amazed at how easily some things are learned. My five year old is learning to read. He was playing a computer game that had him putting together words to make compound words (sand + box gives you sandbox, etc.). He wasn't sure of a word, so I told him what it was and explained about how words ending in "e" work. Pointed out one or two more examples as they came out and presto! He understands Silent E.

Then I stood there not sure what to do. That's it? That was all it took to learn about Silent E?? But, but...it was a huge deal when I learned to read in school! There were many lessons. Drills. That song on the Electric Company. How could all of that fuss have been needed for something that took Mikey about 30 seconds to grasp? Ah, the wonders of learning something when you are ready and not before!

--aj (mamaaj2000)

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