Dr. Dave,

I agree with everything you said. When our daughter was a toddler, we frequently told her stories and sang songs together. We always had books in the car and took them on vacation with us and continue to do so. We pick up all kinds of books at garage sales and Half Price Books. Since she loves Barbie dolls we invent stories as we play with them and she has said that's her favorite thing to do with me. Now that she's into Webkins (she's 9) she enjoys inventing personalities for them and plays more with the toy than on the internet site. Bedtime reading has always been enforced and last year her teacher encouraged popcorn reading which is when she and I take turns reading the book to each other. We started pulling out the Webster Dictionary whenever our daughter asked about the meaning of a word. It is kept in a place she can access and we regularly encourage her to look up words when we're talking or reading together. Last week my husband bought a picture dictionary for her to keep in her room. I thought she was too old for it but it's actually age appropriate and gives longer definitions than I expected to see. It's published by DK Publishing (us.dk.com). Also, we enrolled her in a charter school nearby because it is based on the trivium (liberal arts focusing on grammer, rheteric and logic). She enjoys the classroom reading, group reading and books at home that correlate with what she's learning at school. Each student is allowed to advance at their own pace because they have individualized learning plans. She looks forward to our regular library trips to pick out books together.