How do they do it?

It doesn't necessarily surprise me... the things that my kids know. But I'm often surprised by they way they get there.

For instance, playing the game of LIFE with my 9-year-old:

I pass two paydays in one turn. I get $70,000 per payday. She's playing the banker and she says to me, without hesitation, "What's 200 minus 60?" I'm not a master at numbers in my head, but I was able to come to 140 without too much stumbling. I sat there mulling her mathematical process while she counted my money.

Stumped, I finally just had to ask.

She put it like this.

7 is 10 minus 3.

3 plus 3 is 6.

10 plus 10 is 20

Therefore, 20 minus 6 equals two paydays.

Which makes complete sense... if you look at it this way.

***

So another delightful book with my 7-year-old, who is just beginning to really read with confidence on her own. She's reading along, fairly well, and she suddenly stops and just sits there looking at the book. I can just barely hear her reading the sentence over and over again, just a whisper. Then she says, "Mom, shouldn't it be like this?" She re-words the sentence so that it doesn't end in a preposition. Does she even know what a preposition is? I don't think so... she just somehow knows the sentence sounds better the other way.