Author’s Note: Sagebooks HK is sponsoring The Sagebooks Challenge as we chronicle Glow Worm (4) and I going through their series for the first time. I am also guest posting on their Sagebooks HK Blog where I will be providing a time tested tip and a fun activity to help support you and your child as you go through the sets.
This is our 10th week going through the Sagebooks HK Basic Chinese 500 series with Glow Worm (4) and though we missed two days (can I just have two weeks in a row where I’m awesome?), he still managed to do really well.
WHAT IS SAGEBOOKS?
Sagebooks HK Basic Chinese 500 is a series of 5 sets of 5 books that teach your children how to read the top 500 high frequency characters in children’s books. You can find out more here.
QUICK BACKGROUND
I am an ABC/T and speak Mandarin 85% of the time to my four children (8, 6, 4, 1). My husband, Hapa Papa, only speaks English. We homeschool bilingually in Chinese and English and my older two children have already gone through the Sagebooks HK Basic Chinese 500. Glow Worm, (4) currently knows about 50 characters and this is the first time we are going through Sagebooks. He currently splits time between two Chinese preschools for 3 hours a day, 4 days a week.
GOAL FOR WEEK 10: BOOK 1.4:15*
Yes. That is the exact same goal I had for last week.
HOW DID WE DO?
I’m very pleased. Even though I somehow totally failed at being consistent with Glow Worm and our daily readings, because he is in Chinese preschool 4 days a week and they all also learn characters in class, it dovetailed nicely this week. As a result, we read up to Book 1.4:16. That’s right! Despite me completely sucking, we still passed our goal for the week.
HOW DID WE DO IT?
Glow Worm kept asking me about his 小書/xiao3 shu/little books/ because he really enjoys reviewing the lessons and going through the books. I think we managed to go over the lessons in the car a few times as well as once at kungfu and once a home. This week was really haphazard and I regretted forgetting the books a few times when we were out and about.
SAMPLE PICS AND VIDEOS
Here we are this week reading our Sagebooks at, you guessed it! Kungfu class.
Here’s a video of Glow Worm reading Set 1 Book 4 Lesson 17 again. I wasn’t kidding when I said he likes to review.
Here’s a video of Glow Worm reading Set 1 Book 4 Lesson 18 again.
Difficulties
Glow Worm asked a few times if we could read his 小書/xiao3 shu/little books/ but I either didn’t have them readily available in the car when he wanted to go over them, or honestly, I’m not really sure what happened.
Oh, now I remember.
We had a few bad allergic reactions at our routine oral immunotherapy appointments and thanks to modern medicine, Glow Worm slept all Wednesday afternoon. Come to think of it, I think we only missed Monday and Wednesday so I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. But since I really wanted to keep up our momentum from last week, I was a little disappointed in myself.
Some Observations
Twice this week, I thought I was so awesome because Glow Worm remembered 回/hui2/return/ and 太/tai4/highest, greatest/ faster than usual. Turns out, he learned 回in one preschool class and 太 in another.
Hmph.
I mean, I guess what really matters is that he’s learning the characters and that these multiple exposures are reinforcing his memory.
Also, it’s a really great reason to have your kids learn stuff outside the home and then you can take credit for it because who’s paying for these classes anyway, right?
Sagebooks Challenge Application
By the 10th week, going through Sagebooks should be second nature now. Has it become a regular part of your routine? Or are you struggling with consistency as I seem to be doing?
Have you tried the activities on the Sagebooks HK Blog or checked out the Sagebooks HK Parent Support Facebook Group? Let me know in the group (or the comments). See you next week!
* I refer to the Sagebooks in this formula: Set#.Book#:Chapter#. So, if I am referring to the first set, book 3, and characters 14-16, it looks like: Book 1.3:14-16.
