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.
Welcome to our 8th week going through the Sagebooks HK Basic Chinese 500 series with Glow Worm (4). This week, a few things threw me off track. We ended up not going to kungfu a few times and since that’s when we usually go through the books, Glow Worm and I also missed a few days of Sagebooks.
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 8: BOOK 1.4:7*
Since I’ve gotten better at predicting how many characters Glow Worm learns a week, of course he does something totally different. However, in keeping with last week, I wanted to make sure he went through 3-4 chapters this week.
HOW DID WE DO?
Despite us missing a few days, Glow Worm still passed the goal and we’re at Lesson 1.4:9. There really is no predicting with this child. Sometimes, we make no discernible process except in the review sessions. Sometimes, we zip through all the characters with ease.
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
How many pictures can you have of Glow Worm reading Sagebooks? I love how Cookie Monster (8) is checking out the books, too. He really does enjoy paging through them even though he finished the set a few years ago. 
This is Glow Worm reading Sagebooks HK Basic Chinese 500 Set 1 Book 4 Lesson 6.
Difficulties
This week, Glow Worm has finally remembered 這/zhe4/this/, 起/qi3/rise/, and 裏/li3/inner/! It took a few weeks but eventually, he succeeded! He’s still having trouble with 會/hui4/should/, but it’s a relatively newer character so I anticipate him having difficulty with this character for another few weeks. That’s okay. As I have seen repeatedly with both Glow Worm and my older kids, if I give it enough time and patience, he’ll eventually remember.
Some Observations
I am surprised (and yet, why am I surprised?) at how easily my schedule is thrown off. I totally thought I was a flexible and adaptable person, but I guess I got used to doing things a certain way and when my normal Sagebooks reading time got rearranged, I was not quick enough on my feet to make up for the loss elsewhere.
This leads me to the following conclusion: the power of routine cannot be underestimated.
Knowing this about myself and about routines in general is a good reminder. If I build Sagebooks into our daily life, it’s much easier to incorporate and make habit.
Sagebooks Challenge Application
Can you believe you’ve made it 8 weeks? That’s TWO MONTHS! How are you doing? Feeling good or needing a reset? What do you think of the activities on the Sagebooks HK Blog? Too easy? Too hard? Too much work? Have you gotten involved with 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.
