Sagebooks Summer Reading: Weeks 8 & 9

This post was sponsored by Sagebooks. All opinions are mine and mine alone. 

I was super discouraged these two weeks. First, because I got a lot of pushback from Glow Worm (~5) about going through the lessons. Second, because I knew I was going to Taiwan with only my daughter for a week and I knew he was going to forget everything we just worked so hard to cram in.

Even though Sagebooks builds upon your child’s memory to teach them the 500 most frequently used Chinese characters in children’s books, it still requires review. Your child isn’t magic. (Well, mine isn’t.) When I left for a conference back in May, I asked my mom to teach Glow Worm. This time, it was just going to be my husband and since he cannot read Chinese (let alone speak it), it was a no go.

I briefly considered forcing Cookie Monster (8.5) to review the chapters with Glow Worm, but I decided I shouldn’t set up my boys and myself for failure. I knew it wouldn’t happen, so why add that extra layer of sadness? (I believe my children were kept alive and took care of themselves while my husband worked from home. I know the baby put himself down for a nap everyday.)

And so, I was feeling kind of “meh” and “what’s the point?” these two weeks as I gamely tried to hit my goal for the two weeks despite the impending loss afterward. I just lied to myself and said that we’d go full bore after I got back.

Where Are We?

We started Week 8 at Lesson 2.4:9 (Set 2 Book 4 Lesson 9) and I planned on us finishing Set 2 Book 4 by the end of Week 9.

Did We Do It?

YES!!! Yes, we did!!

What Happened?

I had to endure a lot of wiggling, side-tracking, and general 4-5 year old behavior from Glow Worm. However, I was determined to finish Book 2.4 before I left for Taiwan so I endured and pushed through.

Here’s a video of him reading Set 2 Book 4 Lesson 11.

Anything Else?

I need to remember that Glow Worm is a little boy. He hasn’t even started Kindergarten yet (that’s in a week!) and I’m expecting him to sit there quietly and obediently soak up all this knowledge.

Not going to happen.

Well, maybe for girls. But I suspect that is also a massive stereotype.

Anyhow, I’m pleased because he finally remembered characters he’d been struggling with for months. But all these small successes were constantly tempered with the knowledge that after a week with no Sagebooks, it would all fall out his ears and we’d have to spend double the time re-treading old ground.

I wasn’t always mean. I usually let him goof off and act out the illustrations – if only for the ‘gram.

Alright. Next week, I’ll be expounding on another tip for going through Sagebooks. Also, join me and other parents in the Sagebooks HK Parent Support Group on Facebook. You wouldn’t want to leave me there all alone, talking to myself, right?

In closing, I leave you with another video of Glow Worm being a jerk and goofing off the entire time he’s reading Set 2 Book 4 Lesson 14.