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

In the last update, we ended on a high note because despite being in Taiwan and all my lies (I mean, promises) to my children that we would do fun things, I still made them read Chinese books and Sagebooks every morning.

Did we keep this momentum going? Did Taiwan entirely sap my will to live and do Chinese things at home?

WHERE ARE WE?

We ended Summer Session Week 4 going through Book 5.1. My goals these two weeks was to steadily plod along Set 5 and beg borrow steal anything and everything to convince Glow Worm (~6) to read every day so we could set a pattern and not get fired.

I will also admit to tentatively setting a goal of being halfway through Book 5.3 by the end of Week 6.

You know what will happen now. I will set up a joke and then use capslock because HEY, I HAVE BEATS I WANT TO HIT DURING THIS PIECE, OKAY?

DID WE DO IT?

YES. We destroyed it!

I am super pleased with myself.

But we have been super consistent – even when camp started (which I honestly was surprised about because let’s face it, I know myself and I know my weaknesses)! We even read on weekends. PERHAPS I HAVE EVOLVED INTO A BETTER HUMAN BEING?

Why do I insist on lying to myself? It’s likely an outlier but hey, I’ll take it.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Let’s see. During Week 5, we went to Kaohsiung to visit family and since we had two 90 minute High Speed Rail rides for that round trip, the Sagebooks came in handy. Oh, what am I saying? THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. 

Or did it? I honestly can’t remember. I think I blocked both trips out of my mind because otherwise, would I ever be trapped in a metal tube with my kids caroming around the tube innards ever again? NO. THE ANSWER IS NO. I WOULD NOT.

However, I did enforce the reading before screentime even while in hotels at Kaohsiung so the books were actually read. In fact, because Glow Worm was so bored and wanted more screentime than even my permissive self usually allows, I bribed him into reading more lessons every day so we blazed through a lot. I even enlisted cousins to read with him as part of my campaign to both humble brag about my kids’ Chinese progress (they were adequately impressed and made all the right noises) as well as to make my kids read more.

For our first week of camps, we have varied reading Sagebooks either in the morning if they wake up early enough or in the evening after camps. I thought he would be too tired at the end of the day but I guess I shouldn’t have doubted the lure of a screen.

We ended Week 6 finished with Book 5.3. ALL HAIL MANDARIN MAMA, FIRST OF HER NAME!

WHAT ELSE?

Now that Glow Worm is in Set 5, he’s starting to forget some characters that we learned earlier. Okay, it hasn’t just happened in Set 5. I’m trying to make us look better than we really are.

However, it’s been fun again to see how his brain works and makes connections between characters that look similar to each other. For example, saying 牛/niu2/cow/ when he sees 件/jian4/single item/ or having trouble keeping straight when to use 掃 as a verb and when to use as a noun. Since it’s a 破音字/po4 yin zi5/a word with two pronunciations that have different meanings. (I will look up how to actually say this in English but quite frankly, Taiwan has eaten my brain and I have lost the will to Google.)

COTTAMMIT FINE I FEEL BAD.

It’s a HOMOGRAPH. I even linked to my post about it for the Sagebooks Blog. LOOK AT ME BEING CONSCIENTIOUS.

Anyhow, I’m super proud of myself and Glow Worm. Again, no pictures because laziness. BUT WE ARE ALMOST DONE WITH SAGEBOOKS AND I AM SO EXCITED.

I am tempted to set a huge lofty goal but then knowing myself, I will completely punk out because it’s too much pressure. So let’s just stick with either realistic goals or super low standards. See you in two weeks for our next update!