This week’s Parent Spotlight is Ruby Yu. It’s always fun to see the different experiences even within the same family. Ruby’s experience reminds us that our children are different people from one another and age plays a bigger factor than we may think.
Ruby went to college in Taiwan and her husband was born and raised in America. They speak Chinese at home, have had some Chinese tutors over the years, and both her children attend a regular elementary school.
7-year-old dughter (started: 5 years old; finished: 6 months)
5-year-old daughter (started: 4 .5 years old; finished: 18 months)
I am cheap and refuse to pay for shipping, so I asked coworkers that travel to HK to buy them for me one set at a time. By the time I got the books, my oldest daughter was 5. My goal was to finish them before she started Kindergarten and English took over. It took her 6 months.
My youngest daughter was excited about “learning” since she’s watched her older sister learn Chinese for so long. I started her early when she turned 4. She was super slow and could only do one character a day, and that wasn’t even terribly consistent. By the time she turned 5, I realized that she wouldn’t be able to finish before Kindergarten if we don’t step it up. We are now on the last book and she has 8 characters to go. It would be the 1.5 year mark. It was painful. Maybe I should have started later.
We do 1-3 characters a day. Before we start, I show the flashcards of the characters we’ve already covered. I pull out the ones they don’t remember, and we read through those chapters first. Then we read the new material. We generally read through the text once. When there are characters they’re stuck on, I just move on. Might as well learn more that they can remember than spend extra time on ones that they can’t.
I loved Sagebooks though I hear it’s an acquired taste. My kids enjoyed the story line, they enjoyed the illustrations, they enjoyed counting the hairs on each of the characters. I liked the characters they’ve chosen. I did not like the supplementary material. The little booklets, forgot what they were called, and the idioms book were not very good imo. The stories were lame, but I don’t blame them. What exciting story can you tell in 100 characters anyway. But yeah. Lame. Wish I didn’t get them.
Not really. Just be consistent. Don’t stop. Don’t break. Just keep going.
Thank you so much for your responses, Ruby! Your humor and candor is greatly appreciated.
If you would like to be a featured parent, please let us know.
很多家長都已是我們 Facebook 群組【講媽 · 講爸園地】 的成員。歡迎你也加入我們,一起互相鼓勵和支持,共同為孩子的學習而努力。
Many parents are already part of our Facebook Group. If you’d like to take advantage of the collective wisdom of your fellow parents, please join us.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy and self-teaching abilities. Since 2006. Find out more About Us.
© 2020 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
Sagebooks Hongkong promotes independent reading and life-long learning by nurturing the child’s confidence, autonomy, self-teaching abilities and mental health. Since 2006.
© 2023 Sagebooks Hongkong. All rights reserved.
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