As I’m looking on the Facebook groups and other forums. The number one issue families have is that the kids don’t want to read the books. Some run away at the first word. Some just cannot make it through. Some are just fine and fascinated with everything in the Sage collection. I wanted to go over our situation. As a background, Sagebooks is concentrated on teaching children the most frequently used words in Chinese.

We’re a native speaking Chinese family with a few thousand books at home! Most are books are beautiful, interesting, and some even fascinating to adults. When you bring any “learning” material as Sage into the mix, there will be a big shock. It is not written like the picture books, nor is it focused on any story. Pictures are simple and the main point is to learn the words. Here are the things I like about Sage:

1. Simple short chapters
2. Clear wording
3. Short simple sentences
4. Has a clear purpose of getting to that basic 500 words you need

If I had to complain then I just have to say for native families, it really is a boring read compared to what you have at home so then you’re dragging your feet along when even thinking about opening that book for your child. I find myself dragging my feet. However, I’ve found a happy medium on how to get through the books. My 3 year old through lots of picture book reading, knows maybe more than half the words in the Sage books already but I find it still beneficial for her to go through and pick up the words she doesn’t know. I show in the video how I interact with her. This is a way to engage and make it interesting for her.

Progress: we can go through one book at a time if we wanted to. It really depends on if I have the energy to do so! You can take the same concept and try not to make it so painful for the kids if you’re a native speaking family at home like us. I’ve also made extra materials (worksheets, flashcards) free for you to download on my Facebook Group page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/motherlynotes/