My Year of the Ox mission: Chou mama's Chinese School

Of all skills and talents useful for parenting, discipline is not my strength. I've known this about myself for quite some time. Reward charts get started, and never carried out for long. Family photos and videos are about 4 years overdue for being organized. Noah's school papers get piled up without any filing system, so I constantly worry that I may have missed something.

Well, in spite of my lack of organization and discipline, we've made a decision to start "home schooling". Don't worry, not your real deal, just the Chinese school portion. I bet you all are anxious to see whether I can carry out this mission successfully.

And don't forget, for years I was a Chinese instructor, at various levels, from preschoolers, elementary-schoolers, high-schoolers all the way to college students and adults. And I have a Master's in applied linguistics and language education. (One thing I can't get over is that I could have been Malia Obama's teacher now if I didn't quit Sidwell! Bummer! Wouldn't it be the coolest thing to have a parent-teacher conference with the Obamas!?)

I know exactly where the kids are at in their Chinese proficiency. And as much as I admire their Chinese teachers' dedication and hardwork, I find a large room for improvement, which, of course, I will never voice given that I am not volunteering there. Although Noah's spoken Chinese is pretty good, he really dislikes going to Chinese School on Sundays, mostly because of its rote learning style and his being a homebody. Ben, on the other hand, enjoys the teacher-centered classroom, but his classmates are mostly non-native Chinese speakers, many of whom have never been exposed to the language prior to coming to this school. Finally, having the obligatory Sunday afternoon program makes the entire day hard to use for fun or rejuvenation. And that makes the weekend hardly relaxing before another week begins.

For all those reasons, I made up my mind, with Paul's support, to devise a home-school curriculum that involves story-telling and discussions, nursery rhymes and songs, games, and a little bit introduction to pinyin and/or zhuyin (still debating on the phonetic symbols to use). I want to devote 2 hours a week, the same time as their current Chinese school, to this class, and offer some kind of rewards for good learning behavior. Still trying to figure out an interesting and inexpensive incentive--it's hard with these guys as they seem not to be easily tempted by food or toys.

We plan to formally begin our home Chinese School next Sunday. What I need is discipline to keep up the curriculum and make progress. Will keep you updated on this new project.