Our family relies heavily on Ambleside Online for the Western/English portions of our homeschool. It is a very rich curriculum, and as we have used it, I have really appreciated how it incorporates different perspectives on history from even the early years, and encourages our children to truly engage and contemplate the complexities of history in an age appropriate way.
However, as we are a multicultural family, we also deeply value Chinese history and literature, and make substitutes freely to fit our family priorities. We use both Traditional and Simplified resources. Here are some of the main substitutes and additions we have made.
Chinese books can be hard to source when living abroad. Chinese books also have a short life span, and can go out of print easily. Furthermore, every family has different needs and emphasis. If you are also setting out to homeschool bilingually, it is unlikely that you will be able to, or desire to, replicate our book list. These are only ideas of some possibilities. Please use what you have available to your family.
Spread over Grades 1-3:
I added volumes 1&2 of 彩繪神話 published by 麥克, spread throughout these first 3 years. It worked out to one story every week or two. I thought they were very nicely written re-tellings. Highly recommended.
I added 唐宋傳奇 retellings by 管家琪, also spread throughot three years. I did this as an alternative to Shakespeare retellings, since these are some foundational stories that show up again and again in many Chinese operas. The retellings were alright, but didn’t leave a deep impression for either parent or child.
The Hong Kong education Bureau has compiled a list of 100 classical poems and 50 pieces of classical prose as supplementary reading for elementary students. Each week we take a piece, I give a brief explanation of it, and then we read it aloud each day of the week. I figure exposure will build a foundation for when we dig deeper into classical Chinese as my son gets older. The list is chronological, and I feel that the earliest poems can be rather difficult, so I started about a third of the way in.
Grade One:
We have a Chinese edition of Aesop’s fables (伊索寓言) that we have really enjoyed. The stories are a little longer and are somewhat embellished, but the language is simple but lively. And the illustrations are enjoyable as well. We actually start reading this from Kindergarten, using one story a week. We also later use this for reading practice as my children learn to read in Chinese.
Ambleside Online recommends Pinnochio, and we have a translation by 任溶溶 (木偶奇遇記). He is an excellent translator! My son and I both enjoyed this very much.
We read 再見小童, a collection of modern fairy tales by 林世仁. They were alright. Unless I come across something better, I will continue using this with our younger children.
We read the first half of 窩牛:林良的78首詩. The poems in the second half were more abstract and were hard for my son to follow at that age.
We added some Chinese translations of Anno’s math picture books.
Grade Two:
Ambleside Online assigns Children’s History of the World Hillyer, and I found a Chinese translation (給中小學生的世界歷史) that we use instead. For Year 2 we used the second volume, titled 中世紀卷.
Ambleside Online assigns Understood Betsy for literature this year, but I used Heidi (海蒂) in a Chinese translation. At first it was quite challenging for my son, and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to make it. But he slowly got into it. It’s still not his favorite, but I was very pleased with how it all worked out.
I also added a retelling of 西遊記, which was a favorite.
We also read a selection selections from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in Chinese translation (安徒生童话).
We finished off the second half of 林良’s 窩牛 poems mentioned above.
Grade Three:
We continue using the Chinese translation of Children’s History of the World (給中小學生的世界歷史) (volume 3, 近現代卷, for this year).
For literature we read this retelling of 三國演義. I fell that many retellings either have very literary language and are still too difficult for my children to understand, or are too dumbed down. This was a decent balance. My son, being a boy, loved it.
We also read a Chinese translation of Bambi (斑比). I felt it was kind of intense, and in the future I will be moving it to Year 4.
I didn’t have a solid poetry plan. We read from children’s picture poetry books I happened to have, such as this one.