Where do you live? There are a lot of good sites that sell Chinese learning books in general: Chinasprout.com, Childbook.com, Asianparent.com... (search "workbook") There are lots of different workbooks, usually in textbook series, like Chinese Made Easy for Kids http://www.childbook.com/Chinese-Made-Easy-for-Kids-Workbook-Simplified-L1-p/lcmeksw01.htm (look at the link below, they have Trad character edition too), Chinese Made Easy (which is for a bit older kids), My First Chinese Words,
My First Chinese Reader (same company as First Chinese Words but again for a bit older kids), Kuaile Hanyu.
http://www.childbook.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=workbook&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

The Max and Mei books have a couple of workbooks: http://shop.ppp.com.hk/category/activity-book They are meant to go along with the story and cd sets (click "box set + audio CD" in the Categories menu to the right)... We have the first one and it is nice and simple start.

Mei Mei Hu of the Mei Mei dvd fame has some "Let's Write Chinese with Mei Mei" books: http://www.meimeiandme.com/book01.html though she only ships within the states. She has other character writing and practice books and pads for sale as well: http://www.meimeiandme.com/books.html

Have fun! I'm only starting the most rudimentary with my son who is 5.5 yrs old... ie da, ri, yue, xiao, yi, er, san....

Is "Ekkk!" like EUK! or yuck? Or is it good! I watched that as a child and it totally supported my interests in drawing, telling stories, make-believe and general craftiness, which is why I bought it for my son. I took the chance that what I watched in 1967 would interest him in 2011, and it was a good bet. He totally loves it.

For a bit older kids, ie 3/4-6, I'd like to recommend CBC's old show Mr. Dressup. It really got my son engaged in building things himself in things around the house with reused and recycled items. http://www.cbcshop.ca/cbc/shopping/product.aspx?product_id=etkid00014&variant_id=1295d&lang=en-ca

And it's a bit older as well, but the Little Mammoth series of dvds is fantastic. Totally fascinating, informative and engaging. They would be good from age 4-12 I think... As an adult, I enjoyed watching them and learned a lot. We bought them in 5 dvd Mandarin/English sets. http://www.littlemammoth.com/ The Chinese/English bilingual sets are available on http://asianparent.com

Old School Sesame Street : the original series dvds: These may be from the 1970s but my son just loves them and gets so much learning from them.
http://store.sesamestreet.org/Dept.aspx?cp=21415_21456_21463_21508

For Chinese:

Mei Mei Hu (all the dvds) http://www.meimeiandme.com/videos.html
Early Start Mandarin http://www.myearlystart.com/purchase.html
Let's go Guang http://www.ahachinese.com/index.php

If you look around the internet, I haven't heard any good things about the Rosetta Stone in Chinese... since it is such a different language, apparently it doesn't lend itself as well to the "intuitive immersion" process of learning that Rosetta Stone uses for other languages... No experience with it myself.

No problem. It was good timing as I had just gotten the email from Chinesepod about skritter.

Right now I'm a bit busy, but I am getting a tablet computer soon, and I think I'll sign up myself for it then. $9.95 a month does seem reasonable to have the writing input. And I find I recognize characters to read them much better if I've been writing them... something about the physical repetition.

Let us know how it goes. My son will be 5 in a month, maybe he'll like to play with this too, esp with characters he already recognizes from The Pet Dragon book, like xiao, shan, ren...

I'm glad to hear also that your kids like the LR-C at their age. I was considering it and wondering if my son was too old.

I just tried the skritter demo, and it is really quite good. You can get it to show you the character if you don't know it, and then write the strokes. If you make too many wrong tries, it will prompt you with the next stroke. If you write the correct stroke but backwards, it will tell you. You can click for the pronunciation. I think it is good for adults and kids, though obviously a child must be old enough to use a pen or mouse to write (whether ABC or chinese symbols), and if a child is too young to read the instructions, a parent would need to read for them.

But the demo does look really good. It's about $10 a month.

Hi,
I haven't used it yet, but you might want to check out http://www.skritter.com .... they have interactive online software to use with a mouse or stylus, that leads you through writing the characters on the screen, in the correct order etc, and they have word lists from most of the leading textbooks of Chinese (though not the little kid ones)...

anyways, the interactive quality would probably interest them, and you yourself wouldn't have to know how to write the characters or need to correct them, since the program does that... you could read to them the word out loud, and the English...

It was recommended on Chinesepod.com

Hypatia, you already have the Chinese Curriculum Add-on and recommend it?
Is there any preview of it anywhere? I'd love to see what I would be buying.

thankyou!

And would it be appropriate for a mama and a 4 yr old to learn from?

Leanne

Thanks Skylark!
I'll wait for these famous discount coupons then!
Leanne

Sorry you were ill... I just assumed it was because it was a weekend there were no official replies. Hope you are feeling better!

Thanks, having only a mac, and no LR/chinese bundle (my child is 4, and I want to use it for him and myself so am really NOT interested in a LR + LM bundle... just the chinese, and have to buy the LR to use it) I'd have to buy a PC laptop or whatnot to use it... so to use the chinese would cost me over $600 altogether I imagine. Just don't have that kind of money... or rather spend it on multiple things like Chinese dvds, books, subscription to Chinesepod.com Premium etc.

Too bad, as $119 for a Chinese curriculum sounded nice.

Best of luck to the rest of you who already have the LR and LM and PCs...
Zai jian!

Hi, me too I haven't got LR, and was wondering if there is a LR basic + LR Chinese bundle. I am mostly just interested in the Chinese, but of course need LR to use it... the LR 6 mos is adequate non? Since it is the software we need, and not the lessons for a full 12 mos, if I am going to only use the Chinese?

And my son is four yrs old (5 in November), and already doing phonics etc in English, and recognizes some Chinese characters from Little Pim, Kingka game etc. Is LR still good for a child this old? (I am guessing so, esp for the Chinese... it would probably be worth it just for me, learning Chinese characters as an adult, even if I am less Right Brain than a baby).

Also, is the LR basic and LR Chinese Mac compatible, or only PC? Do I need to buy a new PC laptop on top of the LR basic and LR Chinese to use it? eee!

And yes, do you have discounts using some of our points? Thanks so much! Very excited about the LR Chinese!!

Twinergy, thank-you, that link on The Disadvantages of Time-Out by Aletha Solter, PhD was excellent. http://www.awareparenting.com/timeout.htm

It expresses some of the misgivings I have about time outs (though I admit I always felt like a failure as a parent for not being able to properly enforce them... or rather I could when he was 2 yrs old but not 4) and some of the other "nonviolent" discipline that relies on emotional and social manipulation and consequences instead of physical consequences. Having a father that used a lot of emotional pressure, I always found that to be more damaging and long lasting than a whack (not advocating whacks, but at least, like a parking ticket, they were a limited known quantity, quickly administered and quickly gotten over).

Lots of food for thought. And I'll look into the book you recommend.
thankyou

I'm also confused why people would ask for advice on time out when they already decided not to use it?

Is this directed at me? I said "mostly decided", and that was due to it not working... which is of course EXACTLY why I would ask for advice. If you mostly decided never to parallel park, as you have a heck of a time doing it without causing a fender bender, that seems EXACTLY the reason to ask for advice on however to parallel park with success. Esp when others seem to have such success and ease doing it.

Anyways it is interesting that a child who has learned not to be in an authoritarian relationship with the parent would refuse to go to their room or sit in a chair etc... this probably explains in large part why I don't have this success: We do more discussing about why to do things, what the results of doing or not doing something (causing pain, hurting others' feelings etc), and less "because mommy said so"... so I guess if I go into "because mommy said so" mode, he rejects it. Anyways, I am still listening to all sides. But thanks, please don't judge others who don't have this instant "touch" of getting their kid to quietly and compliantly acquiesce to go into time out, and then ask for advice.

mmm. well, I am not so sure he is in a state of even hearing about losing privileges when told to go in a time out... it seems to become less about whatever he has done, or what he may lose, and all a battle about not going into the time out... and yes, not saying anything and putting him back into time out, I can do that. Or try to. And get into a total physical struggle with him where I cannot even let him go, let alone put him back in and count how many times I have done it. And he is already 4 going on 5. And he was adopted at age 2, so advice about "starting in the first couple of years" is a bit pointless.

I guess I can continue to physically struggle with him. It seems easier to simply deny the tv privileges than to fight to get him to sit down some place AND still have to deny tv privileges on top of it. And yes, we do discuss the behaviour when he is calmed down, and discuss losing the tv privileges because of the original behaviour (not losing tv privileges for not sitting down, which in itself is supposed to be losing the privilege of interacting because of the original behaviour)... I have just mostly decided to skip the "time out" part. It becomes such a struggle it seems totally counterproductive, and we totally lose sight of what the original problem was (throwing sand, refusing to leave the park etc)

I, on the other hand, give myself time out's when I need to. To calm down and plan next plan of action. But I was always curious about how exactly to put a kid in timeout who just physically and emotionally refuses to go into the time out.

And we do what when our child refuses to go to time out? In the hockey analogy, what does the referee do if the player refuses to get off the ice, continues to play hockey, ignores the referee, shouts at the referee or whacks the referee with the hockey stick?

thanks.