Qiaohu 巧虎 2017-2018 Preview

I’ve received many responses and feedback from my previous Qiaohu posts, so I wanted to share the new updated subscription information.

This is the QiaoHu (CiaoHu) 幼幼 Youyou (Yoyo) version. Remember that the website and the version names use Taiwanese pinyin not hanyu pinyin, so if you search online for “Qiaohu”, it will only give you information for the mainland China not Taiwan version.

UPDATE: Do you know there is also a Cantonese version of Qiaohu too? Contact their California office for more information!

Twin Baby B is OBSESSED with 小花 XiaoHua. She loves her like a baby doll. She has played with XiaoHua literally every day for the last year. It’s kind of annoying. But it is the perfect size for toddlers. We took it to visit family and a 2-year old cousin M (a boy, I might add) loved to hold and play with her too. D still loves it whenever XiaoHua is in the DVDs. I don’t get why she’s so cute, I just know it’s cuteness overload for all kids!

D still plays with the restaurant food from this version; it’s cute and small, way smaller than our Learning Resources food. But it’s really the perfect size for them, small enough to develop some fine motor skills too.

Yoyo “Toddler” ban for ages 2-3

Here is 快樂 (kuaile) or Happy ban for ages 3-4. I LOVE the talking pen in this version, it is really a great teaching tool. D loved it and the books have some very advanced topics: the book on the hospital was a huge surprise. I don’t know if the books are different this year than last; if they are different, I’d be tempted to order just the books.

Kuaile “Happy” ban for preschoolers ages 3-4

Below is Chengzhang 成長 ban, the current version we get for D. It’s pretty awesome. It started to teach zhuyin and has more math and science covered in it. Before this version, the only math covered is number recognition for 1-10 and some basic counting skills (some basic dividing).
It is starting to teach more advanced language skills. This version also has zhuyin written in the workbooks, which makes it actually easier for me (as an ABC) to read. If you have gaps in your Mandarin Chinese reading skills, but learn zhuyin, you will be able to “spell out” the words.

I’m not stoked about the toys in this year’s Chengzhang ban subscription but we have PLENTY of Qiaohu toys at our house, so it’s not a big deal. I like that it is more academic in content; I am excited about a new talking pen with similar technology to the one included in kuaile ban.

Chengzhang “Growing” ban for preschoolers ages 4-5

The rate has also gone up from my last post. I am still willing to subscribe, but it is getting pricey. According to recent emails, the yearly rate is $345.

If the information has been helpful, please consider adding me as a referral when you order. Here is the website. The order form is here. Their phone number is 714-888-5190.

My referral ID is 2600018310, first name’s Kyleen.

Referrers get a small Qiaohu toy or game; it isn’t much but my kids will love you forever. Thank you!

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Pre-K with Simply Learning Kids Blog

I have loved using the literature units at Simply Learning Kids (SLK). This blogger mom has done everything right. Her original plans are detailed and creative. You do not need to commit to homeschool to do her activities, there is so much you can do on her site with your child just for fun or rainy day activities.

I honestly needed help finding good literature at the preschool level as I neglected to find these type of stories in English since I was so focused on keeping Chinese the dominant language in our home. Our books were mostly Usborne and by itself, it isn’t enough (and I’m sorry to say that because I am a consultant though inactive) because Usborne is mostly informational and really lacks in quality of storybooks—the classics we grew up with combined with some new modern stories—the good quality literature that helps kids love reading and in the habit of hearing a story unfold. 

SLK mom has transitioned to using the Peaceful Preschool (PP) from Peaceful Press. It’s similar but not completely the same style as her old curriculum. In comparison to PP, the original units at SLK are more time consuming work to prep but at the same time, it’s just prepping paper and lamination. I can do it while binge-watching Netflix. 

PP is a different style of prep work. I feel like PP is more Waldorf and Montessori in style than I’d like to be, so I’d like to apply some of the concepts, it’s just super difficult to with two toddlers and a preschooler. They bake bread, make all-natural cleaners and homemade play dough; I just don’t have time to do these things with my kids right now in my current life situation. I need a curriculum that is already made without time-consuming activities. (Also, because I have placed more emphasis on learning Chinese, I have skipped over a lot of material, like poems, for now. I have a lot of material to go over, more than the regular homeschooling family.) 

What has helped me is to go over all the preparation questions and family vision and school plan in the PP curriculum and her videos available in the Facebook group you join if you buy the curriculum. 

SLK is doing extension activities off of PP with less downloadable material (which is sad!) but even her basic activities and ideas are more what I want to do for the time being: simple art projects, montessori 3-part cards, emphasis on many different types of literature; so I’m grateful for the site. I will continue to make and use her old materials and gradually move to the PP letter units and her extension activities. 

She has recently made all letter unit (letters cards, scriptures, worksheets) and 3 part cards available. This is fantastic news for those of us printing at Staples or similar. You can now print everything you need at once instead of waiting for updated posts.

Please check out this site and for more ideas and inspiration, follow her Instagram. Remember, the key is to have the ideas inspire you, not overwhelm you. 
I love her lists of supplies, books and toys. I am learning so much about the resources to keep a minimalist style of home for kids. It’s easy as a stay at home mom to buy random things at the dollar store or education store without thought of the purpose behind them. While I have to say, I’m not completely minimalist, I do lean that way and strive to be less materialistic.

I have almost bought all of the items on her list of minimalist homeschooling supplies; it cost me a lot of money to buy the art supplies, in fact, initially, it didn’t seem minimalist to me; but as she said on the site, it is quality materials that will last over multiple years of use. And I will likely never go back to Crayola watercolor and crayons.  

A few tips on the supplies:

• I got my Educational Insights jumbo letter stamps from Amazon and Zulily. Each pad is about $13 and sometimes you can score free shipping. The ink pad is also sometimes featured.
• Get the watercolor cake palette from Michael’s, not Amazon. The set is only $5. Totally worth it. 
• Get the XL watercolor paper from Walmart, not Amazon. It’s only $5 a pad.
• Get the white roll paper from IKEA. It will be shorter in width but a lot less expensive. It also coordinates with the easel they sell. I have rarely used my roll paper because I am only homeschooling one; I probably would use it more if all three of my kids were involved in the art projects.
• I haven’t bought a printer yet but I am tempted to. I am used to using Staples and Minuteman Press. Some of the printouts don’t need to be high quality if they are consumable, but the cards and activities you laminate and use over and over again probably should be especially if you have multiple kids.

KonMari with Kids: Part 3 Think Simple

I should get extra credit for typing this with manicured nails. (Yes, I’m 32, and I just got my first manicure last week!) At the time it seemed like an awesome idea to get a manicure. Then I went back to the real world, changing the twins’ diapers and cleaning toilets and eating chicken wings…what was I thinking? My life is not conducive to long nails at all.)

After Magic of Tidying Up, the real magic lasts if we address a deep-rooted issue most of us don’t want acknowledge.

If we do not change our consumerist habits then all the decluttering in the world won’t do any good.

Maybe it’s because somewhere in the cosmos, the fates realized I have a gift for decluttering that 3 (count ’em)—3 people I know (and I don’t really know many people to begin with) in the last 6 months have given/gifted/trashed me with garbage bags full of junk, things their kids stopped playing with ten years ago, a pile of garbage-looking toys, a collection of really nice Gymboree shorts I sold to Once Upon A Child (cha-ching) also 4-5 sizes old from a family with only one child at home. (So you’re saying you can’t trash these items, but I can?) I should start a business, “We trash your stuff so you don’t have to live with the guilt!”

In came more “stuff” and I had to revisit my need to hold onto things and my need to buy things.

Everyone knows I love shopping.
Everyone knows I love kids’ toys, kids’ clothes, and kids’ gear.
I may have de-cluttered, but I’m not recovered:

I realized that wall art is a nice new money-hobby because it takes up only room on a wall instead of part of my living room floor. It’s still buying things without the mess.

I don’t buy as much clothes now, but when I do I don’t feel bad overpaying for brands like Madewell so are things better now that I don’t go clothes shopping at Ross (for the poor quality) or are they worse because a pair of jeans cost $130? Not sure. 

I am also surrounded by people (ahem, millennials) who think they are rich. They want their kids to wear fashionable clothing. Statement pieces for toddlers? What? For moms’ day out, we’re going to order $40 plates for our dinner out? What? I mean, I love indulging too. But whatever happened to the simple life, the beautiful life I wanted when I first became a mom and had simple aspirations to just be content and not moving around the country for SG’s graduate school?

When did we become so entitled we feel we need to have stuff all the time? And to portray a certain value and status through the stuff we have?

I own to the fact I will always have stuff and I will be an Amazon Prime (get it in 2 days or less) type of girl. But there must be real change within, to not go back to the old ways. Maybe I’ll never fully embrace minimalism because I want things for myself and my kids but I can embrace a less consumeristic view. No, my kids don’t need every latest gadget. Yes, I want my home to feel comfortable and inviting but I don’t need to follow every Pinterest trend.

Think Simple.