Baibai (Goodbye) China

Ni hao (hello).

We spent the past two weeks studying China.  Chinese checkers was a hit, as well as trying our hands at Tangrams.  I've had a set for a while and this was our first time using it and it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  The younger boys enjoyed the games as well.  Christopher thought the math worksheet I made for him using Chinese numbers was fun, and we all made Chinese lanterns out of construction paper, which are still hanging in our dining room. 

We also made name initial stamps like were used to sign artwork with and we are going to the Sebastapol House State Historic Site tomorrow to make homemade kites, also popular in China. 

Our read-aloud book right now is about Gladys Aylward, a missionary from the 1930's in rural China.  I love how Christopher brings me the book all of the time to read another chapter.  I think this is my favorite missionary biography that we've read so far and I really reccomend it.  It's amazing to see what one woman did to spread Christianity in that part of China.  I've had to edit a few parts that have to do with violence, which is the case with most of the missionary biographies that we've read. 

The books we are reading are part of a bigger collection of biographies from the Christian Heroes: Now and Then series and Christopher has been making lists of all of the books in the series and wants to collect all 36 of them.  I told him that I'd pay for half of each book and he has already ordered his first set of five.  Unbeknownst to him, I actually ordered the whole set so I'll have them on hand whenever he's ready to purchase the next set.  Free shipping and less cost per book sold me on that, not to mention what a great series it is and how many years they will be enjoyed in our family.

We finished up our study of China with a lunch with Chris on Friday at a local Chinese restaurant, complete with an indoor bridge over a tiny pond filled with turtles that my children found fascinating. 

While I think Chinese food is absolutely delicious, it is not one of the favorites of our kids, but they do like eggrolls, sweet and sour chicken without the sweet and sour sauce (aka chicken nuggets), steamed rice, and fortune cookies.  They all even gave chopsticks a try.  To top off the experience, I asked the manager to speak to Christopher in Chinese, which was pretty neat to hear. 

Next stop...Japan.