Hanzi Sheets
A Chinese Homeschool Curriculum for Heritage Families
Heritage kids usually arrive with listening and speaking from home, so a homeschool plan should spend its time on what home alone rarely delivers: characters, reading and writing. Here is a concrete curriculum — year goals, a weekly rhythm, and the materials to run it.
Set the year goal on the YCT ladder
The YCT (Youth Chinese Test) word lists make a natural spine for a homeschool year, because they were built for school-age learners: greetings, family, numbers, school life. One level per school year is a realistic pace. Year one, aim for YCT 1 words — 你好, 谢谢, 我, 家, numbers to ten. Years two to four, climb the ladder. The word lists page has every level ready to print, so "this year's words" is a decision you can make in one sitting.
The weekly rhythm: five short days, one review day
Consistency beats length. A workable week looks like this:
- Monday — meet two or three new words: hear them, say them, see the characters.
- Tuesday — trace the new words on a practice sheet, stroke-order diagrams on.
- Wednesday — use the words: a silly sentence contest at dinner, or a mini story.
- Thursday — second tracing session, then try writing one word with the gray guides faded.
- Friday — read something containing the words: a page of a graded reader or your own sentences.
- Sunday — a ten-word dictation quiz mixing this week with older words.
Saturday is rest. Fifteen to twenty minutes a day is enough — the spacing across six days is what moves words into long-term memory, not marathon sessions.
Split the four skills deliberately
Listening and speaking come from life, not the curriculum block: songs in the car, cartoons, read-alouds at bedtime, and a standing video call with grandparents where the kids show off the week's words. Reserve the daily block for what needs paper: character recognition and writing. A good ratio for heritage families is roughly two parts spoken input to one part pencil time — short, but non-negotiable, because reading Chinese without characters is a ceiling every family hits.
Materials checklist
You need less than you think: this year's YCT word list printed and stuck on the fridge; a stack of tracing sheets for the current words; a simple graded reader at your child's level; and a wall string for finished sheets — visible progress is the reward system that works. If your child also attends weekend Chinese school, align your home words with their class vocabulary so the two reinforce each other instead of competing.
Try it
Pre-filled with six YCT 1 starter words — 你好, 谢谢, 我, 家, 爱, 学 — tracing grid and pinyin on, ready for Monday.
No sign-up · Free every day · A4 or US Letter
FAQ
How many new characters should a homeschooled child learn per week?
Two or three new words a week is a sustainable pace for most families — slow enough to actually stick, fast enough to finish a YCT level in a school year. Review days matter more than new-word days.
Should we follow YCT or HSK word lists?
For children, start with YCT 1–4: it is designed for school-age learners and the early levels are heavy on family, school and daily-life words. Older kids and teens can move to the HSK lists afterwards.
What if my Chinese is not good enough to homeschool it?
You can still run the structure: songs and read-alouds supply the audio model, printed sheets supply the writing practice, and a weekly call with grandparents or an online tutor supplies live conversation. The parent is the scheduler, not necessarily the teacher.
How do we measure progress without exams?
Use the Sunday dictation quiz: ten words from the week and the month, read aloud, written from memory. The score trend over a term tells you more than any single test, and a wall chart of finished sheets makes progress visible to the child.