【推荐2】At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.

The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.

In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.

The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.

Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.

【推荐1】It can be hard to keep kids busy sometimes, especially when school is out. Whether your kid is in pre-school or high school, there are fun, educational, and even some free apps on this list for them.

ABCmouse. com

ABCmouse.com is available both as an app and a website. It uses fun storyline-based videos, quizzes, and activities—there’s even a virtual map outlining your child’s learning path to keep kids engaged.

Ages:4-8

Cost:One-month free trial, then $ 10/month subscription (订阅).

EPIC!

Epic! is an app for kids with an e-book library that contains over 35,000 children’s books. This app is a perfect way to take reading wherever your device goes, and it’s great for families with kids of various ages.

Ages: 2-12

Cost: one—month free trial, then $ 8/month.

QUIDK MATH

Kids know that math can be boring, but this app transforms numbers into something more creative and interactive (互动的). Quick Math Jr. is an app for kids with 12 different math games that feature fundamental math skills and concepts.

Ages: 4-8

Cost: free

BrainPOP Jr. Movie of the Week

For 20 years, BrainPOP has been providing kids all over the world with in-depth, yet easy to understand educational videos on everything ranging from Mozart to food allergies. BrainPOP Jr. Movie of the Week is an app that helps younger kids get these videos, plus short quizzes on them.

Ages :6-9

Cost: free, optional subscription(订阅)is $6.99/month

【推荐2】Staying at home and watching Netflix is quite cozy. To help you figure out what to watch, we take a dive into the collection and list some options released in the last two years or so that are well-worth a watch.

Penguin Bloom (2021) 95 mins, directed by Glendyn Ivin

Naomi Watts stars in this emotional roller-coaster of a film about a woman struggling to recover from a catastrophic injury. After her children bring home an injured bird, her character’s efforts to nurse the magpie (喜鹊) nicknamed “Penguin” back to health unfold in parallel with her own healing journey.

Metal Lords (2022) 97 mins, directed by Peter Sollett

Jaeden Martell and Adrian Green smith play a pair of teenage friends who decide to form a heavy metal band and enter their high school’s Battle of the Bands competition. What they don’t expect, however, is to have their friendship tested and to learn a lot more than about music when they recruit a shy cellist to join them.

The Sea Beast (2022) 115 mins, directed by Chris Williams

Chris Williams directs this animated high-sea adventure about a young girl who boards a famous monster-hunting ship secretly, only to discover that everything she thought she knew about monsters and hunters might be wrong. Karl Urban voices legendary hunter Jacob Holland in this all-age feature.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022) 117 mins, directed by Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

One of Hollywood most visionary filmmakers turns his attention to one of the most beloved tales in children’s literature in this animated adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. The film records Pinocchio’s chase to become a living boy—a journey that brings him through one adventure after another.

【推荐3】AQUILA Children’s Magazine is the most intelligent read for curious kids. Full of enthusiastic articles and challenging puzzles, every issue covers science, history and general knowledge. AQUILA is a quality production, beautifully illustrated with contemporary artwork throughout.

 Intelligent reading for 8-12-year-olds

 Cool science and challenging projects

 Inspires self-motivated learning

 Exciting new topics every issue

AQUILA is created and owned by an independent UK company. It has 28 pages, printed on high-quality paper and there are no advertisements or posters. Instead it is full of well-written articles, thought-provoking (令人深思的) ideas and great contemporary artwork. Each monthly issue is centred around a new topic.

AQUILA works as a superb learning extension to current primary (or KS2 and KS3) curriculum (课程), but it is much more than that! Entertaining and always surprising, AQUILA is recommended because it widens children’s interest and understanding, rather than encouraging them to concentrate only on their favourite subjects. It gives children a well-rounded understanding of the world, in all its complexity.

The concepts in AQUILA can be challenging, requiring good comprehension and reading skills. Eight years is usually a good age to start. Some gentle interest from an adult is often helpful at the start.

In 2021 AQUILA will have been in publication for 29 years, but it has never appeared in newsstands or shops. We are subscription only.

AQUILA Subscription

UK：12 Months￡55－4 Months￡30

Europe：12 Months￡60－4 Months￡35

World：12 Months￡70－4 Months￡35

Birthdays

Select the Birthday option, write a gift message and choose the birthday month. We will dispatch to arrive at the start of the month you have entered. The package posts in a blue envelope marked “Open on your birthday”.