The Art of Narrating

Welcome to this Narration edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival. We’re happy to be hosting the carnival this week.

As you know, narration is a fundamental part of the Charlotte Mason method. We’re sure you will find a lot of encouragement and great ideas as you peruse the posts listed below.

Now, if you want to get a real taste for this art form and experience a little of what we’re requiring from our children when we ask them to narrate, here’s a challenge for you:

1. Select one of the posts below,
2. Read the post only once,
3. Then either tell someone what it said or write down what it said without looking back at it. Feel free to include your own opinion and any mental connections you made while reading it.

Go ahead, give it a try if you would like to. (But no writing notes as you read!)

Whether you take the challenge or not, we know you will gain a lot from the wisdom and experience shared in these posts. Enjoy!

Narrating is an art (Vol. 1, p. 232).

Belinda explains how Narration is more than comprehension posted at Lifestyle Homeschool.

Amy encourages us with the joy that narration can bring: Narration…. posted at Growing Fruit ….part 2.

MasterpieceMom presents how narration has worked and what she has adjusted for her autistic son in Narration at Our House posted at Masterpiece Theater.

Children have other ways of expressing the conceptions that fill them when they are duly fed. They play at history lessons, dress up, make tableaux, act scenes; or they have a stage, and their dolls act, while they paint the scenery and speak the speeches. There is no end to the modes of expression children find when there is anything in them to express (Vol. 1, p. 294).

Mother Hen mentions some of those other ways of expressing concepts in Charlotte Mason – Narration posted at Mother Hen.

Makita includes a wonderful sample of her daughter’s narration in Mountain Pine Beetle ~ Current Events posted at Twinkling Stars Family School.

Carolyn gives us a peek into how she is Laying the Foundation for Narration with her younger child, posted at Keys Atheneum: A Charlotte Mason Home School.

Susan explains how she combines Narration and Autism posted at Living and Learning.

Before the reading for the day begins, the teacher should talk a little (and get the children to talk) about the last lesson, with a few words about what is to be read, in order that the children may be animated by expectation; but she should beware of explanation and, especially, of forestalling the narrative (Vol. 1, pp. 232, 233).

Melissa shows how she does narration across the grades in How We Use Narration posted at Lilliput Station Adventures.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom describes A System of Narration that she uses to decide what to expect at each grade level. Her system and lots of written samples are posted at Harmony Art Mom.

Of course that which they visualise, or imagine clearly, they know; it is a life possession (Vol. 1, p. 292).

Ann Collins shares great tips for When Narration Is Difficult posted at Mozart & Mudpies.

Andrea chronicles her son’s progress throughout a term of narrating, including video examples, in Dealing directly with books posted at Kids and Nature.

Renae offers her own narration of her teaching philosophy in I Did Not Teach My Children the Alphabet posted at Life Nurturing Education.

Jamie in Rose Cottage presents some great ideas for Sneaky Narration posted at Rose Cottage.

So did you try to narrate any of the posts in this carnival? How did it go? We hope you learned a lot and were encouraged in this art of narrating.

The next CM Blog Carnival will be held September 30 at The Dusty Frame. If you would like to submit a post from your blog or learn more about upcoming carnivals, visit the CM Blog Carnival page.