SCM Discussion Forum

1. 

   Misty
   Member

   Again it's me!  Talking about my same 3 older boys 11, 13 & 14.

   I want to really implement written narration this year.  The problem I had last year is if it's not set in stone or on the organizer like a normal subject it just got over looked and I had them do oral narration.

   I need to make this better this year but am struggling.  Which brings up a couple things

   1. If they use pen and paper would you call that also copywork?

   2. Would you allow them to use a computer and call that typing also?

   Or which age would you say to switch from pen/paper to typing it?

   3. How often would you suggest doing written narration at 14, 13, & 11.  Knowing last years was hit or miss.

   4. How much would you expect on the paper?  Say 4 sentences, a paragraph, 2 paragraphs? 

   What are your thoughts.  I have been very lax in this and want to beef it up this year.  Thanks

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
2. 

   LDIMom
   Member

   Could have written same post Misty except ages 13, 12 and 9 (10 next month).

   My thoughts (keeping in mind I feel like we really didn't do well in the narration dept. this past year) are:

    

   1. No, but I don't have my oldest doing copywork anymore; if you feel they still need it; maybe assign a paragraph from the book which they were narrating?

   2. Yes, Definitely! **Please tell me this is acceptable b/c we already allow our oldest to type his creative writing**

   3. We read history every day, but I'm thinking of having each one do a weekly narration based on that week's assigned reading (both the reading aloud and their indiependent reading). I know it won't get done daily; just not going to happen daily here.

   4. A paragraph would be good b/c then you (I) can check sentence structure, abilty (or not) to construct a solid paragraph.

   My 2 cents

   Can't wait to hear from others!

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
3. 

   LDIMom
   Member

   P.S. I'm putting everything in spiral-bound notebooks this year. The boys will each have a spiral notebook to keep their written work in (just like for copywork and math 5-A-Day drills in their respective notebooks). I am making them myself and then having them bound at FedEx office, mainly so I can make my leftie notebooks with the spirals on the right. He told me the spirals really bother him on the left and earlier in the year asked me if he could use his spiral notebooks upside down (so the spiral is on right).

   He is the type of kid who can be EASILY distracted greatly by something like this, so I'm happy to find a solution and I kind of like making my own notebooks b/c I can have a lot of creative freedom. I'm thinking in the narration notebooks, I will put a page at the beginning with narration starters in case they get stuck. Then no excuses, right?!

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
4. 

   Misty
   Member

   Oh, good thoughts.  Hoping to hear more from others with older ones.

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
5. 

   sheraz
   Member

   LDIMom, That's a great idea about the spiral binding.  My leftie complains of the same thing so I started hole-punching on the right side and it helped a lot with the hand writing... =)

   Misty, notebookingpages.com just added an app that will let your child pick his paper design, type in it, add pictures and print it out.  

   Even if you don't use their app - maybe you could add something like that to your schedule on say T and TH - "written narration in science or history (or whatever)" and let them choose what to type and a picture (either drawn or printed off the computer) to help them want to "remember" to do it too.  Just something to make it more interesting.  

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
6. 

   Misty
   Member

   To add to this.  I am not a grammar person so would you say just reading it over and making sure the simple things are done correctly will be enough..spelling, capital letters, puncuation marks...

   Are you saying they should be doing written narration daily?

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
7. 

   DawnD
   Member

   My dc are 11, 12 and 13.  Answering your questions:

   1) No, this is not copywork.  Copywork is copying from a well written book, noticing the spellings, punctuation, and capitalizations while copying.

   2)They can surely type their narrations.  I wouldn't have them do it if it is so arduous that they are spending more time finding the letters than getting their thoughts down, however.  Then they need a few more typing lessons before using it for narrations.

   3)I would start the year at 1 per week and go up from there through the year.  It would depend how difficult this was for my child, how often I would require it.  If they are getting the hang of this and doing them without too much "suffering" I would go up to daily narrations.  The 11 year old maybe to 2-3 per week.  Depends how they do with them, really.  My 11 year old has much less difficulty writing things down (a girl) than my oldest boy.  So I have him doing less of this than her. 

   4)I'd expect at least a paragraph.  In my experience it is harder to summarize the whole reading in a shorter amount than to write it all out.  It's a harder skill.  But writing it all out takes more time and more writing  (not popular with boys)  If you want a paragraph summary, you may have to discuss this a bit and help them decide what are the main things.  And, yes, we go sometimes correct the work. Not every one though.  I have some narrations that are for this purpose and some that are "what did you learn" type narrations.  I'm interested in content more than correctness. 

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post
8. 

   Misty
   Member

   For my boys thats the entire issue is the length of it.  They can narrate to the point it's to much.  I want them now to learn to sum it up and get it on paper.  How do I get this?

   Do we correct their written narration?

    

   Posted 11 months ago # Report Post

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