Year 2014

When we think of narration, we often envision a parent and a child sitting comfortably on the couch. The mother is smiling and nodding—the book closed and resting in her lap—as the child earnestly tells the story in his own…

Eat three square meals a day. Brush your teeth twice a day. Change the oil every 3,000 miles. Take the trash to the curb once a week. Many of us love guidelines with numbers, because it’s easier to wrap our…

I love this comment that Megan shared on our blog! I did my first oral narration with my 9 year old son today after watching (and being SO encouraged) by the living and learning DVD set. He did pretty well,…

It’s easy to look at narration as the be-all and end-all Charlotte Mason method of learning. What we don’t realize is that we are focusing on just a portion of the picture. We are mistaken if we think that a…

So far in our Narration Q & A series, we’ve talked about the reason we use Charlotte Mason’s method of narration and how it cements the material in the student’s mind; we’ve discussed what narration is and how to get…

I was listening to a music teacher talk about Chopin yesterday. He mentioned that some people might think Chopin was a lesser composer than Beethoven because Chopin’s compositions are so much shorter. But the music teacher set everyone’s doubts at…

When I began using Charlotte Mason’s method of narration, I thought it should look like this: We sit on the couch. I open the book and read the next chapter. I close the book and ask a student to retell…

I like simple. Well, let me amend that statement. I like simple as long as it’s effective. As we continue our series on narration questions and answers, let’s look at a simple description Charlotte gave for using narration effectively. This…

How well do you know The Pledge of Allegiance? I’m pretty sure most of us can recite it. Want to try? (Those of you residing in a country other than the United States, bear with me while I make a…

We just returned from a homeschool convention in Texas that required four days on the road and three days at the convention hall. You do the math. During those days away from home, we ate in many different restaurants, and…

In my pantry are some foods I think of as staples. They can be included in a variety of dishes and used in a variety of ways. Take potatoes, for instance. I can add them to a stew or pop…