A narration question???

Hi all…

My name is Renee.  I am new to the Charlotte Mason blog forum.:-)  My homeschool journey started 4 years ago when my first son was two. I thought I was nuts to have this ‘gut’ feeling that I didn’t want my child in institutionalized schooling.  Fast forward 5 years and I have been homeschooling 2 years now.  My very first book about homeschooling was given to me by a dear friend and it was a Charlotte Mason book.  I am not even sure which one.  But, I read it from cover to cover, LOVED it, and then said, “how in the world do I accomplish this?”  I didn’t see how.  I joined a group called Classical Conversations and have nothing but great things to say about our group.  I felt I needed people along with me; to scared to do it alone.  I did believe in the philosophy too.  However, after months of ‘fighting’ with my now 6  year old about school…I felt something was terribly wrong.  My once ‘in awe’ child, was disliking school.  I had to change.  Lo and behold, I am back where I started, with a little more confidence and a vision that is God driven.  I am sold now, been reading EVERY CM thing I can get my hands on.  Anyway, that is my very short introduction.:-)  I am here, I have no idea what I am doing, but I am sure it is where God has  lead our family.  I have a son Cash (6), a daughter Billie (4), and a son Owen (2).

So, my question is… I have just started narrating with Cash.  He is seemingly excellent at this. (in my newbie eyes) However, I am confused at most of the things I have read.  Here is my example. We are finishing up a book about George Washington that we started presidents week.  I took ‘ read only a few sentences at the beginning’ to heart.  But, I would like to read for 10-15 minutes a day out of this book.  Obviously, that is a lot of narration for a beginner and if we only do a couple sentences a day, I will be in this book for 3 months.  I could probably easily read it to him in a couple weeks at a nice pace.

So, when you start narrating, do you only read a few lines a time and be done?  Do you have them narrate the first few lines or paragraph (my son can narrate a paragraph…but, has harder time with poetry that is colorfully worded) and then read the rest of the time without narrating?  Obviously, it is going to take time for him to narrate long passages….and I want to be able to read more than 1 minute.  Does this make sense?

I have read many CM and AO articles/blogs on narration. I can not seem to find this question out.  Am I doing this right?

Thanks so much! I am very excited to be here!

Renee