Name: CHEC Rocky Mountain Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-12T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-14T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Denver, CO

Tagged: book choices, narration

This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by LindseyD.

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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January 14, 2011 at 3:56 am
nancyg
Participant
Today a friend asked our daughter about her current studies. (9yo tomorrow, but reading at ? early 2nd grade level.) Prompting from me about today’s reading elicited a dull, “I don’t remember.” It was the first 9 pgs. of Maestro’s “Coming to America,” a non-fiction about immigration. The narration at home had demonstrated a disappointing level of comprehension, even though the book is “supposed” to be for early elementary and I paused every 1-2 pgs. for narration. “Would you like to tell about “When Jessie Came Across the Sea?” This is a fictionalized account of a girl immigrating to America, very few specific historical details, about 36 pages read and narrated over the previous 2 days. This prompted an enthusiastic (not perfect) telling of a story. I’m wondering……does this demonstrate CM’s idea of the power of a living story? Many non-fictions include valuable information, but does it matter if the child doesn’t seem to understand or care? At least at this stage, maybe I need to stick with the best stories I can find? Thoughts? Thanks so much!
January 14, 2011 at 4:34 am
LindseyD
Participant
nancyg,
While I’m not fully understanding exactly what you’re asking (it’s late and I’m tired, ha!), I’ll take a stab at it. The first question that comes to mind is, how long has your daughter been narrating? If narration is a recent (and for us that would mean learning to narrate over a year or more) thing, perhaps she just needs more practice. It sounds like you’re stopping enough along the way so that she doesn’t lose attention or focus, so good job on that. Narration is a skill that takes lots of practice. Some other questions I thought of:
- Have you tried other ways of asking her to narrate besides asking a direct question (ie. “What happened when Jessie came across the sea?”)? For example, you could have her draw a picture of some details she remembers. Or use a white board and write some key words or names from the story on it. Charlotte called these “hooks” to hang the narration on, and this is the method most commonly used in our house. Sometimes mixing things up in how you’re asking for the narration can be a great way to help make the narrations better.
- Is she only narrating history, or do you have her narrate several subjects? Because narration takes practice, it’s wise to have a child of 9 narrate several times a day. For example, you could begin with history and Bible, and have her narrate that. Then you could go on to poetry and picture study, and then read a chapter from your literature selection and she could narrate that. Then have math and copywork, and then perhaps she could read aloud to you from a book of her choice and narrate when she’s finished.
- Is your dd interested in the book? Many times our own children just do not “click” with a book, even a highly recommended one. If you think she isn’t interested, perhaps you could try another resource on the same subject and see if that results in better narrations. Not all books work for all families, or even all children in the same family.
If you and your dd are old pros at narrating, maybe she was just hesitant to share with the friend about what she’s learning in school. I have noticed that my children do not enjoy sharing with curious friends, family, or even grandparents about what they’re learning. Every once in a while, I’ll ask them if they’d like to recite a poem or sing a hymn that we’ve learned, and they tend to get embarassed. I never force the issue though. Perhaps your dd just isn’t comfortable sharing with someone outside the home about what she’s reading or learning. I realize it kind of makes you feel like you look bad in front of the friend, but if she’s giving good narrations at home, I wouldn’t worry a bit what she says or recalls when others ask. I think our children know when people are just fishing to see if they really are learning anything by being homeschooled!
Anyway, I know that was long, and I hope I helped in some way.
Blessings,
Lindsey
January 14, 2011 at 5:16 pm
nancyg
Participant
I guess that I didn’t do a good job of expressing my questionI wondering about the difference between narrating a story versus narrating non-fiction. The Maestro book I mentioned has no story-line. For me, it would not be too enticing without the pictures. So was CM encouraging the use of stories when possible? (” A narrative style”) Again, thanks for any input. Lindsey, thanks for your thoughts.
January 14, 2011 at 7:50 pm
simple home
Member
Although a non-fiction is certainly acceptable, it would be even better to have the facts mixed in with a good story, if possible…especially for a younger child. For example, we are studying Ancient Egypt and I picked an Egyptian Diary book (recommended on this site) It is fiction but shows how life was lived through different stories shown in the diary pages. It just helps those facts stick when there is an interesting story to go with it.
Hope that helps!
January 14, 2011 at 8:10 pm
LindseyD
Participant
nancyg,
So sorry for giving you a bunch of info you probably already knew! Like I said, I wasn’t grasping your question entirely. You said,
“The Maestro book has no storyline. For me, it would not be too enticing without the pictures.”
I think that right there is your first clue. Obviously the story isn’t interesting or able to captivate your attention, so perhaps it is the same with your child. A book with no storyline would, in my opinion, fall under the heading of twaddle, and therefore, should probably be put down and exchanged for another book. The fact that it is fiction or non-fiction isn’t the question if the book isn’t interesting.
We use fiction and non-fiction on a daily basis. In fact, today we have read from the Bible, Exodus: A Commentary for Children, Pollyanna, The Tale of Ferdinand Frog, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Farmer Boy. I require a narration for each, and expect good, thorough narrations, regardless of genre. I think CM did want to use captivating stories whenever possible. For example, I could read my child a text book excerpt about life during pioneer times or I could read the Little House series. Which do you think will stick with them and captivate them the most? Probably not the textbook. That’s what CM meant by the use of living books. If a fictional story can make a time period of history or a scientific concept come alive in the child’s mind, then use it! If you can find a non-fiction, factual story that still makes a specific topic come alive, use that too! The goal either way is to make the subject matter interesting, captivating, and living. Then you require narrations and expect a well-done narration for each.
Hope that was better,
Lindsey