Cindy K, my advice is to stick with the written narrations for awhile. For one thing, you can use the written narrations to assess what skills your kids need to develop. The skills they need to develop may or may not be addressed by a writing program. It’s possible all they need to do at this point is practice getting their ideas on paper. I would let them gain some experience with writing for awhile and go from there, rather than using a writing program now.
I introduced written narrations in the past year with my DD (starting at age 11) and I’m really pleased with how far she progressed over a few months. Now that she has writing experience, I’m finding it rather easy to talk about technical skills with her, such as grammar, punctuation, paragraphs, etc.
To address the original question that included note-taking, I will share what has happened recently. My DD is taking a literature class with students older than herself. The students have to take notes during the class, which came as a surprise to my DD in the first class. But, she was able to take very good notes. I credit the years of narrating, which gave my DD experience listening attentively and pulling out the important and interesting information. (My DD has a desire to learn shorthand after learning her grandmother used shorthand as a young secretary many years ago!) My point is that the CM method of oral narration and written narration of quality literature, even if it seems too easy or too slow-moving, really pays off and offers our children a rich background for later writing.
