Do you correct written narration?

I don’t know if you are “suppose” to.

I’m curious as what others will say on this but I do.

I think it is a learning opportunity for them to see their mistakes and hopefuly not repeat them.

Maybe a child who just starts and does a lot of mistakes it is better to point out 2-3 main ones at a time.

Agreeing w/ missceegee. I choose to focus more on the content and less on their spelling or punctuation mistakes. My dd (almost 9) is notorious for capitalization mistakes. She often capitalizes letters in the middle of a word, but not the first letter of a sentence. I’ll say something like, “Remember, all sentences begin with a capital letter. Let’s try to remember that next time, ok?” English for the Thoughtful Child, vol. 1 has been her only “formal” grammar instruction, and that was last year, so I can’t really expect her to remember all of that AND write a good narration. She also has not started prepared dictation, so I can’t really hold her accountable for spelling, unless it’s an obvious word that I know she knows. Dd is still spelling phonetically the majority of the time, but I am hopeful that starting prepared dictation with her next year will help with that.

My dd13 has daily written narrations that vary. 

• Creative Narration from Oliver Twist
• Summary Narration from the most important current event (her choice) of the week. 
• 1-2 page Narration from her history readings
• varies

My ds10 has 3 written narrations per week. We started with one at the beginning of the year.

• 2 drawn/written narrations from Storybook of Science
• 1 written narration from Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt (a difficult start, I admit)

I don’t usually tell them what I’m looking for. I just choose something wrong and work from there. Both kids have had grammar and mechanics so I expect them to apply what they’ve learned. They aren’t perfect, but it is improving weekly. I don’t always have them correct or rewrite a final draft, but will sometimes choose one to polish.

I assign written narrations from independently read books, personally. RA books, I ask for oral narrations.

I use composition books by subject for grades 7-12, getting a new one when one book is full. Younger grades use notebook paper that goes in a binder. This idea is from HUFI blog on organization.

If I may add, I learned English as a second language and this is how I learned the most, by having someone correct my papers and explain me my mistakes.

Christie,

I’m curious about your creative narration in response to Oliver Twist.  Can you share what you are doing?   One of my girls started doing some creative responses when they read Witch of Blackbird Pond and it got me thinking that this is an area I should be exploring more than I have been.

Many of my thoughts and ideas are from HUFI – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/search?q=Creative+narration&m=1

Check some of these posts for more info.

Detailed and summary narrations – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2007/03/detailed-narrations-and-summary_4340.html?m=1

Creative narrations – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2007/03/creative-narration_226.html?m=1

Correcting narrations – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2007/01/yes-there-is-time-to-correct-written_8543.html?m=1

Ways to narrate – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2007/03/there-more-than-one-way-to-narrate_5878.html?m=1

Narration thoughts high schooler – http://higherupandfurtherin.blogspot.com/2009/02/narration-thoughts-from-high-schooler_9420.html?m=1

Warmly, christie