Is it sinking in?

Lyn,

I don’t have any great words of wisdome on this cause I have 4 boys who are all over the board with narration. My 10ds is great he can be doing something like holding his sister and he’ll be able to narrate every word back. My 9ds has to really pay attention and not be distracted but when he want’s he’s very good at it, but one thing with him I can only read a little at a time. My 7ds is the same as yours if it’s something that really interests him he’s fine but otherwise history/bible/geo. is like pulling teeth. My 5ds is just funny with the things he says and that’s fine.

So what am I getting at.. I am not worried. At time’s I’ll have my 7yr old read something to himself to see if it helps but right now he’s just not ready for this. I know that he gets it enough because the next day he can add into our conversation when we start saying what was yesterday about. And that’s good enough for me.

My advice would be, be patient, try different things, and remember she’s only almost 8.

Just wanted to really say you’re not alone, I have one of those too! 😉

Misty

A lot can happen “under the surface” but a key is–can you tell if she is paying attention while reading? Really keep an eye on that. If she gets that “dreamy” look in her eyes and you know her mind has left you and gone elsewhere, then STOP. It’s better at such a young age to do several short readings, with complete attention, than one longer one where you lose her. Once this habit is better developed, then you can feel more confident that she is really taking it in.

But if you are sure they are “there” when you read, you know the material is appropriate, and you just don’t get good narrations, I’ve learned not to worry too much. I have a “delayed-time” narrator, in fact, who almost NEEDS some reflection time to really make sense of what he reads/hears. He gives much better narrations days, weeks, or even months later. 🙂 He is older than your daughter, but something that often worked well for him–he would sometimes give a poor narration when he was young, right after the reading. But if I assigned him in advance to tell Daddy at dinner what we read about that day, he often did a pretty good job. I would sometimes say something during the day like “Daddy will be so glad to hear about _____ from you tonight!” to encourage him a little. He often surprised me with how well he did this. This could give you some idea of whether she is in fact a “delayed-time” kiddo like mine, and could also reassure your dh some.

I’d also experiment with a few other forms of narration to see if you can “diagnose” the problem. Can she draw a picture? Act out the scene using toys? Do you ever catch her “playing” her history or literature books–acting things out in play? Keep an eye out on these things. If the history stories seem to be blowing by her, she gives poor narration, but stages a Battle of Bannockburn with her toys, you know she’s getting it. (That is probably a really bad example for a girl, but I only have boys and couldn’t think up what a girl might do, lol!!!!)

When my eldest (now 19) was about eight our family members were full of doubt and asking a lot of questions. I decided to begin a “family” newspaper in which I’d include narrations done throughout the month, a few clipart images, a picture or two, and my daughter’s choice of coloring page. It was about two pages to start, and grew to four to six pages. I’d try to include a variety of narrations: videos, biographies, field trips, experiments. etc. After a year or two we had 36 subscribers, and it got a bit pricey to copy and mail every month. However, that newsletter not only stopped the doubting questions, I found my family members bragging about our homeschool and sharing the newsletter with others. This was a VERY simple newsletter – done on a 386 computer with dot matrix printer. I was the “Editor” and my daughter (and then son, too) were “Reporters”.