This is our first year of homeschooling although I have been reading the SCM and AO sites for years, “doing” homeschool-type activities after school and during summers, hoping to have an opportunity to implement CM principles full-time.
DH is supportive of homeschooling; however, I’m the one who has done the research, chosen the curriculum, and I set the schedule. I am also the breadwinner of the household, working full-time, while DH is the primary homeschooling parent. He says that because I’m the one who has done all the research, he is willing to follow whatever homeschooling method I deem appropriate. In preparation for our homeschooling venture this year, I printed off several articles and e-books that covered the basics of CM, and read and discussed these with DH. He says he understands and agrees with the CM principles, but I know that implementing what one agrees with and understands is not always easy. I try to be gracious and give him leeway to implement things his own way or to switch things up — he is the one at home, after all.
Narration is my biggest concern right now. We have one child, a daughter in grade 7 who is a prolific writer. She loves to read, loves to write, is incredibly creative — and she hates oral narration. This morning as DH was driving me to work, I happened to sit in back with dd; she thought this was a real treat. I asked about yesterday’s history reading and she started telling me a bit about what she remembered. I probed to see if she remembered anything more, and she began fishing up details, not necessarily chronologically, and correcting herself when she realized she’d gotten things wrong or out of order. While not a stellar example of narration, I thought she was doing okay for being put on the spot. Then dh in the front seat started shaking his head and audibly sighing. Her face fell and her narration became even choppier and less coherent. He kept shaking his head and eventually told her she needed to pay more attention to the readings so she could remember better.
It took every ounce of restraint not to take him to task in front of her. It’s been several hours and I’m still pretty peeved about it. This is not the type of support and encouragement I envision for her oral narration efforts.
All of that background for this question: Given that she is an excellent writer, is it appropriate for her to begin written narrations before she is proficient with oral narration? I originally insisted on oral narrations only, despite her age, because I want her to be able to formulate and present information orally — I already know she can do it in writing. But given the lack of appropriate support and encouragement, I’m wondering if it will work better in our situation to let her write her narrations first in order to process the information, and then have her present the information orally once or twice a week.
Any suggestions?
Thank you,
Sarah
