Narrating Non-Fiction Books

Scherger5,

These are great suggestions! However, the journal entry and letter ideas probably wouldn’t work for her devotional book. Right now, I am having her tell me about what she reads each day in her devotional book (I am also reading the same book). I am finding that I usually have to ask specific questions to springboard the discussion. Oftentimes, I have to go through the reading and bring up key points. Maybe having her outline her readings in her devotional book would help? What do you think?

We are fairly new to applying some of CM’s methods. I have been focusing on oral narrations right now with the goal of moving into written narrations soon. She has done well with the writing lessons we have had before switching more to CM’s methods. She has written a variety of outlines, paragraphs, essays, and has even begun writing her own book. However, doing a written narration from your lesson is somewhat different than having a writing assignment where one is assigned to write on a particular topic. I began having her do some written narrations on her science this year, but she was only coming up with a sentence or two. So I thought we should focus on mastering oral narration first. I’d love to know your thoughts here as, like I said, we are fairly new to incorporating more of CM’s methods. 🙂

I guess maybe I shouldn’t call her devotional book a devotional as it is an informational style book on a topic. It’s one I’m reading as well and we are discussing it. So maybe I shouldn’t consider it to be one we narrate, but instead simply a book we discuss together. 🙂 I would probably agree with you that a true devotional style book would be one to just savor. 🙂

Being new to applying some of CM’s methods, it’s nice to get feedback on the application of those methods. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts with me on written narrations. When I begin written narrations with my daughter, I thought we would start out by doing maybe one written narration a week. I thought maybe I’d start by having her tape-record one of her oral narrations and then listen to it and write it out on paper word for word. Then I’d have her take her written copy and proof, edit, etc. My thinking is that it would be a good way to transition into written narrations and help her with her speaking skills (for example, it would help her recognize how often she says phrases like “uh” or “whatever”). I know dictation is supposed to help with proof-reading and editing skills, but we haven’t begun dictation yet. I thought I would just focus on narration first.

Thanks again for all of your input. I really appreciate it!