Narration frustrations with 8th grade son

SCM has a wonderful and huge series all about narration.  All the posts are linked here: http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/blog/series/narration-qa/

Actually, before that, I would look at the shorter 5 Steps to Successful Narration series here: http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/blog/series/5-steps-to-successful-narration/

Specifically, I wonder if your son needs more focus on the pre-reading reviews, looking ahead and behind.  Short version – when you sit down for a reading are you beginning with a look back at what came before that day’s reading?  This helps orient them to what happened and how it relates to this day’s reading, building on what came before, and leading to what will come on following days readings.

I think that narration issues are usually a sign that a student is not properly applying  his habit of attention. I would start back at the beginning by having him stop and narrate more often during his readings. It will take more time but I think the fruit will be worth it.

For instance, when beginning narration, mom starts by having the child read just a couple of pages before narrating. As the child matures in his ability to apply his habit of attention to his readings, he can read longer passages and give more detailed narrations on those longer passages. If he has been giving you bare bones narrations, than he has probably settled into a habit of skimming  his books without giving his full attention to his readings.

As far as rereading a passages goes, this is where I differ from Charlotte Mason. I would have my child reread the passage so that he would know that bare bones narrations are not acceptable. He would have to reread until he could give me a detailed narration that shows he is truly applying himself. This is how I handled similar situations with my son. He learned to pay attention the first time so that he didn’t have to read and narrate a second time. I may not use this method with a young child but it is how I handled my son when he was your son’s age.

Of course all of this assumes he doesn’t have a learning disability that is hindering him in this area. If you know he has good reading and comprehension skills than this is a matter of attention rather than reading or narration.

I should also mention that it is very important that the student’s books be high quality, living books. This makes all the difference. Poorly written books will not be conducive to in depth narrations. The same is true of textbooks. I’ve found history books to be the best books for building narration skills simply because something concrete is happening in each reading if that makes sense. Sometimes not much happens in a reading from a classic literature book, for instance. A child may have simply read pages and pages describing what the scenery looked like and what everyone was wearing. While a skilled narrator will be able to narrate on these kinds of readings as well, a student struggling with narration might have an easier time when something concrete is happening in the reading.

Lastly, are you reading aloud to him or having him read on his own? If you are reading aloud, he may not be a strong auditory learner and he may do better by reading his books to himself.

He’s just gotten to where over the past couple of years, he doesn’t like much of anything about school.

That has been my experience with middle school boys, too.  I have found it very helpful during this time to have my son enrolled in classes where he has to report to someone other than me.  So, for example, he has a teacher in co-op who grades his written and oral reports, he is enrolled in an online Latin class, and he uses Teaching Textbooks for Algebra, which is self-grading.

If he were to only have to answer to me I don’t think he would get much done.  He is SO smart, and so unmotivated right now.

Ugh, I don’t really want to think about boys and hormones yet ladies!  Makayla is 15 in a couple days and we’ve done okay with her hormones because they’re familiar to me, but besides her sister I have seven sons to get through.  Joseph, my oldest boy, is turning 12 this fall.

Cyndy, it’s hard if he does all his own reading.  Maybe share with him that you’ve learned about something called pre-reading reviews that you want him to try for just one book (all the way through the book, however long he reads it)?  Then have him either jot down, tell you, or even just go over in his mind what has been happening in the book up to that point, consider what he thinks could happen in today’s reading, and then dive in.

What about just conversation? I don’t like “asking for a narration.” I never do it. It bores us all to death. My 13 yr old son spontaneously tells me ALL about EVERYTHING he reads because he just knows I’m interested. The girls are less likely to think to tell me on their own, so I just say something like, “What’s going on in your book?” Then when they tell me, I usually have more questions about it. Just genuine interest, not a school requirement. I used to think I was terrible for not having them narrate, but then I realized that the principle is to help them have what they read become part of them, and conversation does that better at my house. It’s more fun for us too.

Re: Outsourcing. Where do you go for those courses? Can you ladies give me some good places to check out?

Jawgee, you mentioned Latin…

I outsource when the price and quality is right.  Mostly it has been in our local co-op, but we have done a few other things, too.

We are very fortunate that our state has an online charter school that is free for in-state students.  So, when my DS mentioned that he wanted to learn Latin (when he was 12), I signed him up for Latin I.  He’s finishing up Latin II now and will complete Latin III in his actual “freshman” year of high school.