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Narration Progression
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I would love some experience from all of you about narrations, as I feel like I am not sure I know what I am doing. I began reading Aesop’s Fables a couple of months ago with my 7 year old, but more and more questions arise as we go along. So I am just going to list them for any that might want to comment on one or all of them.
1. How do I know how much to read? Some fables are longer and I am not sure if I should just read a paragraph or challenge him with the longer story?
2. I think my son does great narrating and enjoys it, but how many details should he be including? Am I looking for an overview or should I try to get him to narrate as many details as possible? I think I put a little too much pressure on him to remember everything!
3. What are some signs that I should be watching for to know when he is ready for more?
4. When do I add in other readings from our Bible, Geography, History, and Science for him to narrate and at what rate should I be adding them? Do I move slow in adding in these subjects for narrations or should I really start encouraging him to narrate from all of them as soon as I can?
Thanks for helping more sort out my thoughts!
Hi Tina! 🙂
1. How do I know how much to read? Some fables are longer and I am not sure if I should just read a paragraph or challenge him with the longer story?
It all depends on his narrating skill. Beginning narrations start with short readings and increase as the child’s ability increases. Follow your son’s lead in this area. Read more when he is ready for more.
2. I think my son does great narrating and enjoys it, but how many details should he be including? Am I looking for an overview or should I try to get him to narrate as many details as possible? I think I put a little too much pressure on him to remember everything!
Don’t worry about what your son isn’t including in his narrations. Narrations show what a child does know. The purpose is not to reveal what he doesn’t know but for him to form a relation with his readings. As long as he is narrating well, then he is gleaning what strikes a chord with him as a person and sharing it with you.
3. What are some signs that I should be watching for to know when he is ready for more?
Again, follow his leading. If he is narrating really well, increase the reading portions, but slowly, so as not to push him to quickly.
4. When do I add in other readings from our Bible, Geography, History, and Science for him to narrate and at what rate should I be adding them? Do I move slow in adding in these subjects for narrations or should I really start encouraging him to narrate from all of them as soon as I can?
I would definitely have him narrate after all readings, making sure to keep the readings short until he gets the hang of it.
Thank you for your input. It was exactly what I needed to hear especially about not focusing on what he didn’t include, but listening for what he knows. I guess it’s hard for me to let go if there is some details that I think he should have included. The other day, he told me that he is feeling a little stressed and not enjoying stories as much because he is trying to listen and remember every detail. I know that this is not what I want, so I am sure I need to back off and just let stories be enjoyable again.
I know I should keep sections short, but what if the short section that I read is just over his head and he can’t really get anything out of it? I had this happen the other day with our Bible reading. Any thoughts on that?
Also, he doesn’t really like when I keep stopping for him to tell the story back, but wishes that I would just read the whole thing. Not sure how I should handle that.
The Bible can be a hard book for children to narrate. You might try a good bible story book for children. Catherine Voss’s comes highly recommended by CM educators.
As far as the stopping for narrations goes, follow his lead in this area as well. If he doesn’t need you to stop frequently, then keep reading through to the end of the chapter. My children were fine with narrating on a whole chapter of a history book or literature book but struggled with science books or books that were dense with information. I usually stopped for narrations more often with those types of books.
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