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Narration….what do I do when….
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I have a 9yo ds who enjoys being read to/reading/drawing and even narrating. He isn’t necessarily afraid of it and doesn’t complain, but what he does do is add in places/emotions/people (at times)/events, etc. that did not happen (or even come close) to the story. I will say that he does get better throughout our day (even within the same reading) and doesn’t do that as much or at all.
I know that I shouldn’t interrupt, so I don’t, and when he’s having trouble remembering (when he first starts) I just wait and let him think. When he’s left out LOTS of details (maybe the jist of the story) I may ask a funny question about the character/event and jog his memory (don’t know if I should do that at all but it works). So, my question is: Do I let him know that those events (that he kind of made up) did not exist AT ALL or just let it go?? I don’t want to discourage him (he’s partly perfectionist) but I do think that he should stick to the story and then add in opinions/feelings/thoughts, etc.
I have to add that this has become easier and easier for kids and they actually enjoy it.
TIA.
I have a few thoughts, but I myself am just starting with narration and my son(6) is having a hard time with it. When my son can’t remember the begining I will just say “first ____ happened, and then what?” Then my son remembers and can tell me the rest. Sonya mentions in one of the videos about writing out a few key points-names of people in the story, cities, words that are situationally relevent-as visual hooks to hang the story on. That might help him with sticking to the story. You could also say “tell me about ____.” To get him to be more specific about the story.
Maybe by doing things like this you won’t necessaryily have to say “no that didn’t happen.” If he is perfectionist I could see direct corrections like that being discouraging for him. I would think that with a little gentle guiding to sticking to the story he will get better about narrating the facts on his own. Just some thoughts I hope might help.
Thanks, Ruth, that helps alot! I will add those ideas to my notebook.
I’m actually enjoying this aspect of CM and my kids really enjoy it too. Sometimes they fight over who is going to “share” first. I know we have a ways to go (need to start adding in written narrations for my oldest) but I feel good about the habit we are forming. Yeah!
At the Ambleside internship, one of their suggestions for little embellishers was to say, “Stick with the text.”
Saying it in a nice but informative tone places the responsibility back on the student without making the teacher feel like she is discouraging.
Another thing I remember reading/hearing (here on SCM??) is to play this game with a child regularly who embellishes:
Take them to a window and sit with your back to it, them facing out. Ask them to tell you about what they can see. Gently question them when they say exagerations like “I see hundreds of flowers” and ask are there really hundreds? What colors are they, can you count them? Etc.
I remember that one mom was using this game and took the time one day to “prep” the outside view. She went out and put something that didn’t belong there in plain view, so the child had something interesting to talk about, some new detail to explain. (I want to say it was a gingerbread cookie and a squirrel came to eat it?)
The rule for the game is that they have to be specific about exactly what they see, no generalizing that there are “hundreds” or “all sorts of colors” etc.
This would transfer to narrations as “I want you to tell me the story the author told, don’t change anything just yet.” Then take their creative impulse and let them do a creative writing assignment where they get to “change the story” later on, but not right with the narration.
That’s from A Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola (?). I was just reading the chapters on narration the other day. Yes the squirrel ate the gingerbread cookie! I keep re-reading all I have on narration as we are really having a hard time with it. I know all the info, but practicle application is proving difficult. But it is only week 2, so hopefully it will get better. 🙂
Thank you, Tristan. That is my son to a “T”. To add to it, he enjoys books/stories, etc., but he does feel his own creations, whatever they are, are somehow better than the original author/artist. He doesn’t mean it in a disrepectful way, but just that he really does like how his turn out. He even does that with music…the songs/music he creates is better, more creative.
Oh, brother….I think I have a critic on my hands. I do think he would enjoy “embellishing” the story on his own after the first narration.
Thanks for the tip about the outside view…I’m going to try that asap.
We are just a few weeks into narration as well and it is ok, but somehow not as easy as I was imagining :o) Good to hear from all of you that maybe this is normal for the beginning. Thanks for the ideas!
Thank you so very much for the helpful advice, everyone! This is our 2nd wk using SCM. We are absolutely loving this style! We came from a totally different method. So, this is a style is a breathe of fresh air!!
I have a very …creative… imaginative 6 yr old son. So, the ‘looking outside’ exercise would be AWESOME! I am so grateful I read it. Thanks for posting. =] Btw- I just want to say what a blessing this website is to me and my family. I love it! I thank God for SCM everyday! -Leah
I know what you mean, I’m very thankful, too. Today my 9yo was working on science. When it came time for narration/tell me what you remember (or something like that) he was very eagar to tell, tell, tell. He did an amazing job (did not know every detail, but we knew the book had the answers if we needed to check) and he was very proud of himself. He went on to the notebooking work for this program and I was very impressed with him explanations (and handwriting).
For him, we have been using almost only CM and I’m sooo impressed with his spelling. We have never used a program, only copywork and now transitioning to transcription. Now, my oldest is just not quite as concerned about the written word and has not used CM but for about 3 years….I can really tell the difference. If I had known better, I would’ve approached my oldest in a much different way. Live and learn and now we’re learning
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