Name: Teach Them Diligently (Branson)
Start: 2025-05-15T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-17T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Branson, MO

Tagged: encouragement, High school writing

This topic has 12 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 3 months ago by ErinD.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

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December 19, 2019 at 12:06 pm
CrystalN
Participant
So I have posted my woes before and always feel much better after hearing from all you lovely ladies. I am feeling very insecure about my ability to graduate well rounded successful adults using CMs methods. I know the methods work, I just feel very insecure about my ability to implement them. I dropped out of public high school and never attended college. How can I possibly think I can give my children an adequate education? I desperately want to jump in with both feet and use all of the suggestions and resources on this site, but I really wonder if I can do it succesfully. I believe narration is all you need for writing, with some gentle instruction in later years, but how can I give gentle instruction if I have never been taught? I have been reading and trying to educate myself, but my oldest is a tenth grader (and not a natural student) so I feel pressure to just purchase boxed curriculum that promises “college ready” graduates. And yet these boxed curricula never make me feel any better. They just make me feel like I am meeting some ridiculous standards that wont produce the thinking, God fearing adults I hope to cultivate. I end up flip flopping between CM and classical, buying writing and grammar programs that make us all cry. And my kids still arent writing. Even my 16 year old can barely eek out a paragraph, and they usually arent very well thought out. I feel like if I try to implement CM wholeheartedly, without a verbatim plan, I will fail and they will fail. What can I do to educate myself quickly and thoroughly so I have the confidence to move forward consistently? I read a lot of articles on this forum as well as Ambleside, I am reading Philosophy of Education now, I am about to purchase Sonya’s Hearing, Reading, Telling, Writing. Am I missing something? Are there resources I can use to teach myself writing so I can help my children through their written narrations? More than mechanics, I have resources for that. But how do I teach them to order their thoughts, produce coherent paragraphs, writing that flows well and makes sense. My oldest will write a paragraph and many times the sentences do not even relate. He certainly has no interest in being an author, his gift is people, but a decent essay is a reasonable goal I think. Anyway, sorry to go on and on. I am just feeling so incompetent and overwhelmed. Any encouragement or advice would be so appreciated. I really just need to know embracing CM will work and that I can learn to do it well. And learn quickly!
TIA
Crystal
December 19, 2019 at 12:48 pm
KeriJ
Participant
Crystal, I completely understand your worries. My oldest is in 11th, and I am still worrying as well. But one thing stands out to me. You yourself are an excellent writer. Truly. And somehow you learned that, despite your education. I don’t have the answers. I know others here will give excellent advice. But I wanted to mention that, because I think it counts for something.
December 19, 2019 at 12:57 pm
ErinD
Participant
First of all, I think you can have confidence in a CM education and the SCM materials, because the people who wrote them have had success with them. You can follow their plans because THEY know what they are doing, even if you feel like you don’t. Sometimes we have to follow someone else’s lead before we figure it all out ourselves (been there, done that).
Second of all, a book that you might find very helpful in terms of turning narration and turning it into higher-level writing is Know and Tell by Karen Glass. You are doing yourself a huge favor by trying to educate yourself about writing so that you can teach it. I did the same thing and I found Glass’s book to be extremely helpful (I have not read the one by Sonya, but I’m sure it’s good, too). I followed many of her guidelines and I am very happy with my high schoolers’ writing.
If boxed programs and classical make you feel worse, then maybe they aren’t for you. I would have no qualms about jumping both feet into CM.
Lastly, don’t panic. You have a good two years left with your 16yo to get him writing, and that is plenty of time. You may find that he progresses quicker than you think because he is older.
December 19, 2019 at 2:35 pm
KeriJ
Participant
I knew that Erin would say what I wanted to say, but better.😊
December 19, 2019 at 7:18 pm
CrystalN
Participant
Thank you KeriJ, you are very kind. And thanks to both of you for your help. I actually have the Karen Glass book, I went and dug it out of one of my book piles. Apparently I read few chapters and never finished. I have been devouring it all afternoon (had a dentist appointment so plenty of time for reading!) The language arts part of a CM education just feels so elusive. It so customized, gradual and flexible that I cannot wrap my brain around it. I love a nice laid out step by step daily plan. I know the beauty of CM is in the focus on the child as a unique person. Which I love. But my control freak, box checking, planning self wants it all laid out in a nice easy to follow (and check off) weekly grid. Maybe I could make a nice chart to make me feel better, Monday – read and narrate, Tuesday – read and Narrate, Wednesday – read and write narration……
December 19, 2019 at 8:53 pm
ErinD
Participant
Haha, KeriJ! 🙂
That’s what I feel the Karen Glass book does – gives us a plan that we can follow, but still individualize it for our students. I hope you find it helpful.
And to be honest, I DO schedule out writing that way….
December 20, 2019 at 5:46 am
HollyS
Participant
Crystal,
I have been teaching my kids for over a decade, following CM methods more often than not. My oldest has really struggled with writing, which I believe has held back my others. I finally feel like we are in a good place with writing. One thing that has really helped is to have a separate composition lesson, apart from their regular books & narrations. I choose a short passage, and they follow up with a written narration. Aesop’s Fables is a perfect beginning place. I plan on gradually increasing the difficulty of the passage as we go. I’m using some of the early AO/CM readings like Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Stories From the History of Rome, fairy tales, folk tales, mythology, etc. We also narrate after our school readings, but focus on oral narrations for those.
Since my older kids are in high school, I also plan on covering some additional writing styles towards the end of the year. Narrative style is covered through narration (telling a story). That leaves expository (inform/explain), descriptive (describe, make a word picture), and persuasive (opinions and persuasion). We can also eventually work on letter writing formats, play writing, and poetry. My plan is to have one narrative style narration and one additional style narration each week.
One thing that helped my oldest is IEW. They do a Key Word Outline. They pick 3 words from each sentence of a passage. They write the words out, each sentence’s key words on it’s own line of paper, then they rewrite (or retell) the passage using just the outline. It took away the blank page fear that was crippling my daughter’s writing abilities. That was her biggest issue—not knowing what to say. This might also help your son with ordering and organizing his thoughts. It doesn’t make for the most creative writing, but I think this method does have it’s place!
December 20, 2019 at 1:51 pm
KeriJ
Participant
Agreeing with Holly. Some of my daughter’s best writing came when she took notes before writing a narration. Then in Karen Glass style, went back and added an intro and conclusion.
It’s also fine to use a writing program in the upper years. That’s when it’s time. We are using parts of Essentials in Writing. Just a few of the essay lessons. And spread out over 2 years while still doing written narrations.
Last, CLE has a research paper Light Unit that cost less than 5 dollars. I found it very clear, easy to follow, and broken down into doable steps.

December 20, 2019 at 6:18 pm
CrystalN
Participant
So, here is my plan. I intend to go back to my true style which really is CM. I will use much of SCMs resources next year. But for this year I will tweak what I have and use narration and discussion instead of the study guides that came with my boxed curriculum. I will probably refer to the guides myself to see if there is anything worth using, I did see a nice literature primer with some interesting points. For writing I intend to toss my 8th graders writing course and just let her narrate orally a few times a day and write her narrations 2 times a week, increasing to daily by the end of the year. I will introduce some expository and descriptive styles this year. She will also do Analytical Grammar and Spelling Wisdom/ULW. My 10th grader will also do daily oral narrations with written increasing from 2 times a week to daily. I will also introduce expository and descriptive, but he also has been using Lost Tools of Writing which teaches persuasive essays and he will continue that. He will also continue with Easy Grammar. I intend to start with a timer so they only write for 5 minutes, increasing to maybe 8 or 10 minutes by year’s end. So by the end of the year I hope to have accomplished the following
8th grader – 3-5 full page written narrations a week, narrative, descriptive and expository.
10th grader – 4-5 full page written narrations a week, narrative, descriptive and expository. 1 persuasive essay every 3 weeks (following the Lost Tools schedule)
Does that seem like I am on the right track?
December 20, 2019 at 9:08 pm
ErinD
Participant
Yes, definitely on the right track!
Just for reference, I never required more than 3 written narrations per week that were a full page, so if you find that 4-5 is too much, don’t feel bad about cutting back a little. But that’s totally up to you.
December 21, 2019 at 10:47 am
CrystalN
Participant
Erin I think you may be right. A whole page a day may be a lofty goal. Maybe an occasional full page. I was thinking yesterday maybe having my daughter do a character sketch. She is reading Little Women right now, maybe I can direct her narrations toward a particular sister, asking for a paragraph a day. Then when she has completed the book go back and do a longer “essay” about that character. Would that be CM? She may not be ready for that so quickly but in the future maybe.
December 21, 2019 at 4:49 pm
Karen Smith
Moderator
Don’t forget you can ask for a persuasive narration from students in 10th-12th grades. History is usually a good subject to ask for a persuasive narration.
Our Narration Q&A blog series is a great source for learning more about narration. Part 15 of that series describes the four different types of narrations and what grade levels to introduce each of them.
December 21, 2019 at 6:46 pm
ErinD
Participant
Well, I don’t know if it’s CM, but it does sound good to me. It’s a good goal to work up to.
When I started my oldest on longer written narrations, he was in 9th. I had him write 3 a week and my goal was to have him write 3-5 paragraphs, reaching a page long by the end of the year. It went way better than I thought, and he very quickly was able to do a page consistently. It depends on the topic, too – sometimes it’s easier to get to a page, and sometimes it’s harder – so my son ended up writing anywhere from 2 paragraphs to 2 pages. The length can vary, as long as it averages out to about the amount you want.