Reasonable expectations???

Nancy dear, take a deep breath.  Look at all the things your daughter HAS done well.  Has she made progress in reading?  In math?  Can she remember some of those Aesop’s Fables and nature stories she narrated?  Has she formed some relations with things outdoors and in?  You are right in that when those basic skills are being formed, a lot of effort and “brain power” gets soaked up in that.  Sometimes not a lot is left over for other things.  Early years in history, I think, have resulted in some spotty learning for many of our younger children.  I usually consider anything picked up as icing on the cake. (If it makes you feel better, I once had a child tell me that the Boston Tea Party was a real tea party and they had it on a boat because the salt was taxed in town and they put stamps on the tea before they drank it, and then  hung up pictures of bad guys with the Christmas lights in town.  LOL) Also, believe it or not, the example you gave isn’t really all that bad.  Instead of looking at what she DIDN’T pick up, look at what she did.  She clearly knew that Columbus was the guy on the boat, she appropriately remembered Ferdinand and Isabella, and knew there were several ships and that he encountered Indians.  When the folks at Charlotte’s school evaulated written narration responses, they counted the specific things the child did RIGHT. 

You’ve also given a clue in that you said you did not have her narrate everything in history.  Now, that is OK.  Narration is a skill that needs some time to develop.  If her skills have improved, though, then this is the perfect time to run an experiment and see the difference that narration can make.  (the year’s maturation will also help!)

So, what do you need to know for this year?  Do you have “narratable” books for history this year?  Meaning–are they living?  Are they a good level?  Do they break up history into relatively bite-sized pieces, with stories with beginnings and middles and ends?  Are you reading them at a relatively slow pace, and leaving time to narrate?  There are some other things to keep in mind, too, and I could rattle them off but Sonya did a good blog series on assessment a while ago and I think it is worth printing and keeping in your planning notebook.  See http://simplycharlottemason.com/home/blog/page/6/  “How Much Does My Child Remember?” and “The Charlotte Mason Method of Narration” and then http://simplycharlottemason.com/home/blog/page/5/  “Pre-Reading Reviews” and “End-of-Term Exams”.  Make it a goal to begin to implement some of these methods this year.  Ease into it.  I think you’ll find that each year as your daughter grows and as you together become more proficient at these methods, next summer you’ll be more pleased with what you’ve covered and retained.  Do be prepared, though, for the occasional “funny” or vague moment still.  Sometimes I still get them.  🙂  Hey, sometimes I still get something garbled up myself and PRODUCE a “funny.”  Remember you are spreading a feast, and she  might pick up different dishes than you expected.  🙂  I’ve had one son who could do a pretty good job at end of term exams with his narrations–as long as wars, weapons and bad guys were involved.  🙂  Anything else pretty much slid right past him.  But he’s improved a lot with time.

So, what can you do for the stuff that is not quite in the memory bank now?  I wouldn’t reread the same books unless she wanted to for pleasure–you do want to make sure they are listening the first time and not get in a habit of rereading.  But there is nothing wrong with some other methods of quick review, and since you covered early American history, you have a lot of opportunities during the year.  How about a brief retelling of the story of Columbus and maybe a fun craft on Columbus Day?  How about borrowing a few NEST videos on, say, Pocahontas and William Bradford and Christopher Columbus and reviewing the stories that way?  How about making a few Pilgrim-era foods at Thanksgiving with some retelling of the stories?  She already has some basic “hooks” that she did pick up, and so just find little ways to reinforce those and hang some more on those.  Don’t consider the year a waste, but a learning experience and a basic “framework” job.    Another good way to review a little bit would be to work together on a simple timeline if you didn’t already do one, or even perhaps if you did. 

OK.  Are you feeling a little better this morning?  Go give that sweet little girl a hug, and then repeat “We did a good job learning together this year” and then print off Sonya’s blogs on assessment for next year and have fun thinking about it being even better this year. 

I once asked my oldest child, who was 7 at the time, for a narration about Benjamin Frankin. Her narration about this great American and accomplished man was, “Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street.”

Sigh.

They will make their own connections, getting better and deeper over time. It wasn’t funny to me at the time, but we now laugh about the Milk Street narration and it will send us into giggles when someone in the family says, “Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street!”

Hang in there. Enjoy the readings together and have faith the improvement will happen.

Karen, that’s funny… but a VERY important question too, especially when you’re 5 years old!  LOL!

Rachel