Struggling to narrate Oliver Twist?

Dd14 read it in 7th. She wrote narrations that were creative in style and well done.   That said, she LOATHED Oliver Twist and said it dragged on forever.

I spread the book over the full year, too.  It simply made it drag on more for her.  Spreading it over a term would have been better for her.  Yes, I would use it again.

Creative Narration

I don’t require narrations for our literature studies. We discuss them in a more casual manner. My thinking is that it’s not so important that my daughter remember every detail of her literature studies-just that she is exposed to the classics and is familiar with the stories.

I have her narrate from all books except the ones that are expressly for literature or free reading so she is narrating for science, history, economics, art history, artist and composer biographies and Plutarch. I give her a break from narration when it’s time for literature. However, she is constantly coming to me to tell me bits and pieces about what she is reading or to read a passage aloud to me so I know that she is comprehending her books.

We haven’t read Oliver Twist yet. She is reading Ivanhoe now and we have it spread throughout the year. She doesn’t care for it at all. I have her read 1 chapter a week and then she reads The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for her remaining literature studies. She loves Doyle-he is very funny. This is our first year spreading a book over the entire school year. I’m not sure if I like this method or not. At first it seemed like a gentler method to handle some of the more difficult reads-like Ivanhoe. Now, I’m not so sure. One can get very tired of a book when it must be read every week for an entire year.

I am sure she won’t care for Oliver Twist either. lol.

That’s correct-I don’t require narrations for literature. While we do discuss what she is reading, she doesn’t give me formal narrations with the detail I usually expect from her.

My daughter is 13. 🙂

I also require her to narrate her Bible readings.

I guess I think of literature as something to just enjoy for pleasure’s sake. I want her to enjoy reading without having to be concerned about remembering lots of details and names. The story is the important part IMO not the little details.

With history, science, Bible, biographies, etc., we are dealing with factual things-things that actually happened or are happening. Details are important here. I consider fictional literature to be in a different department.

I think I remember reading that Sonya Shafer doesn’t require narrations from her children for literature as well. I could be wrong on that one. Don’t quote me. 😉

Just a different perspective – I do have my kids narrate literature, either orally or with creative written narrations and discussion. Narration is the act of knowing.  There is much to be learned from literature that can be missed without it, imho. I’m less concerned with specific details in these narrations, but I want to hear or read how the kids are interacting with the book and making it their own with their perspective and opinion.

I just reread my post and realized that my first statement doesn’t quite come across in the way I meant it to. Certainly I want my daughter to learn how to write from the best authors. I simply meant that I don’t necessarily see narration as the only tool for accomplishing that. Many children do develop writing styles that mimic the authors they are reading but others never quite accomplish that. I’ve seen my daughter develop a wonderful writing style simply from reading so many wonderful books. I don’t feel that my not requiring her to narrate from her literature books affects that. Could narrating from literature books help in this area? Perhaps, but not necessarily.

My goals for narration are that my daughter would process the information she reads and learn how to put it into her own words, not necessarily that she learn to put into her own words in the same style as the original author. That comes naturally to some children, but not all.