unable to give narrations

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  • January 21, 2008 at 7:57 am
    chinanettie
    Participant

    Hi. I’m new to the forums, so just first want to introduce myself. My family and I are living in China, where my husband is a medical doctor. We come from the states and have been here for 5 years. I’ve but been using Charlotte Mason to homeschool my children for 7 years now. My oldest daughter is 11, and has a lot of trouble with the habit of attention. She has always struggled with this, and it’s something we’re constantly working on. I’m not sure how to handle her narrations. She doesn’t pay attention when I read aloud (or when she reads to herself), and when asked to narrate, can’t usually do it completely. If I ask her point blank questions about something to see if she’s paying attention, she usually can’t answer. She has a very high reading and comprehension level, but doesn’t pay attention. What do I do? I know Charlotte says to give them one reading to help train their attention. I get so frustrated when she can’t give back simple information. One day, just to make sure she wasn’t having some kind of learning problem I threatened her with punishment if she couldn’t answer the questions when we were done. She answered everything perfectly. I really don’t know how to proceed at this point. I’m feeling really frustrated. Can someone please help?

    Nettie

    January 21, 2008 at 6:52 pm
    CindyS
    Participant

    Hi Nettie,

    I will recommend that you invest in Laying Down the Rails from this site. I have been reading it over the past few days and have gotten so excited to think what implementing these ideas will do for our family. I have read books on habits before and been left with a sense of, “Huh?” This speaks so clearly and realistically. After reading your post, I read the section on Attentiveness to make sure that it would fit your circumstances and I believe it does. So, consider this a shameless advertisement for Sonya’s book!

    Blessings,

    Cindy

    January 22, 2008 at 2:07 am
    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    You may try reading less before asking for a narration. Maybe read a paragraph or two, ask for a narration, read another paragraph, ask for another narration. I know that means that it may take longer to read a book but remember that you are trying to train her in the habit of attentiveness. Don’t give up hope. Eventually she will be able to narrate longer readings as she develops the habit of attention better.

    January 22, 2008 at 7:14 am
    chinanettie
    Participant

    Thank you both for your help. I recently downloaded the book Laying Down the Rails, but haven’t started it yet. I’ll start tonight. I’ll also try shorter sections. I really appreciate you taking time to help.

    Nettie

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