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  • LauraNthree
    Participant

    I’m seriously considering CM for next year. Tried it when we started hsing five years ago and gave up fairly quickly. Now that things are less hectic I’m hoping to give it another go. I’m confused about writing though. Do CM methods teach writing effectively to prepare them for college? All I’m seeing is written narration. What about essays, creative writing, research papers, etc? My oldest (age 10) is going through IEW’s level A right now and does not like it. He’s an advanced reader and comes up with wonderful creative stories, but lacks confidence. He also has dysgraphia.

    Anyway, I’m pretty excited to try CM again but am wondering if I need to add additional writing instruction or if that gets addressed somehow.

    Melanie32
    Participant

    Hi and welcome Laura! 🙂

    Narrations are great preparation for college level writing! Basic narrations are only the beginning however. In high school, narrations are developed into essays. Most CM mom take their kids through a basic writing curriculum at some point or have their children read and use writing handbooks like Writer’s, Inc. or The Elements of Style. Some moms have simply taught the essay format off the cuff by having a student add an opening paragraph and a closing paragraph to narrations.

    I’ll bump a great thread where CM writing was discussed in detail. Bookworm’s comments are especially helpful.

    I, myself, use narration only until high school. My daughter is halfway through 9th grade and we just started using a program called The Power In Your Hands because she was ready for it and it fits her personal writing style. She has been writing essay style narrations for a couple of years now. A writing program isn’t necessary but some moms find it easier to use a curriculum instead of a handbook. It’s completely up to individual preference.

    Karen Smith
    Moderator

    As a child progresses through the grade levels, his narrations take on different forms. By the time a child is in the high school years, his narrations can be narrative, expository, descriptive, or persuasive.

    Sonya shows the progression of language arts using Charlotte Mason’s methods on The Natural Progression of Language Arts video in our Learning Library.

    Our article, Raising the Bar from our Narration Q&A series, gives a description of the different types of narrations and when they are introduced.

    LauraNthree
    Participant

    Thank you for your responses. I looked at the article and video and that does help. I’m still nervous about it as it is not as structured as a curriculum, but I’ll be praying if this is the right direction for us.

    Melanie32
    Participant

    I wanted to clarify a statement I made in my previous post. I said that I only use narration until high school. What I meant to say is that I use narration alone until high school, when I also add in more formal writing teachings to enhance narrations. I realized that I made it sound like we stopped written narration upon reaching high school.

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