I use narration instead of testing (no fill-in-the-blanks or multiple choice) to see it they remember or are getting what they just read (or had read to them). I wouldn’t require a lot of written narration from your 4th grader. In fact, it will lighten your load (yes, I read your other post) if you have her stick with oral narration for now.
As far as your 6th grader is concerned, you don’t have to require a written narration every day and certainly not for every subject. You mentioned her ideas were fragmented and she rambled on. That may be the case, but overall, did she seem to have grasped the content you read to her? If so, congratulate her on including good details and save the writing lesson for another time. At this point, you probably want to use written narration as a bridge from telling you what she recalls out loud to getting those details on paper.
In your other post, you mentioned spending 45 minutes with her on Analytical Grammar. This is just my opinion, but she has plenty of time to learn the finite body of grammar rules, and I think 45 minutes of grammar would exhaust anyone and maybe make them learn to hate writing. If you really want to teach grammar before 7th grade, keep it very short. In fact, on the AG website, they suggest that you can split it up over 3 years. The first year could be completed in 10 weeks….and then you use the reinforcement book once a week, not daily. You could even spend 2 weeks per unit and still be done with it in 20 weeks. You’d only do grammar 2 or 3 days a week.
I wouldn’t agonize over writing or grammar at this point. Just spend a little time on it throughout the week. There are good basic writing programs that some moms on this forum have discussed, and some of them aren’t really used until 7th grade. I would ease up on the writing and grammar focus right now, especially for your younger girls. Just let them enjoy literature and history living books together and then tell you what they recall.
