Getting Started with Narration

Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered…

Charlotte Mason,  Original Homeschooling Series Volume 1

Along with short lessons, living books, habit training, narration will be included in any list of Charlotte Mason method basics.  Before I started homeschooling, when I was researching curriculum, methods, ideas, and styles, I was drawn by the description of homeschools that followed Charlotte Mason’s principles.  The more I read of her methods, the more convinced I became that this style would be the best fit for our home.

As school began, however, I discovered that I did not really know how to get the kids started doing narrations.  I hadn’t done this as a kid.  How could I get them to do more than shrug and mumble, “I don’t know,” when I asked them to tell me what they read?  So I went back to Miss Mason’s Volume 1 and looked for some instruction, scoured the internet for insight and then just tried some things.

So here are a few tips on getting started with narration for younger elementary aged kids.

1.  Narration is something children do naturally.  They are absolutely bursting to tell you all about what they are interested in.  Notice and appreciate the raw material you already have to work with.  So start when they are young at the dinner table or at bedtime.  Ask them to tell you about their day.  A few questions can help: “What was your favorite thing we did today?”  “Where did we go today?”  “Who did we see today?”

2.  Don’t require narration until the children are 6.  Let them narrate what they are excited about and don’t push them if they are not interested.  This was extremely helpful for me when my kids were in Kindergarten.  We read plenty of great books, and sometimes they were totally excited to tell me what they read.  Other times they were not interested and at that age, I didn’t worry about it.  I let narration just be a choice and thus, a joy.

3.  Begin by modeling it.  During that Kindergarten year, if they were not interested in narrating to me, I would narrate the story back to them.  This gives them an idea of what narration should be.  I would give a brief summary of the story with a few choice details that particularly interested me.

4.  Start small.  When I started reading chapter books to the kids, they were lost when I asked them to narrate back the entire chapter.  So I realized I needed to pause more often in the chapter to let them narrate.  Miss Mason herself, when describing how to begin in narration says, “read two or three pages, enough to include an episode; after that… call upon the children to narrate.”  So for a few months, I paused several times in the chapter to elicit a brief narration.  This helped the children’s memory, comprehension, and narration skills.  Now that we have been doing this for awhile, they can listen for longer periods and still give quality narrations.

Princess K’s Comic Book

5.  Introduce the Lesson.  When I was in college as an Education Major, I took several classes that taught me how to prepare a lesson.  Always at the beginning of the lesson was to be an introduction, where you give the students an idea of what the goal of the lesson is (what will be learned), why it is important, how it relates to what they have learned before, and a hook that will capture their interest.

Charlotte Mason agrees with this idea of the lesson introduction.  She says, “Before the reading for the day begins, the teacher should talk a little (and get the children to talk) about the last lesson, with a few words about what is to be read, in order that the children may be animated by expectation…”

So whether it is Bible, history, science, or literature, I ask my children what they remember from the previous reading (and then add in any information that was left out that would be relevant), and give a little hook about what is to come.  Often in Bible and sometimes in history, I will give them something specific to look out for: “Listen for a man who is given a second chance,” or “Pay attention to why this king was such a terrible king.”  In science, I often read the section title and thus give the kids a little taste of what’s to come: “We are going to read about how birds find their way home today!” or “We are going to learn about how seeds scatter and spread so they can grow.”  Often in literature, after we talk about what has gone on before, I will read the next chapter title and ask them to predict what will happen next.  Students are often very interested in paying close attention to see if their predictions were right.

Thank you NotebookingPages.com !

 6.  Try Notebooking.  One of the best tools I found in encouraging good narrations from my children was notebooking.  I found NotebookingPages.com, used the free pages for awhile, liked it so much that I became a lifetime member.  Basically, these notebooking pages are pages with cool (and often thematic) borders and illustrations filled with lines and empty boxes for the students to draw their own illustrations from their lessons and write down what they have learned.

The notebooking pages have been a huge asset in our homeschool and for narration.  They draw as I read the lesson to them.  These drawings help them retain what they are hearing.  Then they narrate orally to me, often using their illustration as a starting point, and I write what they say on the lines.  This gives us a record of what we’ve read, and they thoroughly enjoy selecting a scene from the reading to illustrate.  It also helps keep my active young elementary students engaged in the lesson- it gives their hands something to do.

It was very important to the success of narration in our homeschool that I did not require my children to write their own words on the blank lines.  If I had done that, I would have had very short narrations indeed.  Their ability to narrate a story far exceeded their ability to form letters and words on paper.  I am very glad I encouraged oral composition without requiring written composition, for now I have kids who are incredibly eager to tell and write stories.  And I have students who are pretty good at telling back what they’ve heard using some of the same words and language of the author.

X-man’s Comic Book

7.  Be Creative.  Other ideas for narration in the younger elementary years include acting the story out, or using flannelgraph, puppets, or action figures to retell the story.  Currently, we are reading Tales of the Odyssey by Mary Pope Osborne.  I have given them a few sheets of heavy paper divided into 6 boxes.  In each box, they illustrate one scene from the chapter I am reading.  Then they give me a relatively brief summary of what they illustrated or heard and in the end, we will have a comic book of their own creation.  X-man and Princess K are very excited about their comic books and have me read all that they have written so far each day.  This works well as an introductory review and they are so very motivated.  There are tons of other ideas for creative narrations: making movies, creating art, recording a radio show, use clay, blocks or legos, draw a diagram, make a map.

Acting out their Bible Story

Charlotte Mason Methods: Handicrafts

When I was at college, training to become a teacher, I observed and assisted in many classrooms and had many conversations with a variety of experienced teachers about the daily realities of teaching and the problems they faced.  One thing many educators lamented was the lack of time for the “frills” of education.  There was so much pressure to spend so much time on the basics, the core subjects, that there was not much room left for arts, crafts, music, even science and history took a back seat to the Great Language Arts.

As a homeschool mom who loves the methods practiced by Charlotte Mason, I believe in the benefits of the “frills” of education.  I know that studying art and music can transport you to other worlds and help you see the world in new ways and thus promote better problem solving and deeper critical thinking skills.  The extras of education are the riches and treasures of the school day.  They are fun and enjoyable and uplifting.  Although I know all this, arts and crafts and music have been quite a challenge for me to try to fit into our daily schedule.

The main problem, when I boil it down, is all that stuff you need for doing arts and crafts and music.  The thought of pulling all the supplies and materials out (especially when my littlest one is awake and about) making a huge mess and then cleaning it all up and putting them all away again is exhausting.  I think it is important to do, but I never can quite get myself to do it.

A lot of craft supplies: yarn & a crochet hook, pastels, various beads, a loom, and a few crafty kits.

Another reason for my struggles in getting this a part of my schedule is that I have never been naturally artistic or crafty.  I could never draw and I never was any good at any sort of craft (until just a few years ago when I discovered the joys of scrapbooking!) so the idea of teaching my kids to do something that I’m not good at is a bit daunting.

At the same time, this also fills me with a longing.  I am excited about learning new crafty skills.  I am really looking forward to scrapbooking with any kid who will enjoy it with me.  Last year, when I started trying to occasionally incorporate some Learning to Draw books in our days, I really enjoyed the idea of learning to draw.  So I am trying to fan these feelings and get some excitement that will lead me to make some room in our days for crafts.

I really appreciate what Charlotte Mason had to say about Handicrafts in Volume 1 of her Original Homeschooling Series.  She wrote that Handicrafts “should form a regular part of a child’s daily life.”  She gives a few guidelines for these handicrafts that I think are brilliant.  First, “they should not be employed in making futilities.”  Instead, their crafts should be beautiful, valuable, and functional.  (Amen to that!)  Second, “that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do.”  Third, “that slipshod work should not be allowed.”  Finally, because of the previous direction, “the children’s work should be kept well within their compass.”

My daughter loves arts and crafts.  She loves handwriting and drawing and baking and all sorts of artistic pursuits.  So I decided, in an attempt to get us both excited about Handicrafts (and to keep me accountable to actually follow through on this craft plan), I took her to Michaels with me to find craft kits or supplies  that she was interested in learning how to do or use this year.  We got clay, a crochet hook (and I let her pick out a skein of yarn of the color of her choosing- she picked out the multicolored blue, purple, pink that is in the above picture), and a latch hook kit.

All day today, she begged to start her latch hook craft (a blue butterfly on a pink background- it is so very her).  Her enthusiasm was just what I needed to be motivated to do crafts with the kids (my objective in taking K to Michaels was achieved).  So, after school, and after her little 2 year old brother went down for a nap, we pulled out the kit and learned together.

 

She loved it and I loved her joy.  After reading the instructions carefully (as I have never done this latch-hook stuff), I helped her start with making a yarn key and showing her how to use the tool to do the first few knots.  Then she went to town and finished one entire row.  She was so excited and so proud to have persevered and completed a whole row.  I was so excited and so proud that she was able to do it all by herself.  She is looking forwward to tomorrow when she gets to start on the butterfly itself.

She has plans- Handicrafting plans- for her future!  She wants to complete this project and then learn to sew.  She also wants to learn to draw flowers.

X-man received a woodworking kit for his birthday a few months ago and he and his dad built this train together.  I’d like him to paint it (and cover the lovely marker decoration his little artist brother lovingly bestowed upon it) and do a few more of these projects if he is interested.  It really helps to have motivated kids.  It makes me willing to go to the effort of pulling the stuff out and then deal with the mess after (or make the kids deal with the mess which is almost as much effort- and sometimes more).  What he really likes to do is draw so my plan is to draw from this excitement from today’s success and try to make it a daily reality, as Charlotte Mason recommended.

Pablo Picasso said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”  The focus required when creating art of any kind transports you away from the cares and struggles of your day and puts you in a peaceful world for a moment where nothing else exists.  It is refreshing to use a whole different side of your mind and heart when you produce something beautiful.  Possessing an artistic or crafty skill can be a source of peace, joy, relaxation, and delight.  As you create, you are brought closer to your Creator and there is spiritual refreshment in that. I want my children to explore their creative sides and find a skill or two or more they want to develop, practice, and enjoy.

These are my ideas for crafts and skills they can select from and we can spend time learning this year:

Latch-hook, Wood-working, Crochet, Sewing, Cross-stitch, Baking, Gardening (if California ever gets rain again), Mosaics, Beading, Weaving, Clay, Pastels, Painting, Drawing, and Scrapbooking.  We also received gift certificates to a local pottery studio that I am excited to use and we will continue to practice the life skills that are appropriate and useful in our household.