9 yo boy: narration

[Just Robyn]

This is an unedited history narration.

 

Muhammad's town was running out of food and water so Muhammad told some people to steal food from Mecca. Mecca did not like this so they declared war. Medina won that war but it was not the last. They had seven wars. Later in time, after three wars, Muhammad complained about having a headache and went to sleep but never woke up. Everyone was scared and wondering what to do after Muhammad died and Muhammad's friend said that he would rule Medina and be their caliph. The Islamic Empire was now ruled by Abu Bakr.

[mom2bee]

Removed by the Author.

[Just Robyn]

What was his source? Where did he get his information from?

 

SOTW V2 Chapter 7. His narration does not retell what the book says with 100% accuracy.

[Catherine]

First, I want to ask if you write for you son, and do you prompt with questions? I'm going to post my 9 yo's narration, which is based on a SOTW 4 section, and was preceded by prompting questions. I asked, then he composed a narration which I wrote and he copied. When he attempts to narrate without my prompts, he often includes information that was not in the original selection, that he either imagined or knows from some other place. How do any of you deal with that? crstarlette, are you also noticing this? You say he does not retell with 100% accuracy, and neither does my 9 yo, and I'm not sure how much of a problem it is. I feel like I am picking away at him so much about his writing that I'm going to make him hate it more than ever, so I'm trying to be gentle. As you can see from his unedited story, he still can't remember basic rules of capitalization and spelling, but we keep working on it.

 

Here are:

 

1. SOTW 4 narration:

 

When Lenin died, Stalin was the leader of Russia. He created a Totalitarian state. It was now called the U.S.S.R. Some people were executed and some were starved millions died. Stalin wanted to modernise Russia, so he took out the farms and added factories.

 

2. narrative writing he did for fun (unedited):

 

One Day I was walking along around a volcanno, exploring the Obsidion, the molten lava. I was on the Roman volcano, Vulcan. I was looking down at the lava When sudenly I was falling! I looked up! my cat had tripped me! I was thinking as the heat grew stronger, I can see my life flashing befor my eyes now. When all of a sudden I just felt warm, not hot, just warm. I could swim! I was swiming in the lava! I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't! It took about an hour but eventualy I got back to the top! I looked all around but I couldn't find my cat, but I could have sworn I saw a black hooded woman running off in the distantes.

[Just Robyn]

First, I want to ask if you write for you son, and do you prompt with questions?

 

I don't write for my son, but he has never minded writing or handwriting. Compared to his brother and a lot of the posts I read here I *think* he is atypical when it comes to his handwriting abilities. This narration was over a long portion of SOTW. I ask him to retell after each paragraph or two. I first listen to what he can remember, then if he doesn't give me specific information that I think is important I ask questions. By the end of the reading we had gone over a lot of the information more than once or twice. - Most of his narrations are of less information. A lot of the time I treat SOTW as a read-aloud meant for enjoyment. I really wanted to give time and attention to Islam, so we did it up.

 

He is a natural speller, but I do give him spellings of, well, I guess I would help him spell anything if he proved unable to spell it correctly, but usually this just means names or really unfamiliar words - like Abu Bakr and caliph. I should have mentioned that to begin with. If this was something he was going to edit I would have him look up the spelling between drafts, but it's not. My goal is for him to get the information on paper, not practice using the dictionary - and of course Abu Bakr isn't going to be in the dictionary anyway.

 

I'm going to post my 9 yo's narration, which is based on a SOTW 4 section, and was preceded by prompting questions. I asked, then he composed a narration which I wrote and he copied. When he attempts to narrate without my prompts, he often includes information that was not in the original selection, that he either imagined or knows from some other place. How do any of you deal with that? crstarlette, are you also noticing this? You say he does not retell with 100% accuracy, and neither does my 9 yo, and I'm not sure how much of a problem it is. I feel like I am picking away at him so much about his writing that I'm going to make him hate it more than ever, so I'm trying to be gentle. As you can see from his unedited story, he still can't remember basic rules of capitalization and spelling, but we keep working on it.

 

I don't correct little details of a written narration. If he were going to edit it then I would point out errors and have him look up the correct information. If he had some crazy error like saying Siddhartha instead of Muhammad, I would correct that. If he says they fought seven wars instead of saying they kept fighting for seven years, I let it go. That information I doubt he will remember in two hours anyway. And, well, I guess if he got some large percentage of information wrong I would start having him narrate easier material or smaller portions of material.

 

Here are:

 

1. SOTW 4 narration:

 

When Lenin died, Stalin was the leader of Russia. He created a Totalitarian state. It was now called the U.S.S.R. Some people were executed and some were starved millions died. Stalin wanted to modernise Russia, so he took out the farms and added factories.

 

2. narrative writing he did for fun (unedited):

 

One Day I was walking along around a volcanno, exploring the Obsidion, the molten lava. I was on the Roman volcano, Vulcan. I was looking down at the lava When sudenly I was falling! I looked up! my cat had tripped me! I was thinking as the heat grew stronger, I can see my life flashing befor my eyes now. When all of a sudden I just felt warm, not hot, just warm. I could swim! I was swiming in the lava! I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I wasn't! It took about an hour but eventualy I got back to the top! I looked all around but I couldn't find my cat, but I could have sworn I saw a black hooded woman running off in the distantes.

 

Ha ha! That is so fun and detailed!

 

 

 

:)

[rwilliams]

I think your son's narration is similar to what my 9 year old son would give. He also likes to add in details that were not there. I just say that you have to tell me what was in the book. I let him add in his imagination for almost everythingelse in life.