We have used WWE from the beginning, and I have always felt that it was the right curriculum for us. But as we started WWE3, I felt like we were getting really lost with the narrations. Dd8 just didn't get how to do those summaries. I could ask her the summary questions, but she did not understand how she would otherwise know what to put in the summary. So a few weeks ago, I started to share with her all of the information in the manual that appeared to be for the teacher. Most especially, we concentrated on the stated focus of each lesson. We talked about what it meant to identify the central narrative thread, the central details or the central theme, and why that particular focus was appropriate for the given passage. Lately, as she has been doing other assigned reading, she has started to figure out what kind of summary is appropriate for the book she has read. I didn't ask her to do this, though it would have been a good idea had she not thought of it on her own. But I am just so excited that this has started to click for her that I wanted to share in case it is a help for someone else.

Hoping to reach a concensus among us here. I am starting to panic because my 8 y/o isn't really up to speed with the writing skills as outlined for a 2nd grader in WTM. There i've said it. deep breath :D I've been re-reading Ms. Bauer's advice, and wondering if i have understood it correctly. Up until this year, my kiddo hasn't had interest in picking up a pencil. When i ask for narratives, she usually just repeats the entire story she just heard back to me. Occasionally she'll pull out the typewriter and write her own newspaper, or she's made a couple of storybooks of her own volition. However, needless to say, she isn't at the point where i can dictate or ask her to write her own narratives. I read about the WWE program, and wondered if it would be useful? But i see in the section on Writing in WTM that Ms. Bauer states that if you're consistently completing narratives for history, science, and reading, that your child should be learning written usage just fine. Am i reading that correctly? As she's grown more fond of the writing utensils, i've had my child pick out two interesting details in her science books to write; we shorten the given narrations from the SOTW workbooks and have her copy them as one paragraph. Wondering if it would just be adding more to an already full plate of copywork if we were to throw in WWE? Sometimes more is just "more", you know? What are your thoughts?? Those of you that use WWE, do you complete narrations for other subjects too, or use WWE solely for its intent to improve writing skills? Thanks for any feedback you may have.

When doing narrations, is a child supposed to give a statement that is a summary, or can it just be whatever they can remember? My dd is 6 (almost 7) and her narrations are never about the main point/plot/theme of a story. For example, if I read her a passage about the adventures of a brown dog named Bob, her narration would be something like "The brown dog's name was Bob." Nothing at all to do with what he did or what the story was otherwise about. On occasion I use SOTW for her to do a narration and hers are never anything like the suggested narrations in the AG. Should I be worried, or is this normal for a 1st grader? Also, how can I help her to come up with more of a summary statement? (should I even do that?) Thanks a bunch!

Really hitting a wall with my seven year-old and narrations. We're using TWTM and it seems like I'm spending way too much time walking her through the comprehension questions (which I make up), then the aloud narration, and finally the dreaded putting it on paper. We're doing this for history, science, and literature (correlating with history), so it's a good chunk of time as it is, and she's really resisting the whole format, despite how bright she is--I think it's a combination of her perfectionism (worried about not getting it right) and her age/temperament which tends toward the literal, details, facts (the sensing vs. intuiting preference on the Myers-Briggs). So we either end up writing way too much (because her memory is like that) which wears us both out or I get frustrated spoon feeding her the main ideas. So I'm wondering if there's a better way to go about this for her temperament and my sanity, as well as time--my poor early kindergartener is basically on her own doing art all morning, which she's happy about, but I want to be with her more, and she's not interested in what we're doing. Not to mention juggling housework with prep and planning for school times (her math workbook has gone uncorrected for the last few weeks and I haven't even had time to teach her the new concepts she's learning purely by example). Our mornings are packed and then at lunch my almost three year-old comes home from preschool and it's all over (having him there three mornings is akin to giving myself training wheels for homeschooling!). So I'm curious what alternatives to the TWTM might be a better fit for us, preferably other forms of classical but I'm trying to be open to anything that has more of a literature feel than a textbook one (and yet my daughter can't get enough of The Magic Schoolbus). What made me think we should stick with classical was how much she loved SOTW I and the mythology, but that was last semester when I had just pulled her out of public school (at her urging) and I skipped the whole narrating/writing part, so we basically just read and did the questions from SOTW AB. All of my children are advanced (taught themselves to read very young) and enthusiastic learners (on their own terms of course!). My oldest (the 2nd grader) loves science and animals, is highly articulate and creative (in speech and writing), a very fast reader, but even when she finishes a book on her own, she wants me to read it to her. She's very relational and visual--loves colorful pictures and prefers illustrated chapter books. Thanks so much for your input! I'll be gone all morning but am looking forward to reading your responses in the afternoon. Meanwhile, I've taken Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Curriculum Picks down from the shelf (for the umpteenth time) as I go back to the drawing board for what I'm sure will not be the last time...:tongue_smilie:

Charlotte Mason style, or WWE style ? NOTE: -Charlotte Mason style: read once, then ask children to narrate in detail. - WWE style: stress on summarizing skill rather than re-word the entire story in detail. For first grade, Susan suggests the parents to read, then ask questions and expect dc to answer in complete sentence. I did CM style before, and it made me and my son frustrated. Eventually, we got through it after several (not once) reading. We switch to WWE style and it becomes manageable for my son. He's okay with step by step narration like that as he is only required to do one or two sentences at that time. What is your experience ?

My DS is 12. I've been trying to get him to do oral narration of history or science reading. He is having a TERRIBLE time with it. He tries to get away with just pointing at a picture in the book and saying "I learned that". If pressed further, he will simply read the words off the page, he doesn't seem to be able to put the narration into his own words. He's started telling me to please don't even ask him to tell what he learned. My DS does have some fairly severe LD's, but still, he's 12 years old, and you'd think he'd be able to give a couple sentence summary of what he just heard or read. Any tips for me? How do you teach a child to summarize what they just read? Any suggestions for teaching this child to narrate what he has learned? Michelle T

Anyone care to share what they expect from their dc from K - 4th grade with respect to written narrations. I'm especially curious about the physical act of writing out narrations when a child has a hard time with paper pencil work. I vaguely remember a post with the progression through the grammar years. Something like this.... Kindergarten being only oral narrations. 1st grade is writen by mom. 2nd is writen by mom but copied by child. ect. But I cannot find it now. It was a helpful post but it cannot get to it again. I'm curious what people do with their own children when their child has a difficult time with the act of writing. Thanks to all of you!

I'm new to narrations and dd6 did her first one on a completed book this morning. We've been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in evenings, and finished last night. I explained to her the process of "narrations" and told her to tell me about the book: well, she went into such detail I had to stop writing! I mean she was quoting me dialogues like "Mr. Wonka then said "Get into the elevator, quickly, quickly, come on now we must go". She went on and on and on! I just sat there completely stunned by her memory, partly because there were parts I hardly remembered at all and she's giving the dialogue! I'm now second guessing my thought that she was a "visual" learner and wondering now if she's "auditory" - it was amazing. I guess I'll never question again if she's listening! The only struggle was she had a hard time with remembering the names of the other children (dh & I are both terrible with names, so maybe that's a genetic thing!). IS THIS NORMAL? :confused::confused::confused: How long are these narrations supposed to be - how should I direct her from here? Do I let her go on with talking, and just write a couple of things that she says? I thought the written narrative was supposed to be in "her" words, but I couldn't keep up, I ended up "summarizing" her words into my own written words. Does this make sense to anyone? Really appreciate anyone's help with this....:)

My 7 yo 2nd grade son just wrote this narration. I thought he did a pretty good job, but of course, there are spelling/grammar errors. Do I just let these go and let him get better at narrating, or should I go over corrections with him? I've written this just as he wrote it Robert E. Lee lived with his family. He went to school. Soon he went to the army. But he didn't have a batle for a long time. Surprisingly he lead a army. the battle was against mexico and the united States. the united states won the batle. He was asked if he would lead the confedreat army, he sade no. then he was asked if would lead the united states and he sade no again. But then Vrginy (Virginia :0) went to the confedreat army. was asked a second to join the confedreat army, he couldn't say no so he sade yes.