struggling with narration

[christall]

Ok - I'm sure I'm making this harder than it really needs to be but for those of you with more than one child (studying the same thing at the same time) how do you do narration?

 

I have two 1st grade girls (one is my dd and one is being homeschooled here with us) My dd is quite a bit more advanced that the other girl (they are 7 & 6 years old respectively) but in several subjects (History, FLL, Science...) they are studying together.

 

I've been running into problems, especially with history. When we finish our lesson and get to the part where they narrate to me what it is they lesson was about I feel like everything falls apart. If I ask my daughter to narrate first, the other girl will simply repeat everything she can remember dd saying. If the other girl goes first, it can literally take 45 minutes for her to recall even the smallest bit of information.

 

What am I doing wrong? When they narrate to me, I should be guiding them to keep it short & sweet (a couple of sentences) right? They say it, and I write it?

 

Am I totally missing the boat on this narration thing?

 

Christall

[A home for their hearts]

I have a similiar problem. I have 2 dc a grade apart so we are doing history and read alouds together. I will have one narrate to me after I've read the first part of a story and the other narrate to me the last part of the story. This can be done paragraph by paragrahp as well. You could even have one of the girls narrate of the history lesson and one narrate after grammer.

HTH!

[Rebecca]

Is your DD the seven year old? I am assuming this is the more advanced child?

Narration only really begins in earnest at the age of six. Children vary very much with this skill- especially in these young years!

 

I would always ask the younger child to narrate first if you are having them narrate on the same reading. I would say something like, "tell me one thing you remember from what we read." This should be a sufficient prompt. I would be happy with one accurate statement from a six year old. The child will grow in this as you continue to practice. Another option would be to tell the child, I am going to have you narrate(tell me what you remember about what I am going to read). I am going to read one paragraph to you. Listen carefully. Then I will ask you to tell me everything you remember about what I just read." With this option, I would stop the reading after one paragraph and have the child narrate. Then I would continue on and have the other child finish the narration after the reading was completed.

 

Another idea is to change tactics completely and only require narration from your readings from the seven year old. Instead use literature like Aesop's fables (once or twice a week) to help the six year old develop in the skill of narration. You could also use children's storybooks. Simple stories that don't have a complicated plot.

 

Also, with a six year old, I believe it is okay to ask them a question or two to help them as they are just developing this skill.

 

Does this make sense?

 

I also have a seven and six year old and five year old (boys) and they vary greatly with this skill. I look for a statement that shows me that they have understood and internalized what they have read. It is a skill to be practiced.

 

Are you using a particular history curriculum that prompts you to have the children narrate?

 

I hope this helps.

 

It is likely that a less advanced child might feel intimidated by an older child's more proficient narration. I would guard against that.

 

Looking over your post: if the reading is too long- it will be hard for the six year old to put the thoughts together and organize them. A shorter reading will help.

 

Again,

I hope this helps,

Rebecca

[Testimony]

Here is some narration tips from Paula's Archives: http://home.att.net/~bandcparker/narration.html

 

Hopefully, that will help. One suggestion that I read somewhere goes like this:

 

If there are two children reading the same text, have them narrate to each other. It is certain that they will correct each other.

 

Also, have a debate. Have each child tell about 5 minutes of the story and videotape the debate or record them speaking.

 

I hope that is helpful.

 

Blessings,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[WTMindy]

I have a similiar problem. I have 2 dc a grade apart so we are doing history and read alouds together. I will have one narrate to me after I've read the first part of a story and the other narrate to me the last part of the story. This can be done paragraph by paragrahp as well. You could even have one of the girls narrate of the history lesson and one narrate after grammer.

HTH!

I think this is a great suggestion. I also don't think it is a terrible thing if the younger girl is repeating your dd. Your dd is modeling the proper narration technique for her and perhaps after she has done it for a while, she will get better. But, I guess I would say that narration doesn't have to be quite as formal as you are making it. Stop throughout the reading and check for understanding. Any time that you sense the younger girl is drifting off, you could stop and say, "Does that make sense? What was it that Ashurbanipal was known for?"

[Sue G in PA]

for now. He will listen to the reading (we do MOH) and when asked to narrate 1-2 facts back to me, he can usually come up w/one w/ help. I used to have him tell me 3 facts, I'd copy his narration and he'd in turn copy my copy, KWIM? Now, to save me some time...I just have him copy 3 key sentences of my dd11's narration! She does a great job getting all the key facts down and I figure it's copywork for him AND he's going to retain something from writing it down, right? We narrate other things anyway. Perhaps just have the other girl narrate from a book she read or you read to her? She's still young. She's learning from your dd!