Jump to content

Menu

Narration,. in Science too?


bnbacademy
 Share

Recommended Posts

I am the mother of 2 very verbal boys. I am giving up the fight of constantly saying "cease and desist!" (with all its variations of ... "Please Be QUIET"!!) of attempting to mold these 2 talkative boys into proper schoolchildren.... I am considering going over to the dark side ... and using it against them.

 

I am relatively new to the whole narration concept, but I like what I have read about it so far. History narrations are going well, and they are not even on to me yet...

 

We are big lapbookers, but I do see where it has been just busy work at times. I think I want them to manipulate the information in their heads more before it comes out as speech or writing.

 

And then... Science...How can I incorporate narration into Science? Is it only answers to questions? Is that enough? Do you have them read from their science book and paraphrase what they have read?

 

I like the variety in lapbooking, ie: it is colorful,and writing the info involves more senses, are there various forms for narration as well?

 

TIA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing you could think about doing is making a science notebook that is a cross between a lab notebook and a lapbook. When my dd was in elementary school, she used her notebook to draw pictures when we were at museums or about and about. When she did experiments or messed around with science stuff, I took photos and glued them in, while she narrated captions at first and later more extended descriptions of what the pictures showed. If they do any data sheets or written work, you can glue that in there too. The notebook becomes kind of overstuffed, but it's a fun record of what they're done as well as practice in formulating and articulating their thoughts on paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, KarenAnne. Yes, we have Science notebooks with minibooks, notebooking pages and lapbooks. We used the Real Science 4 Kids lab books to start or just colored cardstock with minibooks glued on.

 

I'm wondering if anyone purposefully includes narration as part of Science and how is it done? At a 3rd and 6th grade level?

 

Lapbooks can be reading info, then putting it back on the pages of a mini-book. I'm wondering if narration processes the info more or not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We use Apologia Elementary science. I read a section, have one of my kids narrate, read another section, have the other kid narrate, etc. After we've read and narrated enough (however many sections I think are enough that day), we do lapbooking.

 

In order to narrate, the kids have to pay attention while being read to, and then after the reading, they have to think about it enough to put it into words and in a good order so that it makes sense. That helps them retain the information. My dd used to struggle with narration, and she used to not remember much of anything I read to her. We literally had to start narration with two sentences at a time, and she struggled with that; she gradually over the years worked up to longer and longer passages. She has never been much of an auditory learner, unlike her older brothers. However, she amazed me with what she was telling me about sea creatures approximately a year after finishing the Apologia book on them. The stuff she was telling me definitely came from that book. And we did the sea creatures book before we started lapbooking, so all we did was reading, narrating, and an occasional experiment. I didn't think she had retained anything. Boy, was I surprised!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, the narration is a returned paraphrase of what you just read? Do you correct any misinformation or just use it as practice in learning?

 

Essentially, this is correct. I do correct misinformation on the spot as I want her to recall the right information.

 

For science, I will usually read the passage, then ask dd to tell me several things that she learned. I write it down, then she copies it or writes it from dictation into her notebook. Then we paste the picture that goes with what we read about (from the program we are using). For the sixth grader, I would have them read on their own and then write and one to three paragraph summary of what they have learned.

 

Have you read the sections about science in TWTM? There's a much more detailed explanation in there :).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, Paige. I have just recently ( as in, just days ago) looked into the whole concept of narration. We are using Winterpromise, and frankly, I overlooked the role of narration included in this curriculum. I plan to remedy that and go alittle further. I am intrigued with some of the concepts espoused by Charlotte Mason and have looked only online so far.

 

I do think it would be a great fit for my boys. I would like to use it throughout History and Science because I think the retention might be more successful than what we do now.

 

Do you recommend TWTM as the best explanation of the narration process? I'm not going to change my whole curriculum choices and library to a Charlotte Mason program yet. Maybe I'll take it in baby steps as a trial period first.

Edited by bnbacademy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have the SOTW activity guide it walks you through narration. It has some questions about the reading and then gives you a prompt for the student. It even gives examples of what a narration about the given information should look like. THe example is just that, an example.

 

The WWE books all have narration helps as well. You do it twice a week with guidance if needed.

 

If you do them all the time they become really easy. We do them for almost all assigned readings no matter the subject. My son, 10, does them almost without asking..almost.

 

If your children are not strong writers it is fine to take their narration from dictation. You can also take their narration on a white board and then dictate it back to them. That can be helpful if they have a hard time holding everything in their head.

 

Narration is something I am really enthusiastic about. My older son has been doing narration several times a week for 5 years. I am now seeing how it is leading him into organizing his thoughts and putting them on paper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are supplementing with the SOTW 1 reader only.

 

I am probably going to start with just "telling back" what they have read, just to get our feet wet. I assume that I cannot go wrong as long as there are not rabbit trails upon rabbit trails...

 

I hope there is variety in narration, I mean, more than question/answers. We did Sonlight for 1 year and all the history questions took away the joy of reading, because he knew he had to answer questions at the end of every chapter.

 

Are there books on the use of narration across a variety of curricula or subjects available? "How to... " books? or, dare I say, "Narration for Dummies?:001_smile: Any recommendations?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Narration is pretty much a writing activity. Even when it is oral it is prep for writing.

 

I would suggest the SWB audio lectures about writing. I would start with the first one 'a plan for teaching writing: focus on the elmentary years' and then the middle school one because of the age of your kids. That way, you have info on narration and outlining.

 

They are on sale now. You can get both for a total of 6$. Cheaper than a 'for dummies' book!

 

I believe there are also some videos on youtube with SWB discussing narration. I am not sure about that though. I know there is a demo of dictation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your going for a more CM style homeschool, you may find these webpages helpful...

Ambleside Online (scroll down to the Language Arts section, look for narration)

Charlotte Mason Help (I've linked you to her narration page)

Jimmie's Collage (I've also linked you to her narration page, but she's used Winter's Promise in the past so you may want to poke around on her blog awhile)

 

I do still think that Susan's writing mp3's and TWTM are compatible with a CM education, both are classical education philosophies. However, listening/reading them may overwhelm you at this point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you vey much for your time and all the replies. Some of the links are familiar as I have investigated the CM model of education. I need more structure than the CM model proposes, but I am planning to emphasize narration much more than we have been.

 

I also tend to make things harder than they are. Thank you for helping me keep it simple. Science is not so different than History, for some reason I was having a blockand narration can be included.

 

Thank you for your help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, the narration is a returned paraphrase of what you just read? Do you correct any misinformation or just use it as practice in learning?

 

Yes, it's just a paraphrase of what we just read. I often correct misinformation but not always. It just depends on how important I think it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...