Narration for a 10 year old

[moonlight]

I have not done a formal writing program with my DS 10. I was looking at the WTM and realized that we have not done much narration at all.

 

I don't want to use a formal program for this. What would you do at this stage for narrations? How much/ what should I expect of him at this age.

 

I plan to use TWSS/ SWI A with him in the summer and then WWS after that.

 

Thanks!

[TarynB]

My advice is to start out gradually, doing oral narrations once or twice per week over something he read in history or literature. Make sure it is a selection where he can easily pick out the answers and have him respond to questions like these: 1 - who or what is the selection about? 2 - what did they do or what is the problem? 3 - then what happened or how did it work out? When it is going well orally, transition to having him write it down.and/or increase the frequency per week. I have notes I took from reading SWB that say a written narration needn't be more than half a page at this age, around three to five sentences, unless he wants to do more.

 

Also, FWIW, unless he struggles with reading, he could probably handle IEW's SWI level B just fine, instead of A. My DS10 did level B last fall and it went great. I think level A would have been too easy and would have insulted his ego, LOL.

 

SWI and WWS teach different skills. But if he's a fairly confident writer after doing SWI, can write decent paragraphs, and possibly has had a brief introduction to basic outlining, then my impression from reading the boards recently is that he should then transition well into WWS.

 

HTH!

[LindaOz]

My 10yo writes narrations for history. After we read history together with ds8, we discuss. I ask some questions, and also start some sentences about the reading that I leave hanging so they have to continue what I have started - this ends up being like oral narration. Then dd10 goes and writes down what we have read about. She usually writes at least a page. The discussion/question/narration time we have after we read gives fuel to base the writing on. She has already practiced the words and concepts by talking about them, so writing it down is the next step. Sometimes we will start with a picture about what was read and write about the picture. That can help a more reluctant writer or add a bit of variety.

 

HTH