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Charlotte Mason Style Narrations


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I've written a number of blog posts about narration and how I've learned to interpret it over the years. I based it largely on CM's writings and PNEU articles, but I do add some classical and modern aspects to it as well. My goal was to make it work, even up through the high school years. I'm currently organizing all of these posts into one large PDF file to make it more helpful for those who might want to print and keep this all together. As I'm putting this together, I'm wondering if there might be some other aspects to narration that I could address. If you were wanting to learn more about Charlotte Mason style narrations, what would you want to know? What would be helpful to you?

 

Thanks! :)

 

 

Edited by Kfamily
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How her style of narration compares to others, such as Susan's. How to utilize narration in the older grades such as composition. How to help children in their narration skills. I have not read your blog.

 

Eta: The benefits of different styles of narration.

Edited by Slache
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Thank you all so much!

 

I do have a post on transitioning from oral to written, a post addressing common problems and issues with narration, the versatility of narration with multiple ages, the importance of varied narration types and a few others, but I could spend some time on a more specific post addressing narration with older students and could make a more specific post about the differences between a CM narration and other approaches. I could also expand on the transitioning post with more specific examples and ideas.

 

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I would greatly appreciate it if you went into more detail on narrations with older kids.  We've been doing them more WTM style and I'm ready to change that up.  However, I have an 8th grader and a 12th grader, who are resistant to change  :001_smile:  I'd like to broaden my own view of narrations and use them in new ways.  

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Not sure if this makes sense, but I would love "a day in the life" look at narration. I have a hard time knowing how many things I should have my kids narrate. I know Charlotte Mason said something to the effect of no lesson should go un-narrated. But realistically what does that look like in an average homeschool day. I also have a hard time knowing how much of a narration I should expect from my kids at various ages/grades. I know it will vary depending on each individual kid, but it would be nice to have some idea of an appropriate progression in this skill.

 

I have yet to read your blog, but now I am very excited to read through all of your information on narration. I don't know why this is such a difficult thing for me to implement. So thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom. :)

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Thank you for the suggestions. I'm currently working on some new narration articles addressing these topics:

 

Narration for the Upper Years

Narration: A Complete Day Example

How to Scaffold Narration: From Preparatory to End of High School

Why Should I Choose a CM Style Narration Over Other Options?

Transitioning from Oral to Written Narrations: A Closer Look and Specific Examples

 

Feel free to add to the list. I'll post back here again when I have it finished, if you'd like. It will be a free PDF file at my blog and I may put in a published form at Lulu. I'll have to charge a small price for the cost of publishing it, but I would keep the price as low as possible. This would offer a spiral bound version alternative as well as the download. :) (I made it a perfect bound version.)

Edited by Kfamily
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What I find to be most missing in the literature is how to move from straight narrations to other sorts, and when it will be appropriate to do so.

 

So - when do students move from detailed narrations to summarizing, or comparing/contrasting, or analysis, and what does that look like. 

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What I find to be most missing in the literature is how to move from straight narrations to other sorts, and when it will be appropriate to do so.

 

So - when do students move from detailed narrations to summarizing, or comparing/contrasting, or analysis, and what does that look like. 

I would love to read more about this ^^THIS  as well.

 

Kfamily I look forward to reading your proposed articles.

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What about different forms on narration--oral, picture, written?  My husband wants to record my son's oral narrations and then have him review them so he can remember the stories better, perhaps.  I remember reading something that said CM did not review.  This is one of the reasons they were able to cover so much material.

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I would be interested in strategies to encourage more detailed narrations or helping young children decide which details are important.

I'm actually interested in reading all of it. My son is only kinder and we haven't really started narrations yet. I don't really know what it will look like for us.

 

Sent from my HTCD200LVW using Tapatalk

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I'd like to know in a simple format like a chart perhaps, what the "point is" of what I am trying to accomplish? Maybe showing the stages of example narrations as a kid ages/ develops skills will make this obvious - what skills are being groomed by doing X? I don't hardly know anything about them yet.

For example what I mean is "early skills: "example of a narration in x style at early level of skill," then provide for comparison same narration subject and same "style" changing the variable of age/skill.

 

I'd like to see a troubleshooting thing, like:

"If your child does fine writing "what is one thing you remember from the passage?" But does poorly at "tell me the main ideas of the chapter" summary style requests, try working through this example:

 

:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just wanted to share that I'm still working on these. I just finished a 13 page article about upper level narrations and I still don't feel as if I've addressed everything in it. With the addition of this article, the PDF file is already at 66 pages. Once I add the above article suggestions and the newer ones, I'll be writing at least 8 more articles. I'm expecting this to reach 100+pages. I'm also sharing many narration examples from the guides I've written so far. I want to be careful, because I've spent a lot of hours (okay years... :)) writing and thinking about all of this and I don't want this to be passed around too freely. I'm going to finish it and offer it here for just a day or so for free (PDF only), with the option to buy a print version for purchase and then I'll probably remove the file from the post here.

 

The majority of what I have so far is already on my blog, just click on the narration tab and all of them are organized under this and you could read them all, if you don't want to wait or you miss the day that I post it here.

 

I want to give back to this community...I would be lost without everyone here, so I'll be sure to post here with the link for the free PDF file once it's ready.

 

My goal is to address everyone's questions listed above in some way or another. I hope this helps! :)

 

PS You may find some repetition in these articles, so please remember that I've compiled blog posts from over the past year or so and as each article was written separately, I've probably repeated a few points here and there. :)

 

Maybe one day I'll get my act together and organized it really well and publish it as a really good book. :)

Edited by Kfamily
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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay....so here it is...imperfections and all! :)

 

Please, please let me know if you see any editing mistakes or have any questions about anything. I've looked it over and tried to make edits, but I'm certain I've probably missed a few things, so I would actually consider it a favor if anyone could let me know. Also, please know that this is not my super-polished-final version of a book on Charlotte Mason's narration techniques. This is originated as a compilation of the many blog posts that I had written about narration and then I decided that it might be convenient to put them together in one large PDF file that could be printed. I also decided to offer a print version of it at Lulu for those who preferred to have it neatly bound. I'm including the link for the print version here. Lulu takes $9 of the $12 price I'm asking for it.

 

I hope this is helpful! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Kfamily
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I downloaded it pronto while you had it up, devoured it, and already recommended it to another friend.  It addressed many of the questions many previous posters had--I would recommend it to anyone!  And for what it is worth, I appreciate you promoting the step of Preparing the reading for narration, as I have totally been skipping previewing vocabulary.  I was under the (mistaken) impression this was "getting in the way between the child and the book" and my child has been stumbling.  It makes such sense.  Thank you!

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Thank you so much for this resource-- I've also downloaded, read through carefully, and have compiled a great list of new ways to do narration. I also appreciate your comments on prepared narration. I've been trying to do this for my daughter's readings more this year. 

 

She's been reading Robin Hood and I've noticed that in the early chapters, I had a good list of proper names and places, as well as the vocabulary. However, when a student works her way through a novel, the names and places don't really change and you're just looking for the vocabulary and some good narration ideas.

 

This means a lot of pre-reading-- I find myself keeping just one chapter ahead!

 

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Thanks for sharing, Kfamily!  I just started to read it, and I appreciate any and all help I can get on Narration!

 

May I provide a little feedback?

Printed page numbers on the document would be helpful.  My to-be-read pile (and all my other piles) is a mile high.  And if a little one were to come running through and knock my hardcopy off the top of the pile (a very real possibility), numbered pages would make it so much easier to reassemble.

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I can definitely take care of this...sorry about that. Page numbers just slipped my mind. Lol! :)

 

Give me an hour or so and then it should have them. :) OK...it has been numbered and a few edits that I caught have been corrected.

 

 

PS In case you weren't aware, the PDF file is still free and available at my website. Just click on "Bookstore" (don't go to any of the tabs under it) and you will find it still there. I've just removed the link to it in the posts here. :)

Edited by Kfamily
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  • 2 weeks later...

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