From time to time when my kids were young, I would read them all the same story and had them narrate, even though there is a very wide age spread with my kids (the eldest was 15 when the seventh was born).
"Value of Narration.––The simplest way of dealing with a paragraph or a chapter is to require the child to narrate its contents after a single attentive reading,––one reading, however slow, should be made a condition; for we are all too apt to make sure we shall have another opportunity of finding out 'what 'tis all about' There is the weekly review if we fail to get a clear grasp of the news of the day; and, if we fail a second time, there is a monthly or a quarterly review or an annual summing up: in fact, many of us let present-day history pass by us with easy minds, feeling sure that, in the end, we shall be compelled to see the bearings of events. This is a bad habit to get into; and we should do well to save our children by not giving them the vague expectation of second and third and tenth opportunities to do that which should have been done at first.
Disciplinary Devices must not come between Children and the Soul of the Book.––These few hints by no means cover the disciplinary uses of a good school-book; but let us be careful that our disciplinary devices, and our mechanical devices to secure and tabulate the substance of knowledge, do not come between the children and that which is the soul of the book, the living thought it contains..."
Other thoughts:
I think it is okay to stop and ask for narrations after just a few sentences. It's okay that it's tedious because you won't be doing this for long. They will start listening more carefully and thinking and paying attention better themselves.
It's also okay to say, "Tell me one thing, anything at all, just ONE thing from our reading.
You can also have them draw a picture from the reading and then tell you about it.
Always require a narration after a school reading (but not poetry or free reads).
If you are reading to several children, you can also tell them they have 5-10 minutes to plan, and then they will act out a skit from the reading for their narration.
https://amblesideonline.org/PR/PR39p058RepeatedNarration.shtml
Tandem narrations were also done- one child might start, then before he was finished another would pick up the thread and continue, and so on. I did this, too, but my kids *hated* this more than any other sort of narration. Once started, they wanted to be able to finish.
They should not hear the same thing narrated twice. They also should never know it's not their turn to narrate. I used to keep two beads in my pocket, a different colour for each girl, and after a joint reading, I would pull out the bead and that child narrated. After her narration, I would ask the other one if she had anything to add or correct.
I always put the bead back in my pocket, because, again, they should never know it is *not* their turn to narrate- knowing they will not have to narrate can blunt the edge of their attention. Knowing they always might have to narrate sharpens the attention. This did sometimes mean the same girl narrated three times in a row, but that's the luck of the draw.
Fun story: I accidentally hit on this method because on one of the all too many days the crafts were left messy, I was picking things up and absent mindedly picked up two beads off the floor and put them in my pocket. They happened to be two different colours and so when there was an argument about who should narrate, I did this (formerly we'd picked numbers between 1 and 10, but that sometimes took far too long).
Funner Fact: I've shared this for the last ten or fifteen years, all over the internet, to the point that a couple years ago, somebody shared this idea with me as something she heard somewhere and thought I should pass along.
If they are listening to the readings and then narrating together, don't have them repeat narrations. Ask for one child to narrate, randomly chosen. When one is finished (even if he couldn't think of anything), ask others to fill in any missing parts or if they want to add or correct anything. If you have a wide age span, ask the youngest to start. As the next youngest to add something. Ask the third youngest if there is anything to add or correct. If you get up to a teenager, you can ask what they think will happen next, or why something happened the way it did."Value of Narration.––The simplest way of dealing with a paragraph or a chapter is to require the child to narrate its contents after a single attentive reading,––one reading, however slow, should be made a condition; for we are all too apt to make sure we shall have another opportunity of finding out 'what 'tis all about' There is the weekly review if we fail to get a clear grasp of the news of the day; and, if we fail a second time, there is a monthly or a quarterly review or an annual summing up: in fact, many of us let present-day history pass by us with easy minds, feeling sure that, in the end, we shall be compelled to see the bearings of events. This is a bad habit to get into; and we should do well to save our children by not giving them the vague expectation of second and third and tenth opportunities to do that which should have been done at first.
Disciplinary Devices must not come between Children and the Soul of the Book.––These few hints by no means cover the disciplinary uses of a good school-book; but let us be careful that our disciplinary devices, and our mechanical devices to secure and tabulate the substance of knowledge, do not come between the children and that which is the soul of the book, the living thought it contains..."
Other thoughts:
I think it is okay to stop and ask for narrations after just a few sentences. It's okay that it's tedious because you won't be doing this for long. They will start listening more carefully and thinking and paying attention better themselves.
It's also okay to say, "Tell me one thing, anything at all, just ONE thing from our reading.
You can also have them draw a picture from the reading and then tell you about it.
Always require a narration after a school reading (but not poetry or free reads).
If you are reading to several children, you can also tell them they have 5-10 minutes to plan, and then they will act out a skit from the reading for their narration.
https://amblesideonline.org/PR/PR39p058RepeatedNarration.shtml
Tandem narrations were also done- one child might start, then before he was finished another would pick up the thread and continue, and so on. I did this, too, but my kids *hated* this more than any other sort of narration. Once started, they wanted to be able to finish.
They should not hear the same thing narrated twice. They also should never know it's not their turn to narrate. I used to keep two beads in my pocket, a different colour for each girl, and after a joint reading, I would pull out the bead and that child narrated. After her narration, I would ask the other one if she had anything to add or correct.
I always put the bead back in my pocket, because, again, they should never know it is *not* their turn to narrate- knowing they will not have to narrate can blunt the edge of their attention. Knowing they always might have to narrate sharpens the attention. This did sometimes mean the same girl narrated three times in a row, but that's the luck of the draw.
Fun story: I accidentally hit on this method because on one of the all too many days the crafts were left messy, I was picking things up and absent mindedly picked up two beads off the floor and put them in my pocket. They happened to be two different colours and so when there was an argument about who should narrate, I did this (formerly we'd picked numbers between 1 and 10, but that sometimes took far too long).
Funner Fact: I've shared this for the last ten or fifteen years, all over the internet, to the point that a couple years ago, somebody shared this idea with me as something she heard somewhere and thought I should pass along.
Greek and Roman mythology pleased everybody, and even my teenagers enjoyed hearing a familiar old fairy tale read aloud (still do). And sometimes I read them all something geared more for the older group or the younger group just 'coz.
We tended to get in our group readings at breakfast and/or lunch (I would eat first or last, reading while everybody else eats), and sometimes their father read aloud to them from the same book at bedtime (Pilgrim's Progress, Shakespeare, Bible, Swiss Family Robinson, nature writing etc, these are all books that work with a wide span).
Sometimes we just read. Sometimes I asked all four of the oldest of the 'students' to narrate, but I started with the youngest and asked each
one to add something the youngest hadn't mentioned.
We tended to get in our group readings at breakfast and/or lunch (I would eat first or last, reading while everybody else eats), and sometimes their father read aloud to them from the same book at bedtime (Pilgrim's Progress, Shakespeare, Bible, Swiss Family Robinson, nature writing etc, these are all books that work with a wide span).
Sometimes we just read. Sometimes I asked all four of the oldest of the 'students' to narrate, but I started with the youngest and asked each
one to add something the youngest hadn't mentioned.
Occasionally I asked the oldest for something a bit more in depth: Explain how we know a character was guilty without being told, , what are some ways the author revealed aspects of his character before he's caught, or what sort of character _____ is and why do you think so? More of these sorts of questions here.
Other times we read aloud from nature writing by Rachel Peden or Edwin Way Teale. We'd read an entry, then retell something from it, only the older children would write their narration, or write an entry of their own in a nature journal modeled after the style of the author we'd read.
Sometimes Mom can narrate, and then ask the children to fill in anything Mom missed (start with the youngest).
I think this is also the place where one could use some of Miss Mason's
'other ways to use books. For example, I could take a story like one of Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. I could ask the two youngest simply to narrate. Then I could ask the two oldest to tell me about Portia's character, to describe the setting or to explain the significance ofsome instance in the story.
From volume III:
I think this is also the place where one could use some of Miss Mason's
'other ways to use books. For example, I could take a story like one of Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare. I could ask the two youngest simply to narrate. Then I could ask the two oldest to tell me about Portia's character, to describe the setting or to explain the significance ofsome instance in the story.
From volume III:
From School Education (volume 3), so this is for children around 9 or 10 and up:
A Single Careful Reading.––There is much difference between intelligent reading, which the pupil should do in silence, and a mere parrot-like cramming up of contents; and it is not a bad test of education to be able to give the points of a description, the sequence of a series of incidents, the links in a chain of argument, correctly, after a single careful reading. This is a power which a barrister, a publisher, a scholar, labours to acquire; and it is a power which children can acquire with great ease, and once acquired, the gulf is bridged which divides the reading from the non-reading community.
Other Ways of using Books.––But this is only one way to use books: others are to enumerate the statements in a given paragraph or chapter; to analyse a chapter, to divide it into paragraphs under proper headings, to tabulate and classify series; to trace cause to consequence and consequence to cause; to discern character and perceive how character and circumstance interact; to get lessons of life and conduct, or the living knowledge which makes for science, out of books; all this is possible for school boys and girls, and until they have begun to use books for themselves in such ways, they can hardly be said to have begun their education.
The Teacher's Part.––The teacher's part is, in the first place, to see what is to be done, to look over the work of the day in advance and see what mental discipline, as well as what vital knowledge, this and that lesson afford; and then to set such questions and such tasks as shall give full scope to his pupils' mental activity. Let marginal notes be freely made, as neatly and beautifully as may be, for books should be handled with reverence. Let numbers, letters, underlining be used to help the eye and to save the needless fag of writing abstracts. Let the pupil write for himself half a dozen questions which cover the passage studied; he need not write the answers if he be taught that the mind can know nothing but what it can produce in the form of an answer to a question put by the mind to itself.
These are just some suggestions and ideas. You can have the kids narrate to each other. You can hit on some other method. Make sure they are narrating every reading, however.
$5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Feed Your Mind! This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.
$3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.
These are just some suggestions and ideas. You can have the kids narrate to each other. You can hit on some other method. Make sure they are narrating every reading, however.
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The following items are for sale, and proceeds support my family's work. When creating these things, my constant thought was 'What might readers like to know or think about? What will help our Charlotte Mason parents and families? What will give them something to think about, something to love, something to grow on?' I hope you can tell.
$5.00- Education for All, vol 2- the Imagination (and more) issue!- transcript of the imagination talk from the AO Camp meeting, with additional material I had to cut to save time.
$5.00- Education for All, a new CM journal, Feed Your Mind! This issue contains several articles on handicrafts, outdoor play, nature study and science. See sidebar for purchasing options if you are in the Philippines.
$3.00 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Copywork (grades 2/3, carefully selected with an eye toward finely crafted sentences, lovely bits of writing pleasant to picture in the mind's eye, and practice in copying some of the mechanics of grammar and punctuation typically covered in these years.
$3.00 Aesop's Fables Copywork for Year One! Carefully selected with an eye toward well written sentences, memorable scenes, and some practice copying sentences that model the basics of capitalization and punctuation. Suitable for use with children who have already mastered the strokes and letters for basic penmanship.
Picture Study! Miguel Cabrera's beautiful, diverse families, painted in 18th century Mexico this package includes 9 downloadable prints along with directions for picture study and background information on the artist and his work. $5.00
Common Kitchen: What's for lunch? Isn't that a common problem in homeschooling families? What to fix, what is quick, what is frugal, what is nourishing? How can I accomplish all those things at once? We homeschooled 7 children, and I was a homeschooling mom for 29 years on a single income. I collected these recipes and snack ideas from all over the world. These are real foods I used to feed my family, my godsons, and sometimes my grandkids. Includes some cooking tips and suggestions for sides, and for a variety of substitutions. I think every family will find something they can use here. $5.00
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