United States 1 High School:
Wyatt has been settling into his new guide and is learning the 'ropes' of each new activity. It always takes about a month or two for him to fully settle into a good routine, and as he makes it through each rotation of activities he learns how to do each assignment better and better. I like how there is an inherent building skills implementation of plans for each area. One thing I especially appreciate is the variety of oral narrations and written narrations he is learning to become more and more adept at. This year alone so far has him learning to give various narrations, such as "Highlighted Narration," a "Talking Points" narration, a "Key Word" narration, "Summary Narration," and a "Topic Narration." Each of these various forms of narration is helping Wyatt better organize his thoughts prior to giving the narration. The "Highlighted Narration" functions somewhat like an outline in organization, where first the main (Roman numeral) points are highlighted in yellow, and then the details (lettered "A", "B", etc.) are highlighted in pink or green. The "Talking Points" narration has Wyatt using an index card to make columns with headings of the main topics, people, and/or events, and then under each heading phrases, words, or brief sentences are listed to jog his memory as he narrates. A visual aid, such as a map from the U.S. History Atlas or the globe or a portrait of an important person from one of the living book history resources, must be used and referenced within the talking points narration as well. This reminds me of when I had to give a speech in college in which I utilized an object for demonstration purposes for speech class (not as easy as one would think). The "Key Word" narration has provided bulleted headings in the US1 History Notebook that Wyatt jots important key words or phrases such as names, dates, important actions, and brief quotes, and then he uses that structure as he narrates. The "Summary Narration" is short and concise, and it is to be no more than 8-10 sentences long, acting more as a summary of the reading. This is actually a harder skill than one would think! Especially when the readings are longer.
I just so appreciate the various kinds of oral narrations provided in the US1 guide, as I feel they prepare Wyatt for many skills that are used in cross-curricular subjects. He is learning so much this year, and this is the perfect transition from the oral narration skills he learned last year in the WH guide. It has him practicing and building upon the skills he learned last year, while also adding new skills to his repertoire. Pictured below in Unit 3, Box 6, you can see Wyatt's 3 paragraph narration about Thomas Hooker. You can also see Wyatt's "Topic Narration" pictured below in Unit 4, Box 1...
Another neat continuation of skills from year to year in the HOD high school guides is the Charlotte Mason style 'Book of Centuries.' I love that Wyatt began this as a 9th grade student, and his adding to it each year as he moves through high school is just a wonderful way for him to recollect and capture in scrapbook like form what he has learned during his journey through high school. As each page fills up, there is a sense of how much he has learned, and how much he has to learn ahead of him with his final years. It is also beautiful! I am glad we waited to do this type of 'Book of Centuries' until high school. His work is much neater now, and this is the time we want to make the keepsake type Book of Centuries, rather than back when he was younger...
In Christ,
Julie