Written Narration Help - RTR

[4Hispraise]

Hello Ladies. Does anyone have any advice or a "we do it this way" that might help my struggling 12yo with written narration in RtR? He did great on this by the end of CtC, but I feel like we are right back at the beginning of PHFHG. He knows the information and can orally narrate it back. He just tells me that he does not know HOW to start the narration. He has been sitting at the kitchen table looking at a blank sheet of paper for the last 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, I went in and helped him make a short outline and tried to lead him to a topic sentence. When I went back to check on him after the next 10 minutes, his paper was still blank. I just lost my cool with the poor kiddo & spoke harshly...something I rarely do, so he is shocked & crying in the kitchen. Mommy failure. Anyway, on my way to confess my sin to him and ask his forgiveness. Maybe he will be able to write after everything else is done....

Thanks in advance!

[Tansy]

I have not done RTR yet but I can relate...

When I drew a blank as a kid. My dad told me to just write down all the jumbled thoughts as one liners. Then cut up the paper and organize it afterward. Then re-write it. remembering the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions should be answered.

He might just be having brain drain from the summer and doing a few Preparing style written narrations to reboot him maybe needful.

And don't you just hate it when you loose it ugh!

[Heather4Him]

We missed Preparing, so could someone give me a quick rundown of how written narrations are done in that guide?

[Tansy]

We just started, but the last "narration" we did was me asking the questions in the book. and I wrote down her answers.
Then she looked at them and redid the narration orally.
She picked 3 of the sentences that told the main idea and she copied those down in to her note book.

[Heather4Him]

Thanks!!!

[4Hispraise]

Thanks for the ideas, Ladies! Will be trying them for our next narration.

When I drew a blank as a kid. My dad told me to just write down all the jumbled thoughts as one liners. Then cut up the paper and organize it afterward. Then re-write it. remembering the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions should be answered.

Thanks Tansy! I did try this...and maybe if he wasn't already so stressed with telling himself "Now I will never finish school," he would have responded better. I will attempt a little more Preparing style next time.

[my3sons]

It really does take many, many years to hone written narration skills, so just try to keep encouraging him. I think I would just give him the sentence starter for a bit - that is what HOD did in earlier guides anyway - and it may be he just needs some time to get back into the swing of school. I know my dc don't write much all summer, so getting back into the writing of daily school takes some time. I'd just give him the starter, and tell him that there is not one right way to do a written narration. So, you coaching him to write the sentences you are thinking of would just be him writing your narration, which is not the goal. It really helps me to review the Written Narration Tips in the Appendix with my ds at the start of the year. That helps put in place the thought that there is not one "right" narration, but rather all narrations are different from one another to reflect each person's own individual thoughts on what was read. There are some good tips in the Appendix for helping dc along with written narrations, but I think going over the tips, giving him a sentence to start with, and accepting what he gives you as good enough will help ds ease back into them. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[4Hispraise]

Thanks everyone!

I ended up giving him the sentence starter. That is what I eventually did for the written narration...and I will continue to do it a few weeks. He was just doing so well at the end of last year that it caught me by surprise. He used to be a reluctant writer; however, his writing has improved so much since we switched to HOD (as well as his confidence) that I just did not want him to lose that. Maybe that is why we were both so discouraged by the mental block!!