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I posted this in week in review, but I'm so impressed.

When we were doing Beyond, Jayden could not narrate at all. I mean, getting one word out of her was just torture. I was THRILLED if she asked me a question about the reading, or if her narration at least had anything at all to do with the reading.. like if there was a cat mentioned in the story and she said something about cats. This was during the WHOLE GUIDE! But we just kept plugging along. During Bigger, it gradually got better... she would always have something about the story (again with cat example) and her answer wouldn't necessarily always be "I don't know" She finished up unit 3 in Preparing yesterday. This was her narration....

Jabeth's family had success in killing the wooly mammoth, and they had a feast. On the third day of the feast, Gath and Soren were figuring out where to paint a picture of a wooly mammoth, and Jabeth and Baylock heard them talking. Jabeth spoke up and said, "I know the perfect place to paint the wooly mammoth!" and he took Soren and Gath to their secret part of the cave. Soren said, "This is a great place! The air is dry and the drawing won't get smudged from the smoke from the fire." Then Soren started painting the wooly mammoth.

So yeah, it's probably not exactly right... but I'm still impressed at the change. In Beyond with the same reading she would have said "I don't know" and if she would have added "something about painting?" I would have been thrilled! In Bigger, it would have been more like "There was something about painting and elephants" I'm really proud of where she's come to and I look forward to seeing how much she grows during Preparing.

Its a great joy when we see long awaited progress. Thankyou for sharing your happy news.

I am so encouraged by this. We are in Beyond this year, and narration has been a concern. I know dd has the comprehension, but retelling is not a strong point. So, thank you for sharing this.

That is wonderful! It is amazing to watch the skills build each year. I think it is a great narration.

Hooray for your daughter! Narration is a slooowww process. I also had a child that had straight "A's" in the "I don't know" answer. We are in the beginning of Bigger now and have a ways to go, but we are definitely making some progress

What a WONDERFUL narration! Such a proud moment. It is another reminder of the joys of homeschooling. Moments of growth and learning are missed for parents of children in brick and mortar schools. Thank you for sharing this with us!

That's awesome!! Very encouraging!!

Jayden gave a home run narration! This progression needs to be told again and again. Narration is such a slow burn - it really takes time for dc to improve. I know this, and still when I go back to one of my dc beginning oral narration for the first time, I somehow forget it. Thanks for sharing the specifics of how Jayden began narrating, and a typed out example of how she is narrating now. This is precisely the information I was longing for many years back when Wyatt first began narrations, and I truly couldn't find much (of course, this board was not available at that time). I think there is much to be learned from YOUR interaction with your dd's narration as well. Accepting what they are able to do at first, trying to be patient and encouraging, and working to maintain faith the skill will eventually be learned through the use of excellent books, the guidance HOD gives, and the consistency of practice - all goes a long way to helping dc begin to bloom in narrating. Thanks so much for sharing this, as it is sure to be an encouragement - probably this will be a post I need to look up again when Emmett begins to narrate.

In Christ,
Julie

Then I need to add in that all the beginning examples were not met by patience

BUT with that said, we've often told Jayden that just like it's her first time through life, she's our 'test child' because we've never gone through all the different stages with a child either. So I'm much "easier" on the others.

Maybe that will also be an encouragement

Lora Beth,

Thank you so much for taking time to post an update. You are so right that gains in skills like oral narration can take time to develop and may develop more slowly than we as parents would like. However, I am very impressed by your sweet daughter's narration and am excited to see this skill growing for Jayden. It is so helpful to others who are struggling in developing this skill in their own kiddos to know that progress does come over time if you stay the course.

Thanks again for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie--that is one of the (many) things I really love about HOD. Our dd is very shy (got it from my husband, not me, LOL!)
But, with all the oral narrations, poetry recitations, etc., it is helping her to break out of her shell a little more and practice talking to and in front of people more. It's still a work in progress, but it is going in the right direction, and I love that!! So, not only does HOD give them such a great academic foundation, it helps in those other interpersonal type skills that other curricula really don't always address or even think about. Thanks again for writing just what we need!! God is using you in a mighty way, and we are one of the blessed recipients of that gift!