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So, while I'm in the mood to "question" LOL, I have another. We have completed Unit 2 and dd is doing quite well. Having said that I am reading ahead with A Book of Discovery and finding that that will be a hard book to narrate. I notice that in Unit 3 Day 3, I believe, Carrie walks them through a model of sorts to categorize the information. Extremely helpful. However, this type of read is full of proper nouns and somewhat has a lack of flow as a regular living book would have, at least by that sample and the prior pages. The quantity of proper nouns is huge, some we've heard of some not, almost as if Synge is talking to someone who has a lot of knowledge on these places.

Knowing Carrie seems to categorize the info to help us with this book, I would assume that the narration wouldn't necessarily flow like a story. When I read it, I could somewhat bypass all the "factual" and get a story from it, but even I thought doing that was rough. So I'm not sure if we're supposed to look beyond the all the details for a so-called story.

So what type of narration are we looking for here? It's a living book, yes, but it borders on a combo chapter book and a textbook of sorts. CM doesn't narrate textbooks. What are we looking for here for narrations as a model? Will it be sort of disconnected; more like paragraphs of different info? Synge tends to go off on a little mental jog with quotes, so it's hard to work with.

It would be nice to see a model ... ah....from Carrie or Julie on how this should flow. LOL! I'm unsure what will be suitable vs unsuitable. My thought is to begin it in sections, then master it by the time the year is complete. Not sure what we're really looking for with this type of read. It's unlike the rest for sure.

Annaz,

This is a great question! As we head into the high school years, the books do get more challenging and include more names, dates, places, etc. So, while I agree that this is a living book, I also agree that it has a more challenging feel to it with all of the factual information wound within its pages. You will also notice as you progress through this book that the chapters vary as to how many different episodes or events are contained within them. Consequently, your student's narrations will really vary as well!

Learning to narrate from a book such as this is great practice, as the coming books at the high school level will contain this upped level of challenge too. You will notice that we vary the types of oral narrations in this guide, teaching 5 different types of oral narrations. In World History, we teach 6 types, and in U.S. History I we teach 7 types of oral narration. This just shows that when narrating, there are many different ways to approach narration (and they are all viable). But, as students practice these varying types of narrating, they will also eventually learn what type of narration best fits each type of book.

To give you a glimpse down the road, in the U.S. History I guide, we also take those 7 types of oral narrations and have kiddos practice doing 7 different types of written narrations. We purposefully wait until the U.S. History I guide to have students do this task, as we are desiring for them to practice orally narrating in various ways for years prior to doing a specific type of written narration. We are also desiring for students to have much practice in open-ended written narrations prior to be asked to write a specific type of written narration.

So, with all of this in mind, I would encourage your child to experiment with her written narrations in the World Geography Guide. It is fine to try summary-style narrations and descriptive narrations. It is fine to narrate more fully upon one episode that struck her or to insert her opinions within the narrations. Practice in learning to use transition sentences comes as well as students try to link the paragraphs in their narration together in a cohesive fashion. Looking back in the book as students write their narration also becomes essential, as the volume of pages and the inclusion of names, dates, and places increases. This mimics some note-taking skills, which are also essential to have!

So, you can see that this first year of high school is training ground for the skills to come. The skills students hone as they try various types of oral narrations and try to figure out how to narrate in writing upon a variety of authors and styles is good practice for future learning. They will truly sift and sort and find what works for each book they encounter, but it takes time to find the pattern that works for each author. The skills are in the sifting and sorting and are also in borrowing some of the author's style!

To encourage you, I will share that I can see the fruit now in my own son, who is currently doing the U.S. History I guide. He did not balk at writing the written narrations in a certain style each week, as the oral narrations he had practiced for years made the transition seemless. I can also see that his wheels are turning as to what type of narration works best for each type of book. These skills are great life preparation and great college preparation too. They prepare kiddos to write at the drop of a hat in a variety of styles in response to all different types of authors. It is a very different education than the one that I received, but I can definitely see the benefits!

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie wrote:Annaz,

This is a great question! As we head into the high school years, the books do get more challenging and include more names, dates, places, etc. So, while I agree that this is a living book, I also agree that it has a more challenging feel to it with all of the factual information wound within its pages. You will also notice as you progress through this book that the chapters vary as to how many different episodes or events are contained within them. Consequently, your student's narrations will really vary as well!

Learning to narrate from a book such as this is great practice, as the coming books at the high school level will contain this upped level of challenge too. You will notice that we vary the types of oral narrations in this guide, teaching 5 different types of oral narrations. In World History, we teach 6 types, and in U.S. History I we teach 7 types of oral narration. This just shows that when narrating, there are many different ways to approach narration (and they are all viable). But, as students practice these varying types of narrating, they will also eventually learn what type of narration best fits each type of book.

To give you a glimpse down the road, in the U.S. History I guide, we also take those 7 types of oral narrations and have kiddos practice doing 7 different types of written narrations. We purposefully wait until the U.S. History I guide to have students do this task, as we are desiring for them to practice orally narrating in various ways for years prior to doing a specific type of written narration. We are also desiring for students to have much practice in open-ended written narrations prior to be asked to write a specific type of written narration.

So, with all of this in mind, I would encourage your child to experiment with her written narrations in the World Geography Guide. It is fine to try summary-style narrations and descriptive narrations. It is fine to narrate more fully upon one episode that struck her or to insert her opinions within the narrations. Practice in learning to use transition sentences comes as well as students try to link the paragraphs in their narration together in a cohesive fashion. Looking back in the book as students write their narration also becomes essential, as the volume of pages and the inclusion of names, dates, and places increases. This mimics some note-taking skills, which are also essential to have!

So, you can see that this first year of high school is training ground for the skills to come. The skills students hone as they try various types of oral narrations and try to figure out how to narrate in writing upon a variety of authors and styles is good practice for future learning. They will truly sift and sort and find what works for each book they encounter, but it takes time to find the pattern that works for each author. The skills are in the sifting and sorting and are also in borrowing some of the author's style!

To encourage you, I will share that I can see the fruit now in my own son, who is currently doing the U.S. History I guide. He did not balk at writing the written narrations in a certain style each week, as the oral narrations he had practiced for years made the transition seemless. I can also see that his wheels are turning as to what type of narration works best for each type of book. These skills are great life preparation and great college preparation too. They prepare kiddos to write at the drop of a hat in a variety of styles in response to all different types of authors. It is a very different education than the one that I received, but I can definitely see the benefits!

Blessings,
Carrie

Interesting. So you are saying then that note-taking is acceptable for either a written or oral narration due to the nature of the read? I know we had a difficult time with oral narrations in AAH in MTMM since it was textbook in nature. It seemed to be more of a parts to whole, rather than a retelling. It was more of a blurb-type oral narration.

My daughter doesn't seem to have a problem with any of the written narrations so far, although orally she has a tougher time with this type of book as she did with AAH. Having said that however, she does better with Synge so far. "Chapter" books she doesn't have a problem with oral narrations at all.

So you're saying to use what means she can to get the end result due to the nature of the type of read? And also if she chooses to find something more worthy in one aspect than in another, that that is also acceptable? That we're just sort of feeling ourselves the way around this type of read and to note the differences and find what works for us? I just want to make sure we don't "cheat".

You know now this requires this anally organized mom to make a list of the types of narrations now, don't you? LOL.