Written Narration Help

[ncmomof5]

I have what I think must be an unusual problem with my children and written narration. My 9 and 1/2 yo ds, and my 11 yo dd are writing their narrations way too long with way too much detail. I had them write on Pocahontas today, and my daughter wrote a page of narration on a page and a half of reading. She still had to finish narrating the rest of that chapter and the next. I told her to stop, and we discussed what a written narration should be - for starters, it's not a rewriting of the book you just read

I don't want to discourage them, because they really were trying to write detailed, interesting narrations, but I want them to understand how to summarize and still include detail. My daughter loves the details . I looked at the Narration Tips in the Bigger book, but it doesn't address length.

Anybody struggle with this or have any advice? Thanks so much. I am so glad I have a place I can come to while I am still trying to learn how to do CM along with my kids. God bless you all for taking time to answer questions.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Tansy]

I have the opposite problem.. but how bout you limit them to 3 points of narration
which they have to introduce in the first paragraph then give supporting details. if they are writing volumes why not get them set up in a format they will need in the long run.

maybe introduce the outline... eep! have them outline the narration for ya then they are done if they want to do more... journal it.

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

Just to give you an idea, in Preparing Hearts we begin by having kiddos write a 3 sentence narration in which we provide the opener. The following weeks we move into a 5 sentence narration, limiting the length (which does really help kiddos choose their words carefully and stick to the main topic). In CTC, we limit the written narration length to 5-8 sentences.

When my oldest son was young, we just turned him loose CM-style to do written narrations to begin with, however we did find as time passed that some parameters in the early written narration stages actually produced a better written narration. So, as we were writing our guides, we did decide to do some guiding and directing in the opening written narration stages and chose to limit the length (in order to make kiddos think more about what they wrote instead of it just being a stream of thought on paper).

So, at this point, I would limit your kiddos to 5 sentences, moving up to an 8 sentence limit as the year progresses.
It is so helpful to have kiddos read aloud their narration, after its completed, to catch any of their own mistakes. With our kiddos, we do go through the written narration and do some editing with our kiddos too, even though CM stayed away from that.

Blessings,
Carrie

[mindywp]

First, I want to say that this is my first year homeschooling & I am so thankful God led me to HOD. I have enjoyed reading this message board, but have not posted anything yet. After reading the written narration question, I felt a little panicked! I feel silly asking this, but where are the written narrations in CTC? Should my dd be doing narrations from the Storytime book we read, or are you referring to narrations from the Reading about History box?

[ncmomof5]

Thanks for your input. I am going to have to try to limit their written narrations. I already told them that. It's just that the group of CM folks around here have said that we are to take a "hands off" approach to narrations - written or oral. So, I just wasn't sure how to handle this. Most people I've heard talk about this transition to written are saying that they can't get their child to write enough.

Carrie, I agree that I need to limit their narration, but do you think that 5 sentences is enough space to cover 2 chapters? These narrations are for the extensions in Bigger, so they are reading quite a few pages. I just don't want to frustrate them. Thanks for everyone's input.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Carrie]

RuthAnn,

I agree that CM did not limit kiddo's written narrations, and I agree with her on that point as kiddos get older. However, I have a tough time reconciling myself to having kiddos producing pages and pages of writing with little to no editing at a young age. During my years in the classroom, in which we allowed kiddos to do this sort of thing, we found it reinforced improper spelling, capitalization, and punctuation etc. It was tough to know where to begin helping kiddos who were producing volumes of writing that followed none of the grammar, punctuation, or spelling rules. So, we lean toward using CM strategies in a bit more step-by-step format.

I do love to let my older kiddos write as much as they'd like written narration-wise, because they have already had years of exposure to good books, excellent writers, copywork, dictation, oral narrating, etc. But, for younger kiddos who are often coming into HOD without much of a CM background or practice in any of those areas, we've found it's good to ease on in, rather than just turning kiddos loose.

If your kiddos are reading two chapters, we would recommend either having them only do a written narration on their choice of one of the two chapters, or do two separate written narrations (one on each chapter).

Blessings,
Carrie

[ncmomof5]

Carrie,

Thanks for giving me some guidelines. I didn't like not having more parameters for them, but I just wasn't sure how to set them. I think having them choose one of the chapters to narrate is a good idea. We'll try that, and see how it goes.

Thanks again for your input.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Carrie]

mindywp,

I missed your post until now. I'm so sorry! In CTC, the written narrations are suggested to be done twice weekly along with the extension pack readings. They are also scheduled within the CTC daily plans on Day 4 of each unit in the "Reading About History" box. I hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie