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We are in our 1st week of LHFHG. My DD is 5.5 and a pretty flighty, kinesthetic learner. We really struggled on Tuesday with the "read the chapter" in Adventures of Reddy Fox and "have the child describe what happens at the beginning, middle, and end." This has always been an issue, as she seems to (or claims to) not be able to remember things that have been read to her. Whenever there are instructions like this I feel like I have to basically feed it to her, bite by bite. Asking her leading questions to step her through the story, even the main points: "Where did Reddy run?" "Who else was there?" and then she can usually come up with a description of what happened. Or she gets really frustrated.

So what is the best thing to do in a situation like this? Do I ask her, and if she can't answer just leave it be? Do I go ahead and lead her along with questions so she's repeating the story back to me and hopefully remembering it better? Or is there some other idea for how to help her remember so she can tell the story back to me? I suppose there might be something in my guide - I plan to go look in there as well as the "Charlotte Mason Companion" book I have in case there are any ideas there.

Thanks!

I think asking questions is good, I did that with my son last year.

You could also read just a page of the chapter and then ask her about what she just heard, rather than the entire chapter (even though they're short). You could work up to having her narrate the entire chapter over the next few months.

Does she have something to play with while you read? My son would often build something with math cubes, Legos, or Wikki Stix while I read the chapter. I know this would help him remember what was read, rather than just sitting at the table or couch listening and staring into space.

I am doing the same thing with my 5.5 yr old daughter. I ask questions to help her remember. sometimes she will rattle off stuff that isn't part of the questions, but at least i know she was listening. I think she doesn't understand what i am asking her sometimes and i have to ask her in a different manner and then she gets it.
Keep at it. My daughter was actually listening in on Little House in the Big woods for my son's Beyond and she was narrating better than him! so she is hearing something.

Jenn d.

I have this same problem with my dd and she is 7. We did that Reddy Fox chapter last week and I did exactly the same thing - asking questions to guide her through it in order. I know she listens, but I think she dwells on certain parts and doesn't really think too much about the detail to what is happening. All she is worried about is whether or not Reddy will get shot. She can answer my questions, but if she needs to think about the full picture, she's lost. I wasn't sure either, if I should continue to do it this way, or do something different.

This is helpful as we'll start LHFHG in a couple weeks.

Thanks everyone, it's good to know I'm not alone! Then this evening as I was talking to DH about it she started talking about the chapter(s) we've been reading and what happened. I think sometimes she just freezes up, I know I do that sometimes. My DH likes to ask me after church what my thoughts were on the sermon we heard and even though I remember getting something out of it, I often can't remember a single detail until I get a few things to get me started. Maybe she gets it from me!

I just wanted to know that I wasn't doing it wrong by asking her the questions and leading her along in it. I like the idea of doing shorter readings and then asking. I welcome other input on whether this is the right approach.

I think most days in LHFHG, the child is not asked to do a full narration. I think Carrie wrote it with questions at all levels of difficulty, so that we don't get into a rut with what we talk about with them. That said, I know even my very verbal, very attentive daughter could not answer that question at this time last year. I think they are not expected to do full narration, day after day, until Beyond or Bigger. I wonder if maybe the point of putting the question at this very early stage of LHFHG is to put the idea of narration out there, as well as to give us sort of a baseline to see how the child improves over the years?

Yes, that's true. And the questions or activities on the other days have been easier and gone more smoothly. I do appreciate that there are different activities/questions to ask and that helps me see what she is understanding, and I think it helps her to remember and understand it better. My 3YO is a tagalong this year on LHFHG (I am considering repeating it next year with both of them but will decide of course much later) and she is also enjoying the book quite a bit.

Maybe Julie can shed more light on this, but after reading A Charlottle Mason Companion on the subject, we probably can relax about narration in LHFHG. Start out with just a paragraph and work up to more as they are able. When more is expected of them in higher grades, they will be ready for it.

After doing LHFHG and Beyond now, I think I can safely say that in LHFHG the idea is to get them used to listening to books with fewer pictures and knowing that they will be asked to narrate at some point. And for them to learn what narrate means... My 7yo finishing up Beyond still needs prodding on narration, and I've asked before about that and everyone said it was normal and expected.

FWIW, apparently in the back of Bigger are instructions on what you should look for in a narration that you can go over with your child. So my thoughts are, if the instructions are in Bigger, then it's just to get them used to the idea in LHFHG and Beyond.