Having the LA skills of copywork, oral narration, and written narration be directly connected to the living books my dc are reading in history, science, and storytime has been a very effective way to teach them.
This way of responding to what they've read is powerful. They remember what they have learned so much more, because it is within the context of what historical time period, science focus, or genre focus they have been learning about all year. They can add so much more to it, and it builds upon itself all year long, rather than being an isolated activity, with an isolated concept that changes from day to day. I see it helping them with life skills as well. They are able to give spontaneous narrations upon what they have read for their free time for example, at the dinner table. They don't think of it as an oral narration, but it is.
I believe they do this because they have done it for their HOD books in homeschooling. Narrating about books we've read is just something we do to share books/stories with others. I see them beginning to do the same with their written narrations in letters to friends or family, and I see them naturally doing copywork from books they have read on their own time, especially Scriptures from the Bible as this is what they have done through the Common Place Book assignments within HOD.
The counterpart to these excellent CM skills is R & S English. Through R & S English, clear, organized writing is taught along with grammatical skills to improve that writing. This is an outstanding grammar program for so many reasons, but my favorites are that it is Christian, it is thorough, it is clear, it builds upon what has been taught, and it teaches grammar within the context of writing. HOD also includes creative writing instruction, and it keeps this exciting and varied from year to year. Dictation is included in all guides, and the passages progressively teach dictation from year to year, in a steady incremental way that moves dc through levels in a purposeful way. Finally, "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" is HOD's award-winning literature program that teaches LA skills such as reading for moral discernment, studying Godly character traits, learning new vocabulary, studying different genres, answering comprehension questions according to Bloom's Taxonomy, etc. - and all of these skills are taught within the context of the living books dc are reading. I just want to encourage you to give HOD's LA a try - I think you will find it is incredibly rich, and a deep well of learning is tapped by doing LA in this manner. HTH!
In Christ,
Julie
