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I was reading through my preparing manual and it says written narration should begin at 10 years old. If I'm doing it with an 8 year old, should he then be doing the written narration exercises orally?

Well, I've been having my 8 yo/just-turned 9 yo do written narrations since October! He has really handled it very well and often writes MORE than the 3-5 sentences that are required. I will say that although the physical act of writing is not his favorite thing to do, he has EXCELLENT writing and doesn't struggle with it or anything, so that may be something to consider with your little guy. I also think that going through Bigger and getting lots of practice with all the oral narrations in it definitely got him ready for written narrations in Preparing. Don't know if that helps at all -- just our experience so far!

I've been wondering the same thing, so thank you for asking the question!

Mumkins,

CM advocated kiddos beginning written narrations around age 10, after they have had fairly extensive practice with oral narrations. So that is where the general age guideline comes from. However, within our guides, we take baby steps toward written narrations beginning in Preparing Hearts. We include guided questioning, limit the sentence length, give sentence starters etc. to move kiddos toward the skill of written narration, no matter whether they have had a CM-style education in the past or not. We also continue having kiddos orally narrate, which is such an important foundation for narration and is never truly replaced, even by written narration.

So, with Preparing Hearts, we would say that kiddos falling within the target age range of the guide (Ages 8-10 on up) should be doing the guided written narrations as they are presented within the guide.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks Carrie!