Oral Narration: what's my job?

[mamanlait]

We are mid-way through Preparing and I've just realized that maybe I should have been writing down my child's narration while she is speaking it. What is the CM standard for this?

I'm a little embarrassed that it's taken me this long to contemplate oral narrations. I have assumed up to this point that my job is to listen for comprehension. I have read over the Narration Tips in the back of the manual but I don't see this addressed.

I'm sure the answer is obvious.

Amy

[Tansy]

have you looked at the Introduction One of those things I often over look is the instructions in the beginning of the manual. I was Skimming the PDF and only saw oral narrations for Preparing with a few instances of 5 lines.. I think our job when they are narrating is to listen. Give as few prompts as possible and encourage them to do all the bits in the narration tips.

But I'm not in Preparing Yet, Maybe one of the ladies using it can chime in.

[my3sons]

...I think our job when they are narrating is to listen. Give as few prompts as possible and encourage them to do all the bits in the narration tips...

Exactly! Charlotte Mason advocated listening "with an animated look upon our face", never interrupting or correcting while a child is narrating, and giving one thing for the child to work on for the next time when the child is finished. All of the narration tips included in the HOD guides are taken from Charlotte Mason's recommendations, so by following those as you work with your child, you are doing your job as a teacher for oral narration instruction. The Bigger Hearts and PHFHG manuals do have us type or write out our dc's oral narrations about every 6 units or so I believe. That has been fun, as dc's progress is more easy to see. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie