Breathing Life in our Home Education Through Narration
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Narration… The leitmotif of a Charlotte Mason education. What is narration and how do you do it? Narration is the hinge on which the learning is acquired. It is the key to making what is studied “my own”. Narration can seem daunting and a chore but truly it is the best learning tool in my home educator’s toolbox. After 18+ years of home educating, we still struggle with narration, but we have also developed a few things to help encourage it and make it a habit.
A note: I use imagination and learning interchangeably as, to me, imagination is used in learning and learning can only happen through imagination.
First of all, what is narration?
Narration is simply the re-telling of what I have read or listened to. It seems so simple that it could easily be dismissed as “too easy” and “not the right way” to learn. In truth it is a skill that will take years for a child to acquire. And I am still honning this skill myself. A living book is the basis of a narration. Narration has to be based on a living book. A living book is written in story form, opening the door to imagination and attention.
“Let him read to a child of any age from six to ten an account of an incident, graphically and tersely told, and the child will relate what he has heard point by point, though not word for word, and will add delightful original touches; what is more, he will relate the passage months later because he has visualized the scene and appropriated that bit of knowledge.” – Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education. (emphasis is mine)
The first step to narration is to listen, or read, attentively. That alone is sometimes difficult.
“Things that we read only become knowledge as we assimilate it, as our mind acts upon it. We must read with the specific intention to know the matter being read. We can read without that effort but it does us no good.” – Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education.When we start reading aloud my child should know that we are reading for knowledge. When my child understands that, she will set her attention on the reading for pleasure, but also for knowledge. She will develop the skill of listening attentively rather than just hearing the story. Sometimes keeping hands busy, such as coloring, helps to focus the mind on listening.
Then what?
After reading our passage once, and only once, my child is ready to tell me, in her own words, what we have read. I do not ask questions, I do not interrupt, I let her tell me what we have read. I usually read a short passage that will grow longer as my child grows into the skill of narration. And this is where we usually fail as a family. We grow impatient and skip the narration, we save it for later. But later never seems to happen… Narration sounds SO good on paper but sometimes it is just too much and we skip it… After a narration-less season I realized that my children have not learned much. So we tried it again, but until I changed the way we narrated we would always circle back to a dead zone.
The magic
I assumed, because of my public school training, that narration could only be written or oral, and that it had to be boring and no fun. But we landed in so many dead zones with it that I was ready to throw Charlotte Mason out of the window and try another home education philosophy when I stumbled on this quote that changed our lives: “There is no end to the modes of expression children find when there is anything in them to express” – Charlotte Mason, Home Education. Say what? Does that mean that we do not have to stick to traditional, boring oral or written narrations? Does it mean that there are options and endless possibilities? Yes, that is exactly what it means!
Endless possibilities of narration
I looked around and started finding better, more interesting ways to narrate. Ways that ignited our imagination, got our creative juices flowing and allowed narration to become the center of our home education and an exciting part of our day. When narration was presented in a more open form, it became easier and more motivating. The learning increased as different narration prompts were introduced. I collected all these prompts (this is not an exhaustive list) and split them into 5 different categories: speaking, writing, drawing, drama and building.
Speaking
This category includes any and all forms of speech from a simple bare bones narration of retelling, to the narrator asking her audience questions on what was read rather than retelling it. This is actually quite difficult by the way. You have to have listened very carefully to be able to extract questions from what was read to you. This category allows students who are more verbal to have different choices available in the way they tell a passage in their own words, and it can be quite fascinating.
Writing
There are so many forms of written narration! From poetry to newspaper articles, the options are truly endless. This is my favorite way to narrate, I really, really enjoy writing. It is such a lovely way to express yourself and to be able to thoroughly think of what you are trying to convey. For me it is the best way to recall what has been read.
Drawing
I have many budding artists and for them this form of narration is the very best. That is where their creative juices get flowing, their attention to detail can be quite surprising at times and the end results are often beautiful. Sometimes they are not, lol! But we persevere through it. Illustrating a scene can be challenging but when you love to draw it enables your passion to flow into your learning.
Drama
Drama opens the door to stepping out of our comfort zones. It is very fun but can also be intimidating. The use of technology is totally acceptable and even necessary at times if you are making a short or a televised interview. This one is rarely picked in our family but it can be quite creative when it is.
Building
This can involve any media from wood and nails to fabric and thread, or even cooking. It enhances the learning experience as you often have to dig deeper to understand how things work. It is a more time consuming way to narrate but sometimes the reading is just begging to be brought to life in that way. Again it opens the door to imagination in an endless way with terrific results.
Be open to creativity with narration, do not be afraid to branch out and get out of your comfort zone. At home we have a Narration Cards box that lives on a shelf in the school room. The kids know to reach and look through it for ideas on how to complete their narration. On any given day they have at least one narration assignment. Some are already directed but for the ones that are up to them they can go straight to the box for inspiration. I have created for you this lovely free printable to create your own Narration cards box. I even left some blank so that you can create your own! Please share any other ideas you might have in the comments below.
I hope this encourages you and your family to launch into narration with excitement and joy.
Love,
Mattie
I found these resources very helpful:
