Survey Says…& Going Back to Narrations

Well, wouldn’t you know! It seems that there are different views as to what is the most important aspect of the Charlotte Mason method. I’m not really surprised Notice that the question was open-ended. It wasn’t multiple choice nor a simple yes/no. I like to hear the thoughts and opinions when I ask a question It’s one of the first things I look at when it comes to curriculum: what type of questions are presented?

At the time I write this post there have been five gracious survey takers (thank you!) and their answers are as follows (in condensed form):

• Living books: 3
• Science of relations/make their own connections: 2
• Narration: 2
• Living ideas: 1
• Short lessons: 1
• Children are born persons: 1

Did I miss any?

The reason I posted the survey in the first place is because I wanted to hear where others place the importance in their CM learning environment. I’m not trying to copy {but I do anyway}. I want to get as much information as I can to make informed decisions. I agree with all the aspects listed as important to CM learning. For myself, the act of narrating the information learned was the first activity that I found to be different from other ‘curriculums’ I had researched. And when I say ‘curriculum’, it is because I did not understand that Charlotte Mason was advocating a way of life- a life long desire for learning.

Even with living books it is possible to move away from CM by administering tests and quizzes in the traditional format {I’m not referring here to the exams that are available at Ambleside Online-those are not the dreaded multiple choice, yes/no type}. I do not think that those tests allow for an accurate assessment of the actual learning that has taken place like open-ended questions and narrations do. I won’t go so far to say that connections cannot be made when using other methods {textbooks as opposed to living books} but the enjoyment is often missing. With textbooks the information is learned to fulfill a test {it’s usually dry and boring}; with CM the learning is for the benefit of gaining knowledge {the living books are engaging and descriptive –usually}. The textbooks generally are written by a small group of authors, sometimes even just one, giving only one perspective. Reading many living books open up the subject to various perspectives and are often interesting {that always helps with retention}.

We Narrate and Then We Know.

“'I am enrolling my child in the PNEU,' says Mrs. Smith to Mrs. Jones. 'Ah yes,' says Mrs. Jones. 'PNEU, that's narration, isn't it?' Of course, narration is by no means the whole of PNEU, but it is quite an important part…” (E. K. Manders. C. M. T. Parent’s Review, Vol. 2, no. 4, July 1967, pgs 170-172)

Narration is what I discovered that really shows me what my kids have learned {myself as well}. If we cannot relate back what we read, then how well do we really know it? Unfortunately, I’ve gotten away from narrations. Well, let me explain- with my dd (yr8), she writes very well. Coming from a public school background she had been writing for years already. Her oral narrations were always good and so I moved her to written narrations. I think that AO suggests that high schoolers will be doing written narrations one a day and still will be doing the oral narrations for their subjects but …we moved away from the oral and leaned more heavily on the written.

My rush into the written hasn’t resulted in wonderful results. I will be honest and admit that it was because *I* didn’t want to take the time away from whatever it was that I was occupied with to listen to narrations. It was much easier to have her write her narrations and I would read them- generally once a week. She is very good with grammar and mechanics so there isn’t much in the way of editing to her narrations. What is missing however is the interjection of her own thoughts. It is simply a retelling –much like a textbook. It is dry. Her oral narrations used to be fact-filled {that doesn’t mean she never missed a name, date, event, etc.} but they also had the emotion for me to see and hear that the reading gave her. If it was an exciting event, she would be more animated. If it were a somber event, she was more quiet.

“To begin with, there is nothing mysterious or magical about narration. We all do it. When we have had a pleasant outing or listened to a beautiful concert or seen an exciting play, our first impulse is to tell our friends about it, and how frustrating it is if, when we get home the friends are out or watching a television programme which must not be interrupted. We tell them about it later on, but our account will not have the same vividness and spontaneity as it would have had if we had told it when it was fresh in our minds. This is an important point to remember when we come to consider the method of a narration lesson (E. K. Manders. C. M. T. Parent’s Review, Vol. 2, no. 4, July 1967, pgs 170-172).”

With the written narrations…it is just the facts. Nothing but the facts. There is no opinion or reflecting intertwined in her writing. I do wonder if this is because we went so quickly from oral narrations to written ones. Perhaps I didn’t allow enough time for the oral narrations so that they would flow somewhat naturally into the written narrations {do they normally flow so easily?}. I’m not sure.

Another confession is that a few of her subjects were being neglected in terms of narration completely- no oral narration; no written narration. That was 99% my fault- my neglect. {hanging my head in shame}

We’ve added in a few things to our CM homeschool {more consistent composer study, hymns, and working on nature study} but personally, without the narration I don’t know that they are making the connections. When we read something we retain a portion. When we read it and say it, we retain much more. Of course the rest of that goes if we read, say and write something we retain most of it {or something close to that- I didn’t write it down *wink*}.

With ds (yr6), we hadn’t been as diligent with narrations as before and I could tell that the retention was slipping. It wasn’t just slipping in his school work but in other aspects of life. I suspect that by letting him ‘get away with’ not doing narrations, it was having an effect on other aspects of his life {but perhaps that is a discussion for habit training and focus…}. We have to get back to oral narrations.

“Do let the narration follow directly after the reading. Otherwise, the children will be in the same difficulty as we were in when our friends were watching the television and couldn't listen to our adventures (E. K. Manders. C. M. T. Parent’s Review, Vol. 2, no. 4, July 1967, pgs 170-172).”

And that is what was on my mind when I posted the survey about Charlotte Mason I’m still learning as we go along in our education {I’m being educated as well!} and sometimes I think I’ve got it, other times not so much. As for narration, have a look at this page at Ambleside Online.