The Four Most Often Posed Questions About Narration

We have many chores, activities and responsibilities that can be very hard work. Many of them are service oriented for our family, friends or parish and although they can be extremely rewarding, they require a lot of time, energy and effort to complete. Let us now consider children and narration. This task to young ones can also be very hard work. But, it doesn't have to be.

Whenever homeschooling moms get together, whether virtually or in person, there is no doubt that questions about narration will be posed. The same questions seem to come up.

So, I thought that I would just take a moment to add a few thoughts on the subject.

Part II. - Narration for New Writers.

Narrating when children are new to writing. Yes, it can be done.


Charlotte Mason believed that learning was like the science of making connections. Connections between what was read, what was experienced, and what was personally extracted from the exposure to a topic through a variety of means - books, nature walks, observations or discussions. The key word to keep in mind is was. Learning comes from a continued exposure over time in a non-threatening and meaningful way. That is what makes this learning method so unique. Helping children find meaning in what they do, read and eventually learn and absorb into their soul and mind is a big task - thank goodness we have twelve years to do this. It takes time to gather enough information to make a connection or "make a leap," as we call it in our little homeschool.

Part I. - Narration for Confident Readers and Writers

I was recently asked a very simple question that all of us CMers (Charlotte Mason style learners) have heard posed at meetings, co-ops and playdates: "What do you actually do once you read a book?" I, too, asked this question about six years ago when I first discovered the Charlotte Mason learning style and theory. The whole "narration" idea can be very challenging for some families who may face a myriad of challenges such as a having reluctant reader or writer, raising children with ADD or other learning challenges, having multiple children at different reading levels or perhaps even facing the old dilemma of scepticism about the efficacy of the CM theory itself.

I thought that I would address what you could actually do to show proof of incremental learning from the slow digestion of a written work. Over the course of a series of a few short articles, I will highlight different CM inspired resources from our resource collections to answer this question. I try to remind myself that everyday someone new begins to homeschool and has questions and fears about doing so. Without fail, if I forget someone will always contact me and that reminds me of the purpose of our website - to help and support those who have chosen to homeschool their children or teach children in general. So, let's begin with a very simple and traditional method of narration for learners who already possess solid skills of reading and writing.