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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

a mother can narrate too.

Even though I haven't blogged in forever, I am still in fact dutifully educating myself for the betterment of my children's education. One of the myriad ways I do this is by reading the suggested (optional, mind you) readings for the twice monthly Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival.  Yes, I actually do read them ;) and yes, I do it because I like to :)

Because we are attempting to ever so timidly begin schooling again after an insane long time, we are in need of some helpful reminders on why we do what we do. How convenient then, that the upcoming blog carnival is on Narration, one of the key ingredients to a Charlotte Mason education. As my boys are coming to the age where they are going to be taking more control of their own education, I decided that they too would benefit from a better understanding of why narration is so helpful necessary.  So, together we read the PR article,"We Narrate and Then We Know". It was interesting as they critiqued my husband's and my varying methods with narration and pointed out where we had made mistakes along the way. They also had questions, and I shared some pointers on different tools they might use to improve their narrations.

All said, it was an encouraging discussion.

Since then I've been thinking (unlikely isn't it?), about how much information I absorb without experiencing a fantastic rate of retention. I wasn't trained this way unfortunately. But, the principles hold true for children as well as adults. I've got to get better about regularly retelling what I'm learning in order to help my brain remember it. Not only that, but Narration helps us to learn to order our thoughts. Do you ever feel like a muddle brain when you're trying to tell someone something you've read somewhere at some point and can't quite remember the details?  If you know me, you know that I have this problem... a lot. Narration can help. With regular narrations, we will improve the way our minds order information and then store it, so that we have it available to share with others!  yay!

So, how can a mother narrate what she's learning?

Write it:
  • write a narration in your journal, 
  • in a commonplace book
  • in a letter or an e-mail to a friend, 
  • or better yet blog it.
Tell it:
  • to a friend over coffee, 
  • over the phone, 
  • or to your spouse (this will help with drastic summarizing skills as well!)
**This post is up today over at Educating Mother.


Educating Mother


Wanna share in the discussion? Pop on over there to answer the question: 
What ways are most practical for you to narrate what you're learning?

9 comments:

Silvia said...

Oh, I started to worry about you! We'll be in your shoes Lord willing this Nov. Dec. Jan, yes, six weeks of holidays. I don't know how we'll come back to our cozy homeschool after grandparents, massive spoiling, homes with TV, excitement everyday... I'm hoping they miss home and they take to it smoothly. (Dreaming is free, isn't it?)

I like talking to a friend and blogging about it as my ways of narrating. Also an intensive book club like the one we have, has shaken my neurons that still are alive in my brain.

And I laughed about the summarizing skills, yes, that of telling my husband is the great challenge... did I get the one an only main point? Because if I didn't, there it dies my chance to narrate.

Silvia said...

Ah, I forgot. Talking to myself is a great narrating way... eh, I'm not crazy... am I?

Trisha said...

Great post, Amy, and very encouraging! I miss you!

Nadene said...

I also giggled at the summarized narration for your husband! I am blessed that my hubby loves to chat and talk, so I can narrate in detail! Good ideas to sharpen the mother-narration skills.

Jenny said...

Timely post. I just started reading CM's volumes and thought it would be perfect practice to 'narrate' in the form of blogging how we are making connections with her ideas. But I admit my number one way is to talk my husbands ear off ;)

MarshaMarshaMarsha said...

i am absolutely horrid about retaining details of what i have read! and when retelling stories, i get muddled in my thoughts and bogged down with my words. it never occurred to me to be purposeful about narrating it. *light bulb*

Joyfulmum said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't narrate an event back properly lol!
We use the narration jar here and my dd does a song and dance when she picks 'mummy narrates today':)
and you know what, I actually enjoy it now because it's training me in the art of narrating but don't tell her I said that, shhhh...:)

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