Practical Steps on How to Do Readings and Narrations in a CM Homeschool

In this post, I hope to give you some quick practical “how-to” steps in terms of implementing different aspects of a Charlotte Mason method. For more information on each aspect, I encourage you to check back regularly, where I will continue to flesh them out in more detail, including real-life examples from our own homeschool or perhaps from some of the families I coach in the CM method. 

Disclaimer: Please note that this is my humble attempt to describe how a first-time CM homeschooler CAN apply some of the different aspects of a CM education and is no way intended to replace the actual reading and understanding of Charlotte Mason’s volumes on Home Education. I heartily recommend continued learning by reading her actual works and also reading articles, blogs, watching videos or listening to podcasts to help build your understanding of the philosophy and how best to apply it to your family. 

How to implement: CM Literature/History/Science Readings

1. Typically, the books recommended on the Charlotte Mason philosophy are a few notches higher than the child’s reading comprehension. As such, it may help, especially for first time homeschoolers, to have mom/parent read aloud the books. 
2. Older children, e.g. strong readers from ages 9 onwards, may co-read: the mom can start by reading aloud three or four paragraphs, ask for a narration, and then let the child read aloud the three or four paragraphs, narrate, and so on. 
3. Narration is simply asking the child to tell back what he/she read or heard. We avoid direct fill-in-the-blank type questions. We let the child form his own connections with the stories. 
4. Very strong readers, typically from ages 9 onwards, may read their school books independently, but at the start, it is recommended to have them read the book aloud to you, so you can establish the habit of reading things only once and then narrating them. This takes a few months to establish, so be prepared to have him/her read aloud to you and then listen to the narration. 
5. As narration skills develop, typically over a few months, you can extend the length of the passage read to about a page before asking for a narration. 

How to implement: Narrations

1. CM recommends telling back EVERY school reading (except Poetry), and telling back after ONLY ONE reading. No repeating of passages read. See reference below: 

“As knowledge is not assimilated until it is reproduced, children should ‘tell back’ after a single reading or hearing: or should write on some part of what they have read.”

2. Narration skill takes time to develop. Be patient with your child, and start by asking for narrations after a few paragraphs at first, and then extending the length over time. 

3. Narrations can come in various forms. Note that oral narration and eventually written narration is all that’s mentioned in Charlotte Mason’s writings. I have taken the liberty of adding creative options for narration to mix it up a little, but also especially to aid you in record-keeping purposes, in case you’re required by your state to submit your child’s output for the year.