Troubleshooting Charlotte Mason Narration Part 3
“Help! My child narrates only the last part of what was read!”
This is one of the top frustrations that parents come to me about when they are just starting off in the Charlotte Mason method. The good news is that it’s more common than you think, and it’s not a sign that the child is not listening—in fact, it’s a sign that he IS listening, because if he weren’t, he wouldn’t have been able to tell you what the last thing you said was before you stopped!
Troubleshooting Narration of Only the Last Part Read
For this issue, my challenge is for the parents to take a look at our expectations. Consider the following questions:
1. How long have you been doing narration with your child?
This manner of telling back only the last part is very common for children who are just starting to learn narration. Narration not as easy as it sounds, but when a child is used to it, it becomes like second nature. But to illustrate, try to pick a book from your own reading pile and practice reading a page and then narrating back. Was it easy?
When my son was already a few years into narrating, my husband, who always considered himself a non-reader, would joke that he was jealous and wanted to learn the skill too. Indeed, he started reading some of our school books, and it totally awakened his mind. He would practice narrating to himself, and we found that it really expanded his vocabulary and command of the language. When I tried it myself, I found that it takes practice to be able to tell as much detail as a child who has done it for years.
So if you are only a year or two into CM narration, it may be perfectly normal. You may also want to try giving a prompt at the start of the narration; I’ve found that this helped my second son, who also had the habit of just telling back whatever was read last. I would start off with a phrase from the first page I read, such as, “Cedric liked the pony,” and it would help him take off from that scene instead of the last line. Try it and see if it works, but make sure you don’t require your child to narrate the exact information you’re looking for; every child is born a person, and he can form connections with the text in a way that best reflects his personality.
2. Have you read at least a scene where something has happened?
When we read and then ask our children to narrate, we should read until a full scene has taken place. We don’t read a line and ask them to narrate; instead, we need to read at least a few paragraphs, enough to give them something to talk about. If nothing has happened, it’s understandable that the child will struggle to find anything to narrate.
Some books include scenes where nothing active happens, but the characters could be thinking or discussing something. For these types of scenes, it depends on the child, but some young children struggle with grasping these abstract concepts and would only prefer to narrate action scenes. This is quite normal and he or she will likely grow into being able to narrate these types of scenes.
Helping Your Child with Narration
One of the best ways you can help your child with narration is to keep at it, even when it looks like he or she isn’t improving! The truth is, it takes time for us to develop the skill of narrating, and the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Keep at it, Mamma, trust the process! 🙂
*Most of this post is an excerpt from our book, Help! I Love CM, But… A Troubleshooting Guide for the Charlotte Mason Homeschool Parent, available on Amazon 🙂
