Narration - The Cornerstone of Notebooking

One of the most common questions for those who are new to notebooking is about narration. The questions most asked vary from what is narration?, when should I start?, how can I use narration with a young child?, and how can I get my child to focus? All of these are good questions and I will explain to you how I've used narration with my children to answer these questions.  First, I want to say that narration is literally the cornerstone of notebooking. 

What is narration? 
Narration is the telling back of information from a piece of literature, a non-fiction book, or any form of media.  Depending on your child's age, you would read aloud or have them read and tell back what they learned from what was being taught or the events that took place. This 'telling back' can be written or spoken aloud.
An important thing to remember as you read to your child is to only read the passage once. This will teach your child to pay very close attention to what is being read.

When should I start narration with my child?
As long as your child is old enough to tell back what you've read to them, they are ready for narration. My youngest was about 3 years old. She was not able to write yet, so I did the writing for her and we would put her words into her notebook.

How can I use narration with my young children?

When my children were young, I would read stories, passages or a paragraph or two and ask them to tell me what we read. As they were explaining to me what we read, I'd write or type out their narration. We would then add their narration to their notebook, as I mentioned above. As they got older and were beginner writers, I would still write or type it out for them however, at this point, I would have them choose the main idea or most important parts of their narration. This was a good exercise for them to begin finding the main idea of the story as well. I would then write that portion on primary-lines with a highlighter for them to trace over. This allowed them to practice handwriting skills using their own words from their narrations. We kept these short so they wouldn't tire too quickly or become frustrated. 

How do I get my child to listen closely?

As your child is listening to you read aloud or is reading quietly to himself, he knows he will be required to narrate, so he is paying close attention to what is being read - most of the time. Not all children are going to pick up on this method quickly, in fact, some of my children took some time to work it out, but in time, they all did. Concentration is really the key. Some children have a difficult time focusing, so reducing the amount of distractions for some children is important. My boys had the hardest time with narration. When they were young, I found allowing them to use their hands allowed them to hear what was being read more easily.  In other words, legos, drawing, tracing and those sorts of activities may help some children be still and pay closer attention. Also, I only allowed that one thing they were doing to be out. I found that too many things laying around the desk or tabletop made for more distractions.  Honestly, it took me a while to get used to allowing my kids to do these things while I was reading, feeling that they weren't paying attention to me. However, when their narrations became much better, I realized they needed something to do with their hands in order to be able to focus better on the words I was reading aloud to them.

Now that all my children read well on their own and have been narrating for many years, it really does come very natural for them. They are all very articulate both in writing and speaking. I believe much of this has to do with the skills they've learned using narration.

Articles and Blog Posts You May Find Useful
The Charlotte Mason Method of Narration from Simply Charlotte Mason
Narration - Tapping into the "Talking Resource" by Karen Andreola 
Narration and Notebooking Part 1 from Our Busy Homeschool
Narration Ideas from Simply Charlotte Mason
Narration from Jimmie's Collage

Programs that Teach Narration Skills

Here are a couple writing programs that I have looked at closely and would recommend to help you with teaching your child to narrate if you are feeling unsure about how to approach this method.

For Younger Students
Writing with Ease by Peace Hill Press

For Middle School
Writing with Skill by Peace Hill Press

Please leave a comment with things that have worked for you or any other suggestions that may help new notebooking parents. Thanks!

Copywork

Copywork is exactly what it sounds like... copying! Each day your child may spend a few minutes copying great pieces of work from a wide variety of sources – pieces of literature, poetry, scripture, fables, quotes, mottos and so on. Copywork goes along well with notebooking, so it's nice to find passages that will work well with your study.   While your child is copying great works, emphasize the importance of using their very best penmanship and making their copy as close to the original as possible. By using this method, your child will see the proper way to punctuate, usage of different parts of speech, as well as capitalization. Primarily, they will see how a great piece literature should look and be written.

Copywork will allow your child to see different writing styles and structure, which in turn, if consistent, will help them become better writers. If your child can manage it, have them look and write an entire word instead of letter by letter, this will assist them in becoming better spellers. My younger children who started out doing copywork from the start were better writers and spellers at a younger age than my older children were. They didn't seem to have to work as hard at spelling. While my older children, who began copywork later, struggled a bit more. That’s not to say copywork was a for sure cure for spelling, however, I do believe it helped a lot.

If your child is very young, you can start with the formation of their letters. Have him spend only as much time he can manage doing this. Once this is mastered you will move on to words, sentences, paragraphs, poems, scripture, quotes... I think you get the point.

Some children enjoy illustrating their pages, however, this should not be something forced upon them, but gently encouraged. Many of the copywork notebooking pages I offer have illustrations while others provide boxes for your child to create their own illustration or find a something that relates that they can glue onto their page, while others offer nothing except lines for copying or narration.

Over the years, I've done different things to get my kids motivated to do their copywork - I used to keep separate jars with scripture verses, quotes, and poems in them. Whatever they pulled out that day, that was their copywork for the day. I also used to keep a shelve in our schoolroom with books of poetry and fables. We used to alternate days copying verses, quotes, poems, passages from literature, and their choice for each day of the week. However, some selections take more than one day to complete. Therefore, if your child is young don't expect more than they can handle in about 5-10 minutes, depending on your child. 

In short, if you choose to use copywork during your school routine, you will find that your child will become better at spelling, writing, grammar, penmanship, as well as, retention. Copywork is so simple to implement, there really is no reason not to give it a try.

Copywork Notebooks Available from Notebooking Nook