Everything You Need to Know About Homeschool Narration || How We Use Narration in Our Large Family

[@desireebarnes1887]

We have our kids give us a simple narration of their personal Bible reading each day, which prompts us to ask follow up questions and get them to think deeper about theology and biblical truths 😊

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

What a great idea! I love this. Thank you for sharing that!

[@dinaspencer270]

I recently finished reading “know and tell” and it is worth it’s weight in gold! I am absolutely amazed at the progress of some of my children since implementing narration. I have 7 kids all under 11 and what I really notice is their attention spans increasing. It’s encouraging to hear the progress other moms have had with narration. I appreciate all of your videos and insight and encouragement along this motherhood journey!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Thanks for sharing about the progress you're seeing in your kids from narration. That is the same thing I've observed in my kids...increased attention spans. You're welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@SevenInAll]

Excellent explanation, this video is a great resource!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Glad it was helpful!

[@c.soaresursa8551]

Thank you for this. Very inspiring

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

You are so welcome!

[@Grace_Filled_Homeschool]

I use oral narration for my K-3rd after their reading or read aloud. My 4th and 5th alternate between oral and written narration after their reading. 6th and above do written narrations every day. For our family subjects (history and science) they all participate in oral narration.

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Thanks for sharing this with us all! I love how you break it down simply, especially with your new narrators alternating between oral and written. That's a great tip!

[@amandamendoza4181]

I didn’t believe in narrations benefits when I first started homeschooling my 9 year old. I didn’t have him do them. I realized that he was really struggling with writing in general, and decided to switch to a more Charlotte Mason inspired curriculum that includes copywork as well as narration. His writing in general has gone from a second grade level to a fifth grade level. We have only done it for the last 7months. I’m telling you it works. Trust the process! Good luck homeschooling mamas. Keep watching Cheri. She is a wealth of knowledge!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Wow, what an awesome testimonial! I agree wholeheartedly...narration is a super tool! Thank you so much for your kind words! Blessings!

[@meaganhall7502]

This has been SO helpful, I need to pin this and refer back to it often. There were some really great ideas in here I hadn’t thought of. I just found and am binging your content right now and am finding it so edifying, especially coming from a fellow large family mama, and one with more children and experience than myself. I’m a homeschooling mom with 6 sons, my oldest will be 12 next month and the youngest is 2. Listening to your videos, we have a lot in common. I’m married to my high-school sweetheart as well and we both seem to have very similar approaches and philosophy on education. Anyway, I know we are super busy and don’t really have much free time, but I’d love to connect with you.

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Oh wow, thank you so much for watching my content! What a neat coincidence that we have so much in common! I love hearing from other moms and would love to connect. Thanks for reaching out, I'm glad this helped you! :)

[@Ourhomeschooladventures]

Loved hearing this! I will try to implement this more in our homeschool. We started using the “Share Your Story,” the homeschool version but I love trying new things every year.

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Glad to hear!

[@carinthiamontana7069]

Wow good to know! I am ashamed to say that up until now I often stopped my 2nd grader from narrating stories back to me because it felt like a waste of my time 😖. Now I know better! Thanks!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

You're welcome! No worries, we all live and learn along the way! I'm sure your daughter will be fine.

[@AHeartForHomeEducation]

This is so helpful to see how my Form 1A upper (second grade) and Form 1B students’ narrations will turn into writing one day. It’s helpful to see how the long-term plan will play out because I can get so wrapped up in the day to day, so thank you for sharing this. Narration is such an undervalued skill! And you’re taking me back to my Elementary Ed major days with that Bloom’s Taxonomy reference! 😅

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

I'm glad this was helpful to you! Thanks for watching! Haha, I knew my fellow former teachers out there would recognize that!

[@heidib.4089]

Perfect timing! Thank you!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

So glad!

[@OldLineFiberCo]

This was an excellent video! Thank you!!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Glad it was helpful!

[@katiepoitevin4702]

Thank you for this video! So many helpful tips! Do you have any advice for encouraging a child who is a perfectionist with written narration? My oldest son is 10 and in 4th grade, and I have a hard time getting him to write something out of his own. His handwriting is fluent, but when it comes to writing out his own thoughts I think that he views it as very tedious because he doesn't want to get anything "wrong" (spelling, wording, etc) and he doesn't want to have to re-write it, and he can't leave it alone even if I tell him he doesn't have to "fix" things or rewrite them. He really wants me to tell him what to write, spell each word aloud, and check his work as he goes. I have a very difficult time getting him to work independently period.

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

You're welcome! Has he been doing oral narration? If he is getting stuck on spelling, wording, etc., you could have him keep doing oral narrations and you type them out for him to have a written record until he can slowly be more comfortable with writing them on his own. Have him re-read and look at the typed narrations that he gave you so he can see it's his thoughts in writing. Just a thought. Some kids have a harder time working towards independence. It might just be a maturity thing too. In a couple. of months, he may be in a different place. Not sure if that helps or not, but those are the first things I'd consider.

[@katiepoitevin4702]

Thank you for the ideas. He has been doing the oral narrations, so I think I will try typing things out!@@OurLifeHomeschooling

[@nicholetteburris3925]

I have a question ❓ The clips showing your children handwriting a narration with typed work next to them; are these the typed work they dictate or is this their typed work that you have them re-handwrite? And if I have my 4th grader orally narrate daily and then write out narration weekly ... Is she orally retelling chapters 1-4 and only writing chapter 5? I'm a bit confused on how that would give her a consistent notebook to look back on. I really look forward to understanding this a bit more.

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Good question! You caught a mistake in the video. Whoops! Those clips are actually my kids doing written copywork, not narration. When I have them narrate, they are not copying any typed work. They only sit down with pen and paper and write out the narration. As to your second question, if you are having her do one written narration a week, she should have thirty-some narrations in her notebook by the end of the year. It wouldn't be a consistent notebook to show the continuation of the story/narrations of what she's read, but instead, it would be a collection of her written narrations from the year. You would be able to look at how her written narrations have improved from beginning of the year to the end. I hope that answers your question!

[@nicholetteburris3925]

@@OurLifeHomeschooling thank you! I am the kinda of parent who completely over thinks things! Lol. I'm am really excited implement this more!

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

@@nicholetteburris3925 Ha, I can relate! I'm excited for you! I hope it goes well!

[@deen8842]

Any advice for a kid who huffs and puffs and blows & resists everytime you try & ask for a narration 😢 I don’t want it to be a pain point.. I’m not sure what to do

[@OurLifeHomeschooling]

Personally, I would ask for no more than one oral narration a day (less if a written narration.) He might not like doing it, but 5 minutes of retelling a story is not too much to ask. It's sharpening his communication skills so it's worth making a habit.