4Real Forums: Discussion Vs. Narration

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Topic: Discussion Vs. Narration

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Connections
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Posted: Dec 10 2008 at 11:16am \| IP Logged

I am not actually implying a contest with the "Vs." My question is:

Is discussion an adequate substitute for (CM's concept of) narration?

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Tracey

Shari in NY
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Posted: Dec 11 2008 at 11:07am \| IP Logged

I think so. And especially with older children or teens who resent "telling back".

Sarah M
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Posted: Dec 11 2008 at 11:55am \| IP Logged

In The Relaxed Homeschool, Mary Hood discusses how she uses discussion instead of narration. Narration, she says, felt too much like an oral book report, and her kids seemed to respond better when a relaxed discussion happened instead. I can see how this would work. I'm not sure how this all would play out, as my oldest is just starting oral narrations. She's an *easy* child to work with, because she is so compliant and eager to please. I can see us moving toward more of a discussion method with my next two, who are (ahem) not so eager to please and do as they're told

Willa
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Posted: Dec 11 2008 at 2:41pm \| IP Logged

I think narration can seem artificial to a homeschooled child.... like a performance.   My kids do better with discussions (which are just conversations or "book talk" really) or with focused narrations drawing attention to a particular part of the reading.

The drawback of discussion in comparison with narration might be that the "teacher" is doing some of the mental work for the child. In fact, the teacher or parent can be tempted to turn the discussion into a lecture, and the child can be tempted to just wait and let the teacher run things and do the mental work herself. It is more of an active learning experience to organize and plan a narration by oneself.   This is why Charlotte Mason probably would not consider discussion equivalent to narration.

I have read lesson plans on the Ambleside site where the teacher previews the reading, then hears the narrations from a few children, then the class discusses afterwards or the teacher does a bit of "teaching" to round out the lesson.   So I think there are ways to include different components of both.   I always remember that my child's experience at home with narrations is not the same as it would have been in a CM classroom. My child wouldn't have been the sole narrator every single time, in a classroom. He or she would have the opportunity to hear other narrations and have them modelled that way. It would be the norm in the classroom.   Even with multiple children in the homeschool the dynamics are different.

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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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SimplyMom
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Posted: Dec 15 2008 at 11:46am \| IP Logged

When we first started I wanted to do narrations, but we always ended up discussing instead. At this point I am not sure I could make a case for narration being better. Narration seems stilted somehow to me, but then I tend to be more relaxed about the details and just go with what works.

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Shari in NY
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Posted: Dec 16 2008 at 11:10am \| IP Logged

What has worked for us (and just this year) is to read a small section of a book (The Children's Homer by Padraic Collum) and then have the boys re-write it. They have really progressed in their writing this year. When we began they would write a begridging one or two sentence paragraph and now I usually have to stop them after a half hours work. Charlotte Mason recommends reading on Thursday and written narration on Tuesday but I find it works best if they narrate right after the reading.

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