27 Alternative Narration Ideas for Children

Narrating stories and books is an awesome skill for children to learn. In fact, it’s so important that educating pioneer Charlotte Mason had this to say about it:

“Now children have a natural talent for language: by his fourth year many a child has collected an amazingly good vocabulary, and uses his new words with a fitness which amuses his elders; children are very well able to narrate and to narrate well; and to get into the habit of telling a story, giving all the circumstances in due order, adding nothing and omitting nothing,--why, this is a liberal education in itself, quite invaluable in these days, when that of speaking well, and to the point, is of far more use to both men and women than the power of writing equally well.

There is a time for all things; there is a season of natural readiness of speech in children which teachers would do well to take at the flood, and not "get them on" to write miserably ill-spelt, ill-written, ill-expressed "compositions." As a matter of fact, it would be well that a child should not know how to express himself in writing until he is fully ten years old. The real difficulty is, set a child to write a narrative and he is out of your way, you are free to attend to other matters; set him to speak his narrative, and he claims your whole attention-- now is your time to get clear enunciation, exact statements, orderly arrangement.” ( Volume 6: Towards a Philosphy of Education, Charlotte Mason, p 193)

Although we are not Charlotte Mason purists, I have read all the volumes written by Miss Mason and believe that she really understood how to teach children so that they wanted to learn and retain the information. We incorporate a lot of her suggestions, but academically and practically (I am constantly explaining to people why I leave my windows cracked, even in the freezing weather of winter time!) so it behooved me to discover some interesting ways to let my children narrate the stories that they read. At this point, seven years into our homeschooling journey, most of my children can narrate orally with ease and do so even without me requesting or requiring it. However, there are times that we like to mix it up a bit.

Thus, our 50 Alternative Narration Ideas for Children!

1. Pretend to be the main character in the story and tell the events from their perspective.
2. Tell “Every thing I know about…”
3. Describe only the imagery (real or metaphorical) used in the passage.
4. Compare the passage to modern day life where you live.
5. Describe the character traits of the main character and how it effected the events that happened.
6. Discuss what you would have done differently than the person you read about.
7. Pretend you’re arguing in front of a judge for the main character. Why did they do what they did?
8. Tell the events of the story backwards.
9. Tell the story from a minor character’s point of view.
10. Write a journal entry from the person you’re reading about.
11. Write a letter to the main character.
12. Write a letter from the main character.
13. Create a newspaper article based on what happened in your reading.
14. Create a brochure to invite people to visit the setting of your story. Be sure to include a section on the local people!
15. Write five sentences about the passage
16. Make a fill in the blank quiz for your mother to take. (Be sure and make it challenging and know the answers!)
17. Write a summary of the passage for your little brother so that they’d understand what you learned about.
18. Write a book review.
19. Write a book report.
20. Draw a map of the location of the story.
21. Draw a picture of the main character.
22. Draw a comic strip showing the sequence of the story.
23. Draw a depiction of the clothing worn in the passage.
24. Draw a depiction of the scenery in the passage.
25. Draw a depiction of the architecture in the passage.
26. Draw a portrait of the main character.
27. Draw and paint any of the above.
28. Write a monologue from the main character and perform it.
29. Make a video acting out what happened in the passage.
30. Do your best impression of the  main character.
31. Record yourself reenacting the dialogue from the story using different voices and sound effects to tell the story. 
32. Demonstrate a dance performed in the story.
33. Recreate the artwork described using the methods the characters used in the story.
34. Using a tin can telephone, attempt to tell the story to your sibling and then find out how much they actually learned.
35. Recreate an accomplishment of the main character.
36. Recreate an experiment performed by the main character.
37. Make a model of the architecture described in the story using clay.
38. Make a model of the accessories worn during the story using clay (or other mediums).
39. Make a model of the machines/ tools used during the story using clay (or other mediums).
40. Make a model of the weapons used during the story using clay (or other mediums… just nothing hard or dangerous!).
41. Make a diorama of an important event in the story.
42. Find examples of flora (plants) and fauna (animals) described in the story in your own yard or park.
43. Create a scrapbook page or shadow box of items that are both available to you and mentioned in your story.
44. Create a collage of images to retell important events in the story.
45. Create a scene from the story from Lego’s, Lincoln Logs, or building blocks.
46. Create a mural showing the story’s timeline.
47. Create a sculpture of the main character.
48. Design (and sew if possible!) an outfit for the main character based on what you’ve read about their environment. Explain why you’ve included each piece and demonstrate how they’d have looked!
49. Knit or crochet an accessory that is used within the story.
50. Learn a skill (like fire-starting, making pies, etc) that is used in your story.

So there’s my best ideas… share your best ideas for narration with me!

How We Homeschool

These are the posts I am always out to read when I come across another homeschooling momma’s blog.

“How do you do it?”

“What do you do?”

“Does it work?”

“How long have you done it?”

“Why do you do it that way?”

My mind just goes a million miles an hour because I want to know it all!

When I try to classify exactly how we educate our children I always come up with some weird description, “We’re a Charlotte Mason-y, Classical-ish, textbook-loving, unschooling, freestyling family with influences from Montessori and Waldorf who occasionally finds ourselves in the midst of an intense unit study.”

I think, technically, we should classify ourselves as eclectic, but who likes labels, right? Because otherwise, I’m pretty sure our homeschooling style and philosophy is what you’d call an oxy-moron.

We’ve come to where we are, and where we are heading because homeschooling, like every other single thing in life, is a process. It’s unique and individual, not only to each family but right down to each person and each person’s relationship with one another. Seriously. Even the way one of my children learn from me is completely different from the way they learn from their father or from their enrichment teacher. What works for me might not work for them, and vice versa. It’s all about being willing to be fluid and flexible and keep an eye out on the end goal, not the short game.

Primarily, I have three goals for each of my children’s education. (There are many, many more that I have for them also in all aspects… I’m kinda a big fan of goals!) These are foundational to all the choices that we make in both our day to day execution of schooling and educating and in the long term planning. Actually, these are pretty pivotal to most aspects of our family’s lives.

1. That they learn to know, love, and fear the One True God and desire to worship Him in every aspect of their lives. (For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Matthew 16:26-27)
2. That they will desire to learn for learning’s own sake and be capable of learning anything that is presented to them as necessary knowledge. (When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you to deliver you from the way of evil. Proverbs 2:10-12a)
3. That they grow into responsible, mature, Godly, capable adults. (That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 4:17-19.)

Not that we are always the best at reaching toward these goals (two steps forward and one step back and all that jazz) but, deep down, these are what we want for our children, for ourselves also, and so we keep moving forward in faith… albeit painfully slowly sometimes!

By keeping the long game in mind when I’m praying, planning, and spending money on curriculum, I’m able to ask myself these questions:

• Does this curriculum/ method/ ideology move us closer to our primary goals for our children, both in life and in education?
• Does this curriculum/ method/ ideology fit in with our family guidelines for material for our children to be exposed to?
• Does this curriculum/ method/ ideology foster or encourage an environment of contention or strife in our schooling relationship? Does it share qualities with other curriculum that does create these atmospheres?
• Does this curriculum/ method/ ideology suit both the children’s learning styles, our available teaching time, and their available learning time? Regardless of how awesome something is, if we don’t have time to get around to it EVER, it’s a complete waste of money!
• Does this curriculum/ method/ ideology encourage a sense of failure and incompetency or boredom? Does it require too much or not enough (and therefore discourage the children from eagerly approaching their schoolwork) each day?

If a curriculum passes these hurdles, then I look at the academic rigor of the program, the scope and sequences (to make sure it will line up with what my child needs to be studying that year), and what kind of review/ study method it uses.

Once I’m satisfied, I approach my husband with it for his approval to purchase and use. Let me clarify here: My husband almost always puts the final say for what we purchase and use into my hands and under my judgment. He believes that since I’ve dedicated myself to educating our children at home, and have put in the thousands of hours of education for myself, researching education methodologies, and implementation of educational methods, I usually know what I’m talking about.

However, I also believe that biblically speaking, he is the head of this household (Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything… Ephesians 5:22-24) and as such has the responsibility and ability to approve or disapprove of what I’m doing all day with his children. (And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4) So he has veto power, so to speak. Practically speaking, he’s the voice of reason. He can see straight through crazy advertising and claims and realize if we’re actually going to be able to make use of it or not. He can usually tell if it will drive one of my children to distraction, or will have the child bored to tears when all I can see is “I wanna use it!” He’s also great at taking an objective look at the time I have available in my schedule and seeing if I can adjust it to implement it or not.

If the curriculum/ method/ ideology passes the hubs’ criteria, we are jamming to go! Of course, since not everything in a specific ‘style’ is going to make it all the way to the finish, we are set looking to make sure that the particular area doesn’t become a gap in our children’s education… and thus we have become a home educating family with this crazy amalgamation of styles and philosophies! It seems to work pretty well for us, though.

We’ve definitely not arrived, though! I’d never feel comfortable saying “This is how we homeschool and this is how we will homeschool for the rest of our educating years.” People are far too fluid and life changes far too quickly! Who knows where we will be at next year, or ten years down the road? For right now, however, this is how we homeschool.

5th Grade Daily Schedule

It’s always an adventure with Miss Thing! She’s our oldest child, so she gets “experimented” on the most… poor girl! Because she is our “learn on child”, I am actually quite grateful that she’s such a unique learner! There’s no plopping her down with a stack of books and expecting her to get them finished with no trouble! We have to learn to work with her inclinations and personality as well as be able to accomplish our educational and character goals for her and have time to make sure the little boys are learning to read and write properly.

She’s a child with “diagnosis” that we have had to learn to work with and use as advantages. She’s diagnosed ADD, dyslexic, and SPD. Does that scare me? Eh… it did! Now, I’m so glad that I have a chance to learn how to tailor her education to her unique mind!

One of the ways that we customize this, and have her working towards being an independent learner (or really, accomplishing anything at all without serious frustration and tears on both our parts) is to keep her in control of her own daily schedule. She’s not a child who can just do whatever, whenever and still thrive… she’s like her momma in that we need to know what’s happening, when, why, and how. We really struggled in this until I read “Managers of Their Schools” by Steve and Teri Maxwell. (That’s totally not an affiliate link, I just think their stuff rocks!)

We sit down and divide her school work into subjects. We get totally detailed. Lumping spelling and poetry together? Not here, buddy! We need to know exactly how long she’s working on each and every single assignment each day so we decide how much time we have available to work on each subject each day. We have to make sure she’ll be getting her required daily hours in. (We’re in Kentucky so we have to have 6 hours a day for 177 academic –or “book learning”- days and 10 “extra” days that can be used for other academic pursuits.) Then we decide how much time our Morning Meeting will take each day. What we end up with is what you see below:

Miss Thing’s Daily Schedule

Bible- 30 Minutes

Health/ Art- 15 Minutes

Spelling- 15 Minutes

Vocabulary- 15 Minutes

Writing- 15 Minutes

Reading- 45 Minutes

Math- 30 Minutes

Poetry- 15 Minutes

Grammar- 30 Minutes

Science- 30 Minutes

History- 30 Minutes

Geography- 15 Minutes

“Morning Meeting with Mom”- 45 Minutes

There we have our full 360 minute, 6 hour school day! She’s put these in the order she prefers to do them most days, although she can do them in any order at any time of the day (except for the Morning Meeting, which we actually do 2:00 in the afternoon) as long as she does them all every school day. This usually works out as a regular 8:30am-3:30pm school day, although some days, she’ll do school from 12:00pm-6:00pm or 6:30am-12:30pm or 7:00am-9:30am + 10:45am-1:45pm + 4:00pm-5:30pm or… well, you get the idea.  

Please note: This may not be the best thing for YOUR 5th grader, but it’s what works best for MINE. Every child is different and every child should get the absolute best education possible for them, which includes having a school schedule that works with their own needs and personalities.

5th Grade Lesson Plans: October 2014

We took two weeks (October 6th- October 17th) off as our ‘Fall Break”, so these assignments are only for the last two weeks of October. (The first week is scheduled with my last month’s plans… which were done before I started this blog! If there’s any desire to see these, let me know and I’ll be glad to post them for you!)

These will be Weeks 11 & 12 for Miss Thing (Days 51-60).

(For guidelines about how we break Miss Thing’s schedule down daily, please check out our “5th Grade Daily Schedule”. For more information about our homeschooling ‘style’, check out “How We Homeschool.” For a complete list of curriculum used this year in 5th grade, see “Curriculum Choices- Upper Grammar”) – coming soon, I promise!

These are listed in the order she likes to do them (which is how I write them in my assignment book).

Bible

Read the gospel of John. (21 chapters at 2-3 chapters per day)
 

Health

Read Beautiful Girlhood for assigned time each day. Write a five sentence paragraph to summarize each chapter read. (Introduction + Chapters 1-7)
 

Spelling

 

Mondays- Pretest + Write words three times each.

Tuesdays- Pretest + Use words in sentences.

Wednesdays- Pretest + Alphabetize words.

Thursdays- Test! (Write missed words three times each.)

Fridays- FREE if 100% on test -or- Test
 

WORDS #1: minute, monthly, January, seasonal, genesis, Wednesday, daily, yearly, December, October, occasionally, autumn, Exodus, Tuesday, August, November, February, September, Saturday, ancient.

WORDS #2: patio, mirror, vacuum, microwave oven, numbers, appliances, disposal, telephone, refrigerator, gauge, faucet, mantel, décor, utensil, furniture, comforter, recliner, curtain, Leviticus, chandelier

Vocabulary

Mondays- Create flash cards.

Tuesdays- Review cards + Use words in sentences.

Wednesdays- Review cards + Write list of synonyms and antonyms.

Thursdays- Review cards + Test + Review any missed definitions.

Fridays- FREE if 100% on test -or- Test

WORDS: settler, mill, brewery, pasture, orchard, blacksmith, breeches, admiral, pelt, monopoly
 

Writing

Work in textbook for allotted time each day. (May do more than one “day” if time allows.) 

Reading & Literature

Read at least 1-2 chapters of assigned book (s ) each day for allotted time. Choose narration option.

Age of Fable: Ch 15, Ch 16

Little Women: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6

Oliver Twist: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4
 

Math

Work in textbook for allotted time each day. (Aim for 1-2 pages in textbook each day + applicable speed drills.)
 

Poetry

Read assigned poem each day.

Mondays: Read aloud to someone.

Tuesdays: Read + Define any unknown words.

Wednesdays: Read + Copy one stanza.

Thursdays: Read + Choose narration option.

Fridays: Read aloud to someone.

POEMS: The Children’s Song by Rudyard Kipling, If by Rudyard Kipling
 

Grammar

Work in workbook for allotted time each day. (Complete assignments in First Language Lessons first, then work in purple English book.)
 

Science

Read in assigned books daily. Choose narration option. Complete any experiments in chapters.

Madam How and Lady Why: Ch 8

Burgess Bird Book: Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5

Wild Animals I Have Known: Lobo

Christian Kids Explore Earth and Space: Lesson 12, Lesson 13
 

History

Read in assigned book (s ) daily. Choose narration/ discussion option.
This Country of Ours: Chapters XIX, XX, XXI, XXXI, XXXIII, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLII, XLV
Our Island Story: Chapters LXXXI, LXXXII, LXXXIII, LXXXIV, LXXXV

Geography

Read in assigned book (s ) daily. Tuesdays and Thursdays- work on map work and map drills- Identify, define, and label this month’s geography terms. Study map of United States as time allows.

Great Astronomers: Ptolemy, Copernicus

Around the World in 80 Days: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4

TERMS TO LEARN: continent, island, mountain, hill, isthmus, mainland, peninsula, cape, plain, prairie, shore, forest, field, tundra, desert, oasis, brook, creek, stream, river, pond, lake, inlet, outlet, sea, ocean, cove, bay, gulf, strait.
 

Weekly Review: Living & Active Challenge 5 Week Challenge: Week 1, Day 6

It's been six whole days since I committed to the most "Me Focused" month I've probably ever had in my whole life. How am I doing, you ask? Well, let me just tell you... in excruciating detail.

My Fitness Plan:
Let me tell you, there's been several times I just did NOT want to do my workout, and knowing that I had this post coming up and would have to admit to being lazy for, well, the sake of being lazy to all of you guys was the only motivation I had to get up and get moving! So, thus far, that equals a "scaring myself silly by being crazy and posting everything on a blog success." I just hope you fully appreciate those crossed out workouts, because - at this point- I did them all for you!

Here's my workout plan, complete with completed work-outs marked out. ;-)

Monday:

• Kelly Dean's Total Body Toning (Time: 27:04)

Tuesday:

• Run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute.  (repeat 2 times)
• All Abs 1 (Time: 15:56)

Wednesday:

• rest

Thursday:

• Kickboxing  (Video, Time: 23:17)
• Backside Burner 1 (Time: 16:42)

Friday:

• Run 12 minutes, walk 1 minute. (Repeat 2 times)
• Ultimate Upper Body (Time: 17:05)

Saturday:

• rest

Sunday:

• Run 13 minutes, walk 1 minute. (Repeat 2 times)
• Weighted Warriors 1 (Time: 24.26)

My Eating Plan: (Not included in the L&A, but as part of my 60 Day "No Cheats" Challenge. I thought it was important to give you a broad overview.)

Official "No Cheat" Days Left: 56

First of all, an answer to the biggest question:
     Sweet tea or no sweet tea?
                              Well... both.

I'd bought two new gallon of Milo's Famous Sweet Tea on Sunday, which was technically 3 days before the challenge started.

Which I drank.

 And I loved every little sip of it.

Or guzzle... whatever, details.

But then, I ran out of sugar and I ran out of bought tea it was during the week so I didn't have a vehicle to run to the store until the evenings. So I purposed to drink water, water, and more water (+ coffee... for sanity purposes and such).  I mean, it's only for a little while, right? That doesn't have to mean that my precious sweet tea isn't going to be waiting for me on the other side of this challenge. Because it is. And, yeah... it sucks. Massively. But the big picture is that this is a little challenge. And it will pass quickly. I have the unique opportunity to make this short time count for something long lasting and it'd just be ridiculous to give that up for a glass of glorious, wonderful, sweet, sweet tea.

(And yeah, I think I just waxed poetic about sweet tea. Lack thereof makes a person do some crazy stuff, ya'll.)

I'm not going to record what I ate on Monday and Tuesday, because of the fact that, you know, the truth hurts a little bit. ;-) Technically, I haven't eaten all of Saturday's food, but I know what I'm going to eat, so I'm going to count it. Next week, my food journal will start from Sunday in order to maintain full disclosure.


My Soul Food Plan:
I certainly didn't decide to do an easy reading plan on top of everything else. With my bible reading, I'm looking at almost 2 hours of every day focused just on me... and God, of course. (Duh!) Food preparations don't count, because I'm cooking for everyone, not just me. It was definitely a big commitment, between homeschooling, housework, parenting, and tending my husband (who "chose" this week to have an infection that made him miserable- not fun!) but I've very much enjoyed knowing exactly what I was going to read (and when). There's a huge sense of satisfaction that really rivals that of completing my Fitness Plan... without the sore muscles and sweat!

     Monday: Genesis 1-20  

       Tuesday: Genesis 21-40

      Wednesday: Genesis 41-50, Exodus 1-10

        Thursday: Exodus 11-30

      Friday: Exodus 31-40, Leviticus 1-10

        Saturday: Leviticus 11-27, Hebrews 1-3

       Sunday: Hebrews 4-13, Numbers 1-10

 

My Overall Response to Week #1:

 

 

Awesome!