Moving from Oral to Written Narrations
Eventually a student will move from all oral narrations to written narrations. A written narration is…. Just like you guessed… writing a narration on paper rather than giving it orally.
To make this move a student must be proficient at two things.
First, they must be proficient oral narrators. This must not be over looked.
Second, the student must be capable of putting words to paper. Handwriting needs to be to the place that they can write smoothly and fairly quickly.
Related to this is typing. Personally I do not let my students type their written narrations until high school. I want the practice of handwriting to be solid first.
Often in a Charlotte Mason Education this switch takes place when the child is upper elementary/middle school age. This is typical for a student who has had a Living Education from the get-go.
If you are new to CM with students already of school age, your students will need some time and practice at oral narration. It is important that they get this under their belt before moving to written narrations.
Once these two criteria are met, a student can move to written narrations. This must, like oral, narration, be the back bone of a student’s work. Do straight forward narration first – a ‘what happened first, then next, then what, what happened after that…and finally…. Do not rush past a straight forward written narration or overlook it. It is valuable work, practice it daily and make sure it is down pat.
Once this is down solid, your students may get a little bored with the process day in and day out. You can then move to variations on the standard narration with some options for written narration.