A few weeks back HS’ing friend Barb mentioned a bit of a struggle with narrations. I found that the subject matter and passage length will highly affect my younger ds ability to narrate.  Before I start a passage for narration I try to remember how he did the day before.  Was he able to easily narrate or was it like pulling teeth?  Should I make the passage a few paragraphs before asking for a narration because the information is so new and so technical?  Or is the passage a fun story, or an Aesop Fable, and I can read the entire thing before asking for the narration?  Should I write names and dates on a white board to help him remember the who, and what a bit easier?

Charlotte Mason Companion has a wonderful list of narration starters too.  Here’s some suggested narration starters.

Narration Starters (the words in the brackets are the “edu-ese” labels that look good in the record book!)

Tell me all you remember about the passage.

Tell it in your own words.

Wasn’t it funny when………! Tell me what you remember.

Explain how…….

Describe ……….

Describe anything NEW you just learned from the chapter.

Tell me five things you learned about…… (I personally like this One!)

Tell me about (one of the characters). (Analyzing Character)

How did Character A behave differently than Character B? (Parallel Characters)

Tell me about Character A. (Analyzing Character)

Why did Character A do …….? (Character Point of View)

What did you learn about (character name) in this chapter?

Tell me all you know about ……(location).

Tell me all you know about …….(occurance).

How did …….. feel?” (Analyzing Mood)

What makes this story pretend? (Fantasy vs. Reality)

What clues told you that …….. was about to happen? (Making Inferences)

Why do you think ………. happened? (Drawing Conclusions)

Tell me exactly what happened in order. (Sequence of Events/Steps in a Process)

What do you think of …….? (Making Judgements/Decisions)

Describe the person telling the story. (Narrator’s Point of View)

Tell the most interesting thing about …… (Fact vs. Opinion)

Describe what happened because of ……. (Cause and Effect)

Tell me all the ways ……. and ……. were the same/different. (Compare and Contrast)

Is the ending/chapter good or bad and why? (Making Judgements)

Compare the actions of two characters (Comparing/Contrasting)

Compare book with another by the same author. (Comparing Works of Same Author)

Why did the author write the story this way? (Author’s Purpose)

How did the author know about these kinds of things? (Author’s Point of View)

What was the author saying about …….. ? (Author’s Point of View)

In the Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, two cautions are given.
One is to make sure the passage you are reading isn’t too difficult for the child. What doesn’t seem to be working this year may work nicely next year.

The second caution is to make sure the passages aren’t too long for the child. I find with my own children that the more complicated the material (science rather than a story) the shorter the passage needs to be.