Written Narration Help at the Start of the Year
Questions pour into Heart of Dakota every day. As a placement specialist and homeschool mom of 25 years, I love connecting with homeschool families! Together, we find answers to those questions, and we make some pretty amazing action plans. These talks have been such a blessing, that it occurred to me they might be to you as well… and that is where this “Let’s Talk” series came from. So, busy homeschool mom… pull up a chair, take a much-deserved break, and “Let’s Talk” about… Written Narration Help at the Start of the Year!
The Paraphrased Question or Query
My daughter just finished her first week of Creation to Christ (CTC). Her timeline turned out great! She worked hard on the pictures she drew. Her Bible copywork in the bottom box of her CTC notebook looked good too. For Paint Like a Poet, I thought it was lovely, but she thought she could have done better.
Overall, she really enjoyed the week and did well with everything except her written narration. Since that box says “I” which I know means independent, I read the directions to her and then told her independently. It took her so long to answer all the questions! She wrote about 12 sentences, and she couldn’t fit them all in the box, so she scrunched the writing underneath. She didn’t like the way that looked.
When I had her do the Written Narration: Student’s List in the back to edit it, she had the first 3 right, but had to do all the rest. She stopped halfway through. Help! This took forever – what can she do different next week?
Easing into Written Narrations at the Start of the Year
Thank you for sharing about your daughter! From what you’ve shared, I think she is doing extremely well. This is even Week 1 of Creation to Christ! Congratulations to the both of you!
The first month of each guide is a time to work alongside children and help them learn how to properly do each box of the plans. “I” boxes only become independent after initial guided practice.
This is why we often recommend going half-speed for at least the first week, taking 2 weeks to do 1 week of plans. This gives time to patiently work alongside each child to help them learn how to properly do each portion of the plans. So, take the time pressure off, and enjoy the start by going half-speed for at least the next unit now!
The first time something is done will always take the longest. Once kiddos are a month into the guide or so, they get into a good routine with easing into written narrations. As students get better at this skill, they finish in less time. Rest assured, it is common for kiddos to need written narration help at the start of the year!
Let’s Talk the Details
Your daughter should take the guide in hand to be able to follow directions for the “I” boxes, using it like a Student Planner. As you help your daughter learn the ins and outs of each box of plans, you can point out the guidelines in the directions.
For the written narration, every provided question need not be answered. The directions say she is only supposed to write 5 to 7 sentences. The sentences should be succinct enough to fit in the box. Instead of 5 -7 sentences, she wrote 12 sentences. She did too much on her first narration – she is trying so hard! However, because she wrote too many, they don’t fit in the box. She actually should just erase everything after the seventh sentence, and her narration will fit perfectly in the box!
For editing, you can follow your Written Narrations Skills: Teacher’s List in the Appendix, and she can follow her Student’s List. The first skill is to indent, which she did – hooray! The second skill is to make sure the first sentence is on topic, which she did – hooray! Next, The third skill is to start each sentence with a capital letter and end with the proper punctuation. This is where you would step in and help her fix any of these errors in her first 7 sentences. Finally, she can then just erase the rest of her sentences. The limit of 5-7 sentences for the written narration limits the editing too! And, that’s it! You stop on the editing list when she has to fix something.
In Closing
Finally, this blog post by Carrie is so helpful for sharing what you can do if your child does get off track timewise!
Does your child get off track? Here’s a game plan for getting back on!
So, I just want to encourage you – spread the next week over two weeks, and enjoy learning each box of plans at a half-speed pace together! You’ll have 4 ½ hours to do about 2 ¼ hours of plans, which takes the pressure off to have it all just right the first time within the usual time provided. I know once the two of you happily work through each part of the plans this coming week, you will be on track for a great year ahead. I hope you enjoy CTC as much as we did!
In Christ,
Julie Grosz, M.Ed.
