I love what one little girl said when asked about how her Charlotte Mason style lessons worked,

she said, well, we read and we narrate and then we know.

The story of Charlotte Mason, page 167.

That, in a nutshell, is the power of narration.

Telling back what you have read in your own words is narration, and it results in knowledge.

But it's not always easy to require it consistently or to do it for that matter.

So let's take a look at why we use narration.

Here are three reasons.

It's such a great method.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast.

I'm Sonia Schaefer.

That little girl's description, we read and we narrate

and then we know, makes narration sound pretty simple. And on one hand, it is. It's not a complicated

method. Read or experience something and then retell it in your own words. But it does require effort. In fact, it requires

more effort than the true, false, multiple choice, and fill in the blank type questions that

many other educational approaches use. So at some point, don't be surprised if your student looks at you and says something like,

why do I have to retell it to you? You just read it. Weren't you listening? And that's when

you can assure your student that narration is not for your benefit as the teacher. It's for the

student's benefit. Here's why. Reason number one,

narration gives your student practice in an essential skill for self-educating. The methods

that Charlotte Mason used were all designed to equip your student to be able to learn

for herself.

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