Narration is such a fabulous learning tool.

So many wonderful things are happening when your student listens to or reads a passage

and then tells it back in his own words.

As we listen to that retelling, we can assess how well a student understood what he read.

We can discover which ideas stood out to him, and we can enjoy

regular peaks into his thought process and his emerging use of language. Couple all of those

benefits with the fact that narration helps to cement the ideas and material from the book

into that student's mind, and you can readily

see how important it is for him to narrate books that present factual events and people

and places. But what about fiction? Is it important for your student to narrate the fiction

books he's reading? Some home educators do require narration for fiction books.

I never did.

I figured it wasn't as important for my students to cement in their minds imaginary people

and places and events.

However, it's still important to assess how well that student understands what he's reading,

and to discover what ideas stood out to him in that fiction book, and to continue to peek

into his thought process and emerging use of language.

All of that can be done through shared discussion.

Let's take a look at what that is and how to do it.

Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast. I'm Sonia Schaefer. Think of shared discussion

as a type of informal narration.

I like to use it for family read alouds or literature or for historical fiction.

...