Classical Education Musings

The newest edition of the Charlotte Mason carnival is just a few days old, and I'm browsing. They've got some good stuff this time! Here's some of what caught my eye this afternoon, both on and off the carnival.

Settled in my Home has a great idea for slipping in a little art & music appreciation, nice & easy. I followed one of her blogroll links & found an awesome quote, which went right into my commonplace book.

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I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. - Anna Quindlen, "Enough Bookshelves," New York Times, 7 1991

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Over at Practical Pages she's got a post about using puppets in narration that's got me thinking: maybe if we did something like that we could start to ease into narration. The Well-Trained Mind suggests starting narrations in 1st grade, which I'd like to start a year, maybe a little more, from now. This would be a good way for me to practice up a bit. And it would be fun. What's not to like?

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Narration is a way to develop the child's understanding and storytelling skills. The process is simple: the child tells you what he's just heard or read. You started this process in preschool, when you asked your child questions about the stories you were reading together. In first grade, you begin to ask the child to summarize the plots of short simple stories...

Narration lets you know how much a child retains and understands. It also develops vocabulary and powers of expression, and lays the foundation for good writing later on. A short essay is a cinch for a child who's become accustomed to narration.
The Well-Trained Mind, 55

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Finger puppets seems like a lovely kindergarten intermediate between just asking questions, and outright plot summary. Monkey's been telling us stories - often (somewhat garbled versions of) stories we've read to him. This might be just the thing for us. Practical Pages also has a great post on Mom as a "Narration Scribe."