Narration

The first year I homeschooled, I followed Laura Berquist’s advice in Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum and used narration in teaching my young children Bible history. I would read a Bible story aloud and the children would retell the story in their own words. They would then draw a corresponding picture in their art sketchbooks. I continued to use this method in the proceeding years. The idea was to make sure my children understood the pivotal points of the story. Also, by verbalizing what they hear, children are using multiple senses to retain lessons learned through the story.

When one of my children required speech therapy, she was extensively tested to make sure there weren’t other developmental issues. She scored off the charts for reading comprehension. The teacher who administered the test was amazed this child could not only retell a story, but could recall the smallest detail. When I told the teacher of our narration lessons, she said it was the reason for my child’s extraordinary performance. Narration was something I did just three days a week for a short period of time, yet it produced outstanding results. And it's very low cost.