I need help with Grace's learning style!! I am desperate for answers

My son shocked me before cause I figured there was no way that he could have heard what I was saying, then he completely repeated everything I had just said word for word! That is how I learned that his brain does multitasking like mine usually can. Today, not so much! I am beat!

 

Tiffany, I am back.

Okay...have her draw a picture while you read...let her know that she is supposed to draw something from the reading. Then have her tell you what she drew. now...here's the important part...accept whatever drawing or explanation she gives UNLESS it is definant. Just accept it...even if you are reading about trees and she draws the sun.

Get out a bunch of magazines and have her cut out pictures and paste them in a "book" and have her tell a story about that.

Read a VERY short fable from Aesop (sp?..lol) and then ask her questions about what you read. Guide the narration....a bit more.

Play a sequencing game. Play a game story game....there is a card game called The Storybook game by Fundex...it comes in a little tin lunchbox. Play that...or make your own out of index cards...just a variety of pictures. Shuffle and give one to her...and have her say something about it....then one to you and you add on to the story and so on. Doesn't have to be long. This will get her using her imagination and increase her vocabulary.

Give her puppets to play out a story...like one she is very familiar with like a fairy tale.

While reading a story that she is very familiar with, ask her what happens next...then after that...

While reading a story...one she is not familiar with or even a little ask her what she thinks will happen next.

All of this needs to be a conversation and it needs to be pressure free. So, even if she messes up...just ignore it and go on. If she gets frustarted she will shutdown and then build a solid brick wall when it comes to any type of narration. She is allowed to fail. Narration will not make or break and education. It is supposed to enhance..if it is not doing that but causing frustartion you both need a break.

Let her hear you narrate. Read the story and then discuss it. Simple. Tell her what you liked and didn't like about the story. That kind of thing.

I think narration puts kids on the spot at times and no one enjoys that. lol.

Try some different things and see what works out best. It maybe slow...but slow now is fine...just fine. it's better than a fight that lasts for years of narration time.

you also need to know if this is a comprehension issue. Just simply read a story and ask directed questions and see if she answers correctly. If you notice she isn't then maybe more testing in this area is in order.

let us know what happens!

 

OH...have her tell you about her day. If she goes to the store or somewhere special or whatever...ask her about it...discuss it. that is a form of narration. I bet she can tell you all about a favorite movie. If so...ask her about a movie. Soon she will get the idea that narration for a type of reading is the same thing basically.

 

I think at this point I would take a break on narrating what you have read out loud all together unless it is just family-snuggled-up-and-reading time and you are discussing it openly with everyone. Sounds like this is just one part of CM that doesn't work well for your dd at this point in time. If her frustration level with it is that high it will be counterproductive anyway. Seems like she is thoroughly excelling with CM everywhere else. No method works 100% of the time for 100% of the kids. I think its fantastic that so much of it has worked so well for you all so far.

 

Ava thank you!!!

 

Tiffany, have her tape record her answer and play them back. I know it help my youngest when we tape record they love talking in the micorphone.
Have her do a lap book on the book.

 

I did find with my fidgety one that if I LET her bounce around and walk on the back of the couch and turn summersaults and all...then she listened BETTER. It drove me crazy...but it worked for her. She may be trying so hard to be still, that she can't concentrate on the story.

 

Here's a submission to the Charlotte Mason blog carnival that fits in with what you are talking about..it is similar to my narration cards....http://gentleartofchaos.blogspot.com/2009/10/narration-bookmark.html. It's sneak preview! LOL. The carnival isn't until next week.

 

Once again Ava you totally rock girl!

I see that it is me that needs to make the changes. I do not want Grace to fear something like narration so much it brings her to tears. It is my job as her teacher to find ways to help her.

Thank you all so much for you advice. I could never do this homeschooling thing on my own with a support group like this.

 

Your daughter sounds a bit like my son. He is Mr. Wiggle Worm and listening and focusing on something is hard for him. What has helped him is reading books with pictures only. He is a visual learner and having pictures to go along with the words made a huge difference in his ability to focus. We continued with regular read alouds, but I made sure we read 3-4 picture books every school day. This school year his attention is much better. I do often stop while reading aloud and ask a question to see if he is paying attention.

 

Do you think she is maybe just too young to understand the concept? That along with her not being auditory in learning style...... well, it may take a long time before she "gets" it. I'd keep up the reading, try to make it more fun - just ask her "fun" questions about what you've read - and don't focus quite so much on the narrating back. Try it occasionally - say once a month. Sooner or later she'll be ready. Maybe some more leading questions like "how do you think she felt?" or "do you think the sky was cloudy or clear blue?" "was it raining that day?" "where was she going?" Maybe modify WHAT you have her narrate back. Simplify it a little. I don't know if this is any help.

I just remember when my son was learning to read. I swore he would never be ready. I was using 100 easy lessons. I kept trying and trying, but we could never get past a certain point. Finally I gave up, put the book away, and would take it out once every couple of months just to see if he was ready yet. One day he actually was able to do the next lesson, and WE WERE OFF!!! BTW - he was 7. lol. I guess that taught me that pushing the kids doesn't always make them learn, no matter how much I thought they SHOULD be. :roll: I wish I could say I learned my lesson, but it is one of those things that is hard to know when to push and when not to. Use your motherly instincts.

 

I think the other poster that said it's a learning style is probably right on. I am exactly the same way. I just don't "get it" when people are reading to me. My husband is always trying to read things to me and I constantly have to remind him that I won't understand what he's saying. I have to read it myself to understand it. I can understand very short things... a sentence or two.. but much more than that? Forget it! My two older daughters are the same way too. They would prefer to read something themselves.

Now, my youngest, is completely the opposite. She has a harder time comprehending things she reads herself, but does very well learning/understanding through hearing. My husband is just like her as well.

People are generally auditory, visual or kinesthetic learners. I think I remember that most people fit into the visual category.

Here's a quote from the following website:
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/learningstyle.htm

"For example, visual-learning students will sometimes struggle during essay exams, because they can’t recall test material that was “heard” in a lecture."

Your daughter is probably just a visual-learner.

One thing that does make it easier is if the person reading to me looks me in the eye while reading to me... makes it more of a conversation.

So, I would suggest reading a paragraph at a time and discussing each one where appropriate.. and maybe also try using lots of expression while reading to her.

 

I was a high school teacher for ten years and too much fidgety motion made me nuts...I just always figured they couldn't possibly be learning anything with that much motion. Then along came my first child--not the least big hyperactive but he couldn't keep his hands still ever when I would read aloud to him. It turned out he was a highly auditory learner. He was tuning in but I just didn't get it.

If this problem is only with narration, I agree with the poster who suggested to give it a break. Do take a moment to think through whether this is just with this one area. Does she follow multistep instructions in everyday life well? If you ask her about part of her day can she put 3-4 things in proper sequence? I had a child with auditory memory problems who couldn't answer questions about what he'd heard read to them, and also had issues with the above areas. Actual reading comprehension was great though.

Either way, I'm all for borrowing ideas from any camp (!) and the speech/language people have some really great ideas for helping kids address hurdles like this because they break the issue down into component tasks.. For instance here is an activity that targets sequencing:
http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=FDS07

Here's one with very short narrations:
http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=FD53

For those of you with fidgety kids, a gel ball or silly putty while listening works wonders for some of them!

 

Pippen, I loved your ideas of the gel ball or silly putty. I'm hooked on the koosh balls, myself! The bigger the better!

I once attended a seminar where they just put "toys" like the koosh balls out on the table for anyone who wanted them. Besides the balls they had gel animals, gumby people and animals, and little puzzle things that bent every which way and were all different colors. Some people came in and it was the first thing they grabbed, even before a marker! Some people grabbed a certain color marker first. Some people were more comfortable with their pen and paper. Some people used nothing but their memory and hearing. lol. (that's where I got "hooked" on the koosh balls... )

These were all adults. The whole purpose of the class was personality traits and styles. We really learned a LOT!!

Great, GREAT suggestion!!!

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have started working with her on her attention span. We already do short lessons (per the CM way) and now I am really focusing on having her full attention for the alloted time. I am also making sure that we alternate subjects where she has to sit and listen and then a subject she can move around during. I will read a subject to her, which she has to narrate, then she does writing, then phonics, then math.

So what I have been doing since I began this thread is after every short paragraph I ask her questions and prompt her to narrate. I realized that she just needs training on how to do this and eventually it will come in time.

Pippen - yes she can tell me about her day in proper sequence. She often tells me fully detailed things of what happend while playing with friends or at grandma's or whatever so I know she can do it. I think me expecting her full attention and helping her to learn how to narrate things will get better. And already they have a little bit.

 

I just remembered something else too. For me, it helps if I read along as someone reads to me. Maybe if she sat next to you while you are reading to her, so she can read along with you, it will help her retain the information better and improve her reading skills to boot!

 

Narration

My first two kids could narrate like crazy from a young age. They could give me detailed narrations. I think they recalled nearly every single thing from whatever I read to them. They amazed me. These were the boys who, at 7-8 & 4-5 yo, were listening to me read the complete and unabridged versions of Swiss Family Robinson, The Cat of Bubastes (G.A. Henty), and Robinson Crusoe and enjoying every minute of them.

Then dd came along. She could not narrate. She also could not memorize her Awana verses, even if she listened to a verse sung a hundred times. I borrowed a book that had three or so levels of stories for recall (a new sentence was added for each level). We started with the two-sentence stories, moved up to three after a while, and then went to four. We were finally able to move to Aesop's Fables. After finishing our fables book, She still wasn't ready for narrating long passages, so I used another three books with about the same length stories. Now, after about five years, she can narrate a couple of pages at a time -- when she's paying attention. She may never be like her brothers, but her narration abilities have improved a lot and hopefully will continue to improve as we plod on.