Help with Narration and Grammar from Karen Glass

Ambleside Online Conference

Held at Greenville Oaks Church of Christ, Allen, Texas

On July 30, 2005

Report by Colleen in Wis.

Karen Glass spoke on Narration as one of the Basics of a CM education. The most helpful bit of advice for me was her description of how to move from oral into written narration. She suggests that we teach typing at about age 9, then begin asking the student for regular (once a week or more) typed narrations around age 10. When the student comes to an awareness that writing is a craft (after at least 2 years of writing experience), it is time to begin honing that craft by focusing on essays and editing/composition skills. This makes sense to me and I hope to apply it with my children.

Karen also shared tips about grammar during the Question and Answer session at lunchtime.
"Grammar is a finite subject." This struck me as a principle that is not often acknowledged. Karen's recommendation is that we introduce the 8 parts of speech in a fun way during the elementary years (ages 6-12), then cover grammar one time during the junior high or high school years. I find this to be a commonsense approach that I can easily work into our curriculum here at home.

Read Karen's Language Arts Scope and Sequence at the Ambleside Online site for more good advice.