S9E128: Life-long Learning Through Narration with Sheila Carroll
Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any process of disciplinary education.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 232-233
Show Summary:
- On The New Mason Jar Podcast this week, we bring you a conversation Cindy and Dawn had with Sheila Carroll, founder of Living Books Press
- How Sheila first heard about Charlotte Mason’s philosophy
- How Sheila started developing the curriculum and resources that became Living Books Press
- What is narration, and what makes it such a powerful practice?
- How do we keep the idea of a child’s personhood from steering us toward a child-centered education?
- Sheila’s advice for beginning narration and dealing with pushback from your child
- How to prepare young children who are not yet school age for narrating later
- Why is nature study so important for today’s children?
- How do nature study and living books work together for a full education?
- How is composition taught in the Charlotte Mason paradigm?
Listen Now:
Books and Links Mentioned:
For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Step into Narration with Aesop’s Fables — A free Charlotte Mason guide to begin narration with confidence.
Aesop’s Fables with Scripture References (Living Books Press edition)
Telling Back: The Art of Narration
Nature Study Companion: Simple Ways to Explore Wonders Near and Far (Amazon) & (Living Books Press website)
Find Cindy and Sheila:
Cindy’s Patreon Discipleship Group
Mere Motherhood Facebook Group
Subscribe:
The art of composition is not taught by rule; it is the natural outcome of the free expression of ideas. A child who has been allowed to narrate freely from the beginning has acquired the power of oral composition and will write with ease when the time comes.
Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6, Towards a Philosophy of Education
