FREE Ambleside Composer Narration Pages!

We are loosely following the Ambleside Composer rotation, and our composers for 2011-2012 are:  Bach, Bartok, Hindemith, Mendelssohn and Mozart.  (Bach is not in the Ambleside rotation this year, but because we go through the summer, I needed to throw in an extra composer – I chose to make it one of the “biggies”)

I have created the following narration pages:

The first page is blank.  The others are in a very simple format, with lots of space for written narration alongside a representative picture of the composer.  I know this is an eclectic list, but I hope at least a couple of the pages will be helpful to other families as well!

A few notes on using these narration pages, from my own experience and from reading other parents’ experience and questions about narration on various classical / Charlotte Mason forums:

First, choose a biography of the composer at your child’s level, such as the ones provided on the Making Music Fun site; we also like Classics for Kids.  It should be a fairly short selection; kids’ encyclopedias, if you have a subscription to one, an online kids’ encyclopedia (like Kids’ Brittanica, which we get free through our public library), might also be useful.  Tell your child you will read about the composer, and then he/she can tell you back whatever they remember. 

I am fairly strict about NOT repeating any of the information, partly because I know my kid pretty well.  She often says she doesn’t remember, but if I wait a couple of minutes (generally, without prompting her), she will start telling back the information we have read.  Write as much as the child tells you, without interrupting to correct grammar (for older children, they can write it themselves, but again, go gently with corrections at first – the key is to get the information out of their head).  Then, I’ll go over a couple of grammar points if necessary (“who did you mean when you said ‘they’?”).  For an older child who isn’t yet ready to write an entire narration, you could have them rewrite a sentence or two that you have written down.

If you have any questions, let me know!

• To download this FREE printable from my General Studies printables page – which includes science, art and music resources in Hebrew and English - click here.  (scroll down to Ambleside)
• For Limudei Kodesh (Jewish Studies) printables, including weekly parsha resources, click here.
• You can find a few non-curricular “extras” on my Miscellaneous Homeschool Printables page.

As always, if you use any of my free resources, all I ask is that you leave a comment to say Hi! 

Feedback is always appreciated, too.