Well Charlotte used both sketching and skits in her schools. I remember reading about sketching a scene from the reading in one of CM's books (can't recall the volume offhand). Charlotte does explain that many of the same processes so important in the oral narration occur in choosing which scene to sketch ( it is important to let the child do the choosing for this reason) and in determinating how best to illustrate that scene. Furthermore, when my children sketch a narration, they still have to tell me something about it--or at the very least write down a caption of their choice. So yes, many of these activities use the same capacities and give similar training, much the same way two different exercises might help strengthen the same area of the body, but in different ways.
I have a copy somewhere of the actual school schedules for one of CM's schools, and one of the scheduled activities for the older students is to sketch a scene each week from the reading of that child's choice.
I first read about skits being used as narrations in Charlotte's schools in an article from one of the old parent's reviews. The teacher writing the article explained that she'd tell the class that the next day one student would get to put on a short skit of that day's reading in a particular subject. They all needed to think about how they would do the skit, as she might call on any of them. That night they would all go home and plan. The next day she would call on one child and let him direct the others in acting out his idea of the skit. Not only did they all have to think through the reading, considering events and their sequence, and give thought to how best to portray them--but they also would often discuss the reading all the way home as they debated how one scene might better have been staged. :=)
As homeschoolers, we may not get this aspect of the skit plan--but doing a skit was an acceptable form of narration in Charlotte's schools.
Staging the reading with blocks is simply using some props to aid in narration - it distracts a reluctant narrater from his fears or frustrations and he ends up narrating more fluidly. When he has done this a few times you can surprise him by telling him he's been narrating all along.
I hope we do all understand that these are supplements to narrations as we generally understand them--a retelling after a single reading--not complete replacements. Oral narrations should continue through all of the school years, even on into high school. But other methods may help to prime the pump of a reluctant narrator or vary the day of a homeschooled student. Not all of Charlotte's students narrated after reading, but every reading was narrated. We can't narrate from every reading unless our homeschooled student does all the narrating. Varying the style is a way of avoiding tediousness.
So while these alternate forms of narration are not to completely replace oral narrations, they are very compatible with Charlotte's principles, often actually used by her.
(Q & A by Wendi)
