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At the heart of a Charlotte Mason education is the art of narration. This oral exercise stretches back to the times of Augustine and Erasmus. In ancient Greece, and during the Renaissance, the art of allowing the pupil the opportunity to create, build, and strengthen his relationship with knowledge broadens and deepens his understanding if he is expected to retell the topic of study. (Wang, T., & Huang, K.,2018) 

During the exercise of narration, the act of questioning is left to the student. The child chooses what information is relevant, critiques which detail to include, connects the sequence of events, and analyzes the relationships of cause and effect. "Narration lends to synthetic thinking in its development of a personal relationship with the material being learned, so that the pupil achieves a level of familiarity with it that allows at least the potential for connecting what he is learning to concepts he has learned before or might learn in the future."(Glass, 2018)

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A book-centered approach to instruction lays a foundation of reading skills that primarily involves listening and retelling. Not only does this build a habit of attention, but it also strengthens memory and creates an intimate relationship with the characters or content of the text. This skill continues through the years once the child can read independently. Older children engage with a text in several different ways. They provide written narrations, poetry, plays, or illustrating a piece of artwork.