Storytelling and the Brain
The science is clear on this one: the human brain loves stories. The neurochemical most responsible for this affinity is oxytocin, the love hormone and moral molecule, which is released and processed when we hear and read stories. When our brains synthesize oxytocin, we act with more compassion, generosity, and kindness. But not all stories are equal. Good stories are the ones that affect us so powerfully, compelling stories with good dramatic arcs. Flat stories leave us flat, too, with no discernible change in brain chemistry or altruistic acts.
The lesson here for us homeschoolers is: Tell good stories! Storytelling is a terrifically effective medium for engaging the mind and changing behavior for the better.
I'm sure that storytelling already features prominently in your homeschool. Likely many of us read bedtime stories. And keep bookshelves for our independent readers. Make regular trips to the library, etc. One other way that we can expand the reach and impact of our storytelling is to have a handful of stories memorized, ready for telling on car rides, when our kids are out-of-sorts and need some one-on-one time, when an occasion arises that could benefit from examination through a narrative lens. ("This reminds me of a story...")
If you don't come from a line of skilled and prolific storytellers (as I myself do not), than this practice will not take root without concerted effort. But...it's delicious effort! Reading, pondering, learning, and sharing stories is deep, almost primal. It can be a spiritual practice, and a powerful one, at that. Like so much else about homeschooling, it changes the adults for the better just as much as it changes the children.
The UUA hosts a fantastic list of full-text stories compiled from the Tapestry of Faith curricula, over 450. If you don't recognize them by name, you'd need to poke around to find one to suit your needs, but they're pre-selected for quality and alignment with our UU values, so hopefully that would be a labor of love!
The UUA Bookstore has a good selection of UU story anthologies for purchase.
TED has a selection of their talks on storytelling collected here.
Margaret Silf's 100 Wisdom Stories from Around the World is a favorite among religious educators for storytelling during worship.
Heather Forest's stories in Wisdom Tales from Around the World are organized by culture of origin and by religious tradition. And finally, Storyarts.org is an old website (doesn't it sound weird to say those two words together?), but still has a good collection of "folktales in a nutshell," short stories that are easy to memorize and ripe for sharing.
And here's something else, a parting thought, maybe a post for another day... A storytelling home culture creates storytellers. Hearing stories changes the way we think about our own lives; we come to frame our experiences as narratives. Knowing your life to be your own story is empowering. We are the authors. We have agency. An empowered interior life is a significant gift to a child.
The lesson here for us homeschoolers is: Tell good stories! Storytelling is a terrifically effective medium for engaging the mind and changing behavior for the better.
I'm sure that storytelling already features prominently in your homeschool. Likely many of us read bedtime stories. And keep bookshelves for our independent readers. Make regular trips to the library, etc. One other way that we can expand the reach and impact of our storytelling is to have a handful of stories memorized, ready for telling on car rides, when our kids are out-of-sorts and need some one-on-one time, when an occasion arises that could benefit from examination through a narrative lens. ("This reminds me of a story...")
If you don't come from a line of skilled and prolific storytellers (as I myself do not), than this practice will not take root without concerted effort. But...it's delicious effort! Reading, pondering, learning, and sharing stories is deep, almost primal. It can be a spiritual practice, and a powerful one, at that. Like so much else about homeschooling, it changes the adults for the better just as much as it changes the children.
The UUA hosts a fantastic list of full-text stories compiled from the Tapestry of Faith curricula, over 450. If you don't recognize them by name, you'd need to poke around to find one to suit your needs, but they're pre-selected for quality and alignment with our UU values, so hopefully that would be a labor of love!
The UUA Bookstore has a good selection of UU story anthologies for purchase.
TED has a selection of their talks on storytelling collected here.
Margaret Silf's 100 Wisdom Stories from Around the World is a favorite among religious educators for storytelling during worship.
Heather Forest's stories in Wisdom Tales from Around the World are organized by culture of origin and by religious tradition. And finally, Storyarts.org is an old website (doesn't it sound weird to say those two words together?), but still has a good collection of "folktales in a nutshell," short stories that are easy to memorize and ripe for sharing.
And here's something else, a parting thought, maybe a post for another day... A storytelling home culture creates storytellers. Hearing stories changes the way we think about our own lives; we come to frame our experiences as narratives. Knowing your life to be your own story is empowering. We are the authors. We have agency. An empowered interior life is a significant gift to a child.
I love Mats Rhenman's logo of World Storytelling Day, celebrated on the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. If storytelling is or becomes a really big thing in your homeschool, World Storytelling Day could be a great event to celebrate with friends, in the homeschool co-op, with religious education friends at your brick 'n mortar UU, etc.
Comments
Post a Comment