We've made summer journals every year since the summer we lived in Sweden. That's 8 years of summer writing, with prompts from me and goals to improve ourselves. Every morning brings chores, piano lessons (accept this summer!) and summer journals. This year we have added poem memorization (thank you Tricia Cope for this wonderful idea!) and a summer reading list, with books hand picked by yours truly. Each of the kids has one book on their list that their mother will read with them, or to them if they are small-ish. We have also added a photo section, so each child can place their favorite summer photos in their journals. We also have a section this year for each of their goal subjects; mind, body, and spirit. In each section I have added outside help as they tackle the goals they've set (for example, in the "body" section we each now have a copy of the food guide pyramid, so we can begin to eat more carefully and pay attention to servings etc. )
Many have asked for a template of the summer journal prompts which I print with lines on their daily pages. Sorry, these are in the hard drive of our home computer which is "home" in Texas...but next summer I promise to share! I also leave space at the top of the pages for illustrations. And for our young writers, mom takes down their stories. They speak and I write exactly what comes from their angel mouths. Then they illustrate.
These journals are kept year after year. They are a summer history of our children as they grow. I have enjoyed the kids enthusiasm, and have noticed their eagerness for the summer journals to be ready the day that school gets out. We don't begin to write in them until the monday after school ends, and this week-it being cousin camp and all-we are taking a short break. But even this morning I saw that Madi had written in her journal. It is very satisfying for me to see the kids embrace this tradition!
Hope your summer is going well. Look for a post on cousin camp soon, and for an update on the house hunt next week.
Happy Tuesday!
4 comments:
What a fantastic idea!!!!!! My kids would LOVE this too! What a treasure for them to have!!!!
Great tradition - but do you ever sleep? I could never fit in what you do. Pat yourself on the back and make note that you are an accomplished woman!
So much fun! What a great idea! I look forward to the templates next time around!
Katy---you have such darling ideas! I love this one! Thanks for sharing! How do you choose your summer reads? Tiffany
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