Saturday, January 3, 2009

Journaling

I have been jumping back and forth as to what we should do for journaling. Should we use writing prompts, free writing or a combination? It has been eating at me. I really want my kids to grow up wanting to write their feelings and thoughts, use their imagination and create with words. I want them to enjoy writing as much as I do. So, I finally decided. We will use a combination of methods.

We are going to use journal jars. I printed these prompts out 5 years (when we started homeschooling) and we have yet to use them. No time like the present I always say. So I can join in the fun I am printing myself up a set of them too. We are also going to pick and choose from the daily writing prompts that I have been receiving in my in-box for a year. Lastly, we are going to have free write. I borrowed this idea from a fellow blogger. I will set the timer for 15 minutes and we will all sit down and write about anything that comes into our heads.

Writing, as far as I am concerned, needs to be everyday but not for long periods. Writing can be typed or written, doesn't matter as long as the process is done. I have decided that the journaling, as I am going to call it, will not be corrected. Misspellings, terrible handwriting, grammar and punctuation errors will not be mentioned. I want the picklets to acquire a love for writing. I don't want it to be a chore. I just want it to be fun.

3 comments:

Tina said...

oh my gosh! this is JUST what i needed! i had not really developed beyond wanting to encourage journaling for my kids. i've been an avid journaler for years and have a whole box overflowing with old journals and to this day i find that i am drawn to write whenever things are rough...and it really helps! so that's what i want for my kids as well...plus its really fascinating to go back years later and read about how you felt about things.

the journal jars are a marvelous idea! and the timer too! i am so excited to try this too! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! i LOVE your idea! i hope you don't mind me snagging your idea! :)

i don't usually have a problem finding things to write about, but i do love the idea of having my own tags as well! i may just get a special journal just for this purpose.

thanks SO much!

Tina said...

that's weird, it put my daughter's name...(maeven is my 8yr old)...must have fiddled with it when i was working on her blog the other day, woops! i'm tina. :)

Tina said...

there we go, i fixed it. :)