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Anbody else do a FAMILY writing book? Ideas? Here is ours so far...


Neesy
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FAMILY WRITING BOOK (fun writing without the "pressure")

 

I was curious if anyone else has done this?

I got the idea from Marjorie Frank’s book:

 

If You're Trying to Teach Kids How to Write, You've Gotta Have This Book! (revised edition).

Basically, the idea is to get a large, 3-ring binder, decorate the cover, and add divider tabs. You place the book somewhere centrally located in your home where it is easily accessible to all. You will be making and saving MEMORIES from all of your child-raising/homeschooling years. I just thought the idea was genius. I SO wish I had run across it when all of our children were younger! It encourages EVERYONE to write in a fun and nonthreatening way. Especially the littles when they see Mom and Dad and older siblings writing and sharing for fun!

Our cover has "Our FAMILY Writing Book" on it and then everyone's names written around the... title, using “The Game of the Name†idea (also from the same book). You write the person’s name in all caps and then under it, you use each letter to write a silly sentence. Like for BRICE – Bison Run In Circles Everywhere. KEVIN – Kangaroos Eat Vegetables In Nepal., BENJAMIN – Big Elephants Never Joke About Mice In Nests. AMBER – Antelopes Make Beautiful Eskimo Rugs. You get the idea! We added drawings to match. The sillier the better! FUN!

 

I am currently trying to think of a way to show when someone adds a new writing entry to the book and wants to share it with the rest of the family. I was thinking of making a chart to keep in the front of the book so they could check off which tabs/categories they added to. Or maybe a simpler way?? I wish they made people sticky notes or something, then everyone could have their own and add "themselves" in the spot in the book where they wrote something. Hmmm....any ideas? Mabye I could make everyone into a bookmark (full body photo cut out)! Hey... actually not a bad idea! lol

 

So far, these are the “tabs†we have in ours:

 

ADVICE – Can be anything from anyone…. Family rules, scriptures, reminders, problem solutions, tips, silly stuff too.

BOOK REVIEWS/LISTS - This is great, because older kiddos leave reviews for books the youngers can look forward to being able to read someday….a book that big sis loved, etc. Even a list of "want to read" books could go here, then be reviewed as they are read.

CONVERSATIONS - This is awesome for remembering all those funny things your kids say! Or maybe a conversation with Grandma or a famous person, etc. Careful, though...the kids can write down what YOU say! LOL

DEFINITIONS - Any new word learned. Especially good if you do “word of the day/weekâ€, etc.

DRAWINGS - with captions

DREAMS - Write the date, what the dream was about (in detail), and what they think it “meansâ€â€¦if anything.

FABLES & FUNNY TALES - Summary of one you hear and like or better yet, a new one that you wrote.

FAVORITE THINGS – Put date, each family member gets a "page"…items like favorite book, subject, holiday, season, dessert, meal, drink, movie, color, tv show, etc…Good to do new ones every so often to see what has changed with everyone...don't forget to date them!

FIELD TRIPS – Ideas, plans, memories recorded. I keep a 3-ring folder in this section with their field trip forms that we use. Can also add photos pages!

FOREIGN LANGUAGE WORDS / PHRASES

GAME OF THE NAME (described above...our book cover) – Each person has their own page. Anyone can add name sentences to anyone’s page. You might want to lay down some “be nice†ground rules for this one! ;)

HOPES/PRAYERS - We have little smiley face stickers in this section that we put beside answered prayers. Leave space after each entry to write answers/outcomes, etc.

HOW-TO’S / INSTRUCTIONS – How long to cook popcorn in the microwave, how to make a pot of coffee, how often/how much to feed the animals, what supplements to take when feeling sick, etc…

I LEARNED TODAY – Great for Dad and in our family, Grandma ALWAYS asks, “SO…what did you learn today?†lol

IDEAS – Great things to try, to do, to make, whatever…

JOKES/RIDDLES – This is a popular one with everyone! Lol

LISTS – Bucket list for each family member, shopping lists, anything…

LYRICS – Our 16 yr. old currently writes her own songs. She also likes to write down lyrics she is trying to learn. We photocopy the ones she is willing to share (so she can keep her original). I add our school song lyrics here (continent song, months of the year, etc.)

MEMORIES – This can be ANYTHING the child (or Mom/Dad) wants to remember (think...diary entry).

MESSAGES/LETTERS – Each child can have their own section or you can just leave them all in one. I wrote the first letters and this also gives a sort of guide to follow on “how†to write a letter. Our boys just added a “Dear Mom, this is what we want for Christmas.†letter Lol. The person that puts a new message in for someone, adds one of those colored sticky note arrows for that person (we each have our own designated color…so you can see at a glance if you have any “mailâ€). When our older kids were small, they each had a mini mailbox that other family members could add messages to, so this is "sort of" like that.

MENUS – Never again will you hear, “What’s for dinner?†That is, IF you fill in the plan for the day/week. lol. THEN…meals get rated on a 5 star rating by all family members that want to “weigh inâ€.. Comments can be added such as, “Yuk. Don’t ever make this again!†or “I could eat this for every meal!†, etc. Our kids also used to play “restaurant†all the time and they made menus for them…those could go here, too.

METAPHORS

MOVIE REVIEWS - everyone rates the movie with 1-5 stars and then writes a summary, their favorite part, line, character description, etc.

NATURE FINDS – We have a running list of insects, amphibians, reptiles, etc…. Write date and place found.

PLAYS/DRAMAS

POEMS/RHYMES – I also put MY poems here and some from the older siblings.

PROJECTS - Great place to write about any project...don't forget the pictures!

PROVERBS/PARABLES/ADAGES

QUESTIONS – This can be any question, anyone wants to know and anyone in the family (one or all) can answer them. We add a sticky note here too, so everyone knows there’s a NEW question that hasn’t been answered. I drew question marks on a pad of those skinny post-its.

QUOTES - From the famous or from friends/family members. You could subdivide these too (historical figures, religious figures, scientists, etc.)

RECIPES - I add “kid-friendly†recipes here and our 16 yr. old dd puts recipes in here that she uses often…ones she finds online and in her cookbooks.

REMEDIES

SCHEDULES - Currently, our 16 yr. old’s driving times are here as well as our youngest’s flag football schedule, etc. On the football schedule, our ds writes how many flags he grabbed, “I made an 80 yard touchdown in this game!â€, etc… Our dd jots down anything specific from each driving trip… “A deer ran out in front of me tonight!â€, etc.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS

SILLY SAYINGS

SIMILES and METAPHORS ( a few pages for each with title at the top)

SPORTS REPORTS

STORIES – I put MINE in this section that I wrote when I was a child (Mom saved them all!) and some from the older siblings.

TELEVISION PROGRAMS – Write about favorite shows/episodes…what happened, favorite lines, etc.

TONGUE TWISTERS –

TRIVIA/COOL FACTS

VACATIONS – Ideas, plans, memories recorded, pictures, etc.

WEATHER REPORTS – Especially if something unusual happens with the weather…maybe write about an especially wet spring, cold winter (record amount of snow & temps), or like the day we got tons of huge hail…don’t forget to add pictures!

WONDERFUL WORDS – This can also be sub-divided: adjectives, adverbs, compound, big/long, great-sounding, alliterations, onomatopoeia words, homophones, “JAILED†words (break common spelling rule), music, sports, science, silly, etc.

 

Sorry this was SO LONG!! I would love to hear YOUR ideas! :seeya:

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We started a family journal years ago but didn't manage to keep it going for too long.  I like your plan and wish you well with it.

 

I remember enjoying this now out of print book some years ago.  It might be worth reading ~

Families Writing: 2nd Edition by Peter Stillman

 

Regards,

Kareni

Thanks, Kareni!  I will see if I can get it through our interlibrary loan.

 

Question... I've been wondering how to do a link like you did.  I thought you were supposed to highlight the text, click on the "chain link" icon and then paste the URL in the box.  That doesn't work for me, though.  Then it won't let me close the dialog box. :confused1:  So... I end up just copying the link and pasting that in my post.  I guess that works, too...but not as nice!  lol

 

If you get a minute (or anyone else that sees this) and know what I'm doing wrong, I'd sure appreciate a little tutoring on the subject!  LOL  TIA :001_smile:

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Not exactly like what you describe, but my kids write a family "e-zine" that gets emailed to family. The kids contribute whatever ideas they want. 2 of my daughters are releasing their "novels" chpt by chpt in a similar manner to the way books like Screwtape Letters were released. They write articles about interesting things they have seen (like massive grasshoppers we have never encountered before called Eastern Lubbers), include pictures they have taken, describe activities they are doing, etc They compile everything together in Publisher.

 

We aren't as consistent about it as I wish we were, but it is a lot of fun.

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Not exactly like what you describe, but my kids write a family "e-zine" that gets emailed to family. The kids contribute whatever ideas they want. 2 of my daughters are releasing their "novels" chpt by chpt in a similar manner to the way books like Screwtape Letters were released. They write articles about interesting things they seen (like massive grasshoppers we have never encountered before called Eastern Lubbers), include pictures they have taken, describe activities they are doing, etc They compile everything together in Publisher.

 

We aren't as consistent about it as I wish we were, but it is a lot of fun.

 

I love this idea; we have family scattered far and wide, and this would provide a great way to stay in touch with them and give the kids an incentive to write (and type!).

 

Do your kids just use a word document format or do something fancier?

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I love this idea; we have family scattered far and wide, and this would provide a great way to stay in touch with them and give the kids an incentive to write (and type!).

 

Do your kids just use a word document format or do something fancier?

They originally were using paint and Word to create what they wanted. We now have Publisher, and they are using that. They type in Word and then transfer everything into Publisher for final formatting. Publisher has a lot of neat options.
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Question... I've been wondering how to do a link like you did.  I thought you were supposed to highlight the text, click on the "chain link" icon and then paste the URL in the box.  That doesn't work for me, though.  Then it won't let me close the dialog box. :confused1: 

 

I do precisely what you mentioned then click the OK which closes the dialog box.  How curious that that doesn't work.  I'm using Firefox; are you using something else?  (We all seem to have issues of one kind or another.  If you can figure out how to let me post Classifieds ads again, I might have to kiss you!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I do precisely what you mentioned then click the OK which closes the dialog box.  How curious that that doesn't work.  I'm using Firefox; are you using something else?  (We all seem to have issues of one kind or another.  If you can figure out how to let me post Classifieds ads again, I might have to kiss you!)

 

Regards,

Kareni

I am using Windows 7.  Have been having other issues too.  Can't change the typestyles in these posts can't "bold", etc.  I also have to get my emails in reg. text (not html) because it takes forever for them to come in, if I don't.

 

You can't post classified ads!?? BUT...you can do regular posts everywhere else on here?  That really IS strange!  :confused1:  I'm assuming you've emailed the board's technical crew?  I did that about another issue I had...my "content" disappeared...under my name.  Then, a couple days later, it's all back. Oh, and my avatar has disappeared twice now and I had to put it back. LOL  It's a photo I took, too...so, I know it wasn't violating any "rules".   

 

I've had friends that have had different issues with Firefox.  I wonder if you could try a different browser?  I've been debating about updating to the Windows 8.1.  I'm chicken to do it, though.  lol.  Seems like I finally figure everything out in one version and I hate to start over with a new one!  Creature of habit, I am!  Hopefully you can figure out how to post classifieds, though!  That's a strange one! 

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You can't post classified ads!?? BUT...you can do regular posts everywhere else on here? 

 

Yes, it's strange and frustrating!  (Want to see my LONG list of books for sale?!)  I have posted about it a few times, but sadly no change has taken place.  There was mention by a moderator at one point of them changing to another for sale system, but no changes as yet.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Another book you might like:

 

Kids have all the write stuff

 

I want to reread them ALL and start creating memories with my new little and rereading all the great stuff his 22 and 25 year old siblings wrote and dictated back in the day.

 

Thank you for this thread, Neesy. I hope you're not using Internet Explorer! I can't really help with Windows specific questions right now, but I would suggest downloading Firefox, Opera, or a more secure browser of your choice or whatever your tech support person recommends.

 

You do not need to buy Windows 8 and you might actually find the switch from Win 7 to Ubuntu less stressful.

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Yes, it's strange and frustrating!  (Want to see my LONG list of books for sale?!)  I have posted about it a few times, but sadly no change has taken place.  There was mention by a moderator at one point of them changing to another for sale system, but no changes as yet.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

You should just put your F/S list HERE!  Just preface it with a title that says something like, "sorry...can't post on classifieds".  Then, inside you could explain.  I totally would! :tongue_smilie:lol.  It's not YOUR fault you can't use the classifieds boar.  I doubt anyone would fault you for that!  JMHO :-) and sure...I'd love to see your list. :thumbup1: 

 

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Another book you might like:

 

Kids have all the write stuff

 

I want to reread them ALL and start creating memories with my new little and rereading all the great stuff his 22 and 25 year old siblings wrote and dictated back in the day.

 

Thank you for this thread, Neesy. I hope you're not using Internet Explorer! I can't really help with Windows specific questions right now, but I would suggest downloading Firefox, Opera, or a more secure browser of your choice or whatever your tech support person recommends.

 

You do not need to buy Windows 8 and you might actually find the switch from Win 7 to Ubuntu less stressful.

 

Yes...Internet Explorer.  Never had problems with it 'til this year.

 

Shoot.  Can't see inside the book :sad: .  I'm big on "samples".  LOL.  I will see if our interlibrary loan has a copy!  Thanks!

 

I've never heard of Ubuntu!?? 

 

AND..............congratualtions.gif on your new little!!!  I am SO jealous! :p  I am 48.  Our oldest is 22...youngest 9. :crying:

 

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