Do your children journal?

[cjbeach]

I really want to start my kids writing journal entries this summer.

 

I have a 7 and 9 yo, with a 4yo tagging along.

 

If your children journal, what do you have them write? I'm mulling over a few ideas now.

 

TIA!!!

[Kuovonne]

My older daughter does a daily journal. I got her a journal with a blank space on top for a picture and lines for writing beneath. She is required to write a bit, draw a picture, and write the date.

 

I don't give prompts; I let her write whatever she wants. Sometimes she makes up a story. Sometimes she writes about something from real life.

 

I make a mental note of any mistakes to work on during our regular school subjects. If a mistake *really* bugs me, I'll point it out to her but let her choose whether or not she wants to correct it.

 

My younger daughter also has a "journal" but she just scribbles in it.

[Mommamia]

We just started. I have my dc write 1 sentence about their day. They start with the date and then onto the sentence.

[susancollins]

We journal about books we have read, movies we watch and things we encounter. I think journaling is one of the highlights of our homeschool. I bought our journals from Walmart, they are the black and white compostion style with a place for drawings and a place to write on the same page. My children love journaling.

[Mommamia]

I wish my children loved it:001_huh: I'm hoping with time it will just be a normal part of their day...and they will appreciate the memories they have logged. My dc don't enjoy anything writing related:001_smile:

[simka2]

I feel a bit guilty that I haven't been making mine, as it is in their english curr. to do so. Right now, we have so much else we are getting used too!

 

Someday, soon we will start!

[MyLittleWonders]

Mine do not. If they want to write something informally on their own, and if they ever expressed an interest in having their own journal/diary, then that is up to them and on their own time. Personally, I do not see academic benefit to journal writing (either as a homeschooler or as a classroom teacher of seven years). We do writing the WWE was - copywork, narration, and grammar.

[JoyfulMama]

I use blank books from Miller's Paper. They can draw or write. I sometimes give a prompt.

[Snickerdoodle]

Mine do not. If they want to write something informally on their own, and if they ever expressed an interest in having their own journal/diary, then that is up to them and on their own time. Personally, I do not see academic benefit to journal writing.

 

:iagree:

[Rosie_0801]

I'm thinking of having my kids write a science journal. I would never oblige them to write a "Dear Diary" style journal.

 

Rosie

[Embassy]

I really want to start my kids writing journal entries this summer.

 

I have a 7 and 9 yo, with a 4yo tagging along.

 

If your children journal, what do you have them write? I'm mulling over a few ideas now.

 

TIA!!!

 

I have blogs set up for my boys. They write about anything that interests them. I do have my older son write some of his writing assignments on his blog too. I think they both blogged this morning while waiting for school to start.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Just wanted to add another point of view for those who may read this thread and feel guilty for not journaling because their dc don't like to.

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/what-about-journaling-or-my-child-hates-his-journal/

 

We do not do journals because my dc hate doing them. I tried doing them before I read WTM and I even tried to get the dc to make corrections to them, which for us was a disaster. They struggled to think of something to write and then when I would make suggestions for corrections they would resent it because it was like I was trying to correct their own personal thoughts. My dd11 does occasionally write creative stories but I never suggest corrections. To me that would be like correcting her while she is engaged in some imaginary play. KWIM? I believe in SWB's new A Plan for Writing lectures she even cautions on this subject. I believe she said that if your dc do enjoy journaling or writing creative stories on their own (not part of your curriculum) then you should not correct them. I have come to value her advice.

 

All that being said, this is just my opinion and I know some dc love to do journaling. In my case I don't have my dc journal because SWB said I don't have to.:D:lol::D

[Barefoothomeschooler]

I came across the best Journal ideas at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/proverbsfamily/780260/

 

these are the May prompts, the girls are loving this! Just print out the month and let them keep it in their journal and write as they want.

 

My 7 year old son journals EVERYTHING he does! Sometimes drives me a little batty but I adjust LOL. I get him those note books that has that have a page split (blank on the top and lined on the bottom). Then he writes a bit and draws to go with the journal writing. My 5 year old just does journal 'drawing' which is IMO the first step to actual journal writing.

 

We are all notebook lovers here!

[SilverMoon]

Nope. My kids don't see any point in it, and I don't consider it valuable enough to give it a time slot in our day.

[Mommamia]

Mine do not. If they want to write something informally on their own, and if they ever expressed an interest in having their own journal/diary, then that is up to them and on their own time. Personally, I do not see academic benefit to journal writing (either as a homeschooler or as a classroom teacher of seven years). We do writing the WWE was - copywork, narration, and grammar.

 

Thanks for sharing that. We had been doing copywork, but I recently switched to their journal. hmmm, something for me to think about.

[dmc]

I am curious as to what age did you start your kids with writing a journal? My son is 6 years. Is that an appropriate time?

 

thanks,

[NanceXToo]

My 9 y/o keeps a daily journal this year as part of her Oak Meadow 4th grade curriculum. She uses it to write about things she did the day before; so she'll write the highlights of the previous day.

 

In OM4, her daily journal is a big part of her language arts curriculum, so whenever we learn about something (interjections, direct quotations, five-sentence paragraphs, or whatever the case may be), she may be asked to incorporate that thing into her daily journal entry.

 

It is also where she practices her cursive, as she always writes her journal in cursive.

 

She often likes to finish her journal entry by drawing in some sort of illustration.

[Heidi]

I've been thinking about starting a gratitude journal; one for my dd6 and dd4 since they can both do copywork. I would write what they say and they would copy it into their journal and illustrate.

[cjbeach]

My 9 y/o keeps a daily journal this year as part of her Oak Meadow 4th grade curriculum. She uses it to write about things she did the day before; so she'll write the highlights of the previous day.

 

In OM4, her daily journal is a big part of her language arts curriculum, so whenever we learn about something (interjections, direct quotations, five-sentence paragraphs, or whatever the case may be), she may be asked to incorporate that thing into her daily journal entry.

 

It is also where she practices her cursive, as she always writes her journal in cursive.

 

She often likes to finish her journal entry by drawing in some sort of illustration.

 

Much the same at my DS9's former Montessori. My son's weakness is writing but he did enjoy journal writing in a class setting.

 

I'm thinking of getting them each a notebook and covering in a scrapbook page they pick. I think it would be a great momento when they're older. My mom had a cedar chest of our old school stuff. The best part of going through the school stuff was looking through my older brothers' journals from their respective parochial schools in the late 50s, early 60s... VERY old school. They had the teacher's stamps, the "JMJ" with the date of the page, etc... What they wrote was even funnier. But most of it was dictation!!!

Edited May 12, 2010 by cjbeach
typo

[stephanie78]

We started a journal this year, since it is recommended in Shurley English. I gave each kid a regular spiral notebook, and give them about 5 to 10 minutes each day for them to write in them. I let them draw a picture, write a story, tell about their day, whatever. I must admit I don't read them, and they know that I do not read them. I want their journal to be their private thing. I just make sure they do it. My great-grandmother wrote in a journal every day of her life. She was a school teacher, and started out teaching in a rural one room schoolhouse. I loved reading her journals, which I did with her permission. For me it was a look at her life, and a way for me to get to know her. I loved that idea, and I hope that I am laying down the foundation for my children to develop a life long habit of journaling.

[abbeyej]

No. My kids write all the time, and I provide them with endless paper, blank books, notebooks, but I don't do "journaling" as a part of school.

 

When they do write on their own, it's more typically stories, plays, letters (sometimes real ones to friends, sometimes between fictional characters), menus for fictional restaurants, packing lists, wish lists, advertisements for non-existent (and sometimes highly bizarre!) products, manifestos (poor, oppressed souls that they are), and goodness knows what else. But rarely ever anything that I would consider a "journal entry".

Edited May 12, 2010 by abbeyej

[Annie Laurie]

No. My kids write all the time, and I provide them with endless paper, blank books, notebooks, but I don't do "journalling" as a part of school.

 

When they do write on their own, it's more typically stories, plays, letters (sometimes real ones to friends, sometimes between fictional characters), menus for fictional restaurants, packing lists, wish lists, advertisements for non-existent (and sometimes highly bizarre!) products, manifestos (poor, oppressed souls that they are), and goodness knows what else. But rarely ever anything that I would consider a "journal entry".

 

This is what happens here. No journaling required unless they want to, which they don't. They have lots of access to things when they want to write creatively- my 9 yr old likes to type stories on the computer, my 7 yr old writes littles poems and stories and draws pictures to go with them, and we have a writing center from Lakeshore which they love and use all the time. But none of that is required and they do it in their free time.

[beezus]

Mine likes to write in her journal, but I don't require it. When I tried to suggest writing prompts, she just balked at that, but when I leave it up to her, she writes really quite a lot. We have some journals from when she was quite young - when she was just learning how to write, and they are fun to look at now and see how much she has progressed over the past several years. They are something I will definitely want to save for her so she can go back and enjoy them when she's older.

 

Sometimes I would write in my own journal while my daughter was doing something in hers. That may have given her a little bit more encouragement. If I had a kiddo who really didn't like to keep a journal, I probably wouldn't insist on it.

[TechWife]

I have never assigned journal writing to my son. On his own, he keeps notebooks filled with his drawings, inventions and other ideas. He has been doing this since he was about 9 yo & heard that there were journals from daVinci and Einstein. He calls them his archives. I do not read them, check them or otherwise look at them unless he shows them to me.

[elegantlion]

We do not journal. One summer we did a dialogue journal, it was fun. I would write a note to him and he would write something back. Sometimes it was a question, an assignment, or just an "I love you".

[Sue G in PA]

I've been thinking about starting a gratitude journal; one for my dd6 and dd4 since they can both do copywork. I would write what they say and they would copy it into their journal and illustrate.

 

This is what I would like to start with my dc. I've been noticing some bad attitudes re: thankfulness recently and I think it might do them some good. I was thinking about having my oldest 2 dc start with 3 things they were thankful for each day, having ds10 and ds9 do 2 things and ds6 and dd4 do 1 thing (they would tell me, i would write it and they would copy it).

 

This would be more for the attitude correction than a writing assignment, kwim? I won't correct the spelling or grammar, except to make a mental note to myself about it to work on later in the school week.

[Love My Life x4]

My older daughter does a daily journal. I got her a journal with a blank space on top for a picture and lines for writing beneath. She is required to write a bit, draw a picture, and write the date.

 

I don't give prompts; I let her write whatever she wants. Sometimes she makes up a story. Sometimes she writes about something from real life.

 

 

This is basically what I do :)

 

I will also have them sit for a while outside and find something they want to write about (maybe a butterfly the saw or whatever) and then write something about what it did, what color it was, how big it was, etc...!

 

Now Rylee is 4 and she does have a journal... but she mostly draws pictures in it. However, she also has printable "month" sheets (part of our calendar routine, at the beginning of each month she fills in all the dates for that month, etc...) that I made for her and each day she will 'write' something in the square for that day. It may say "sun" or "rain". Or she might write "gymnastics" or "birthday" or whatever. Just something that is going on that day she writes on her calendar. She calls that her journal. LOL!

[Kuovonne]

No. Journaling is a waste of time unless the child wants to journal and chooses to do so. I would never, never, assign it. I firmly believe that creative writing shouldn't be forced; however I can and should be encouraged in those who want to pursue it.

 

My daughter doesn't like journaling. She usually does her journal out of habit, not because she wants to. But I don't think it is a waste of time. It is the only writing she does, and it gives me a chance to observe how her writing skills are coming along. The journal also develops the useful skill of putting pencil to paper and writing, even when she can't think of anything at first. The journal also provides daily practice in drawing.

 

Although my daughter sometimes chooses to write stories in her journal, I don't require her to do "creative" writing in her journal. She can write whatever she wants, as long as she writes.

[Night Elf]

All that being said, this is just my opinion and I know some dc love to do journaling. In my case I don't have my dc journal because SWB said I don't have to.:D:lol::D

 

:iagree: I stopped asking the kids to write creatively in journals when I listened to SWB's Writing Without Fear lecture many years ago. She told a story about her brother doing horribly in a college level course because his professor required a journal and he simply isn't a journal person. I am not either. I've never seen the point in writing my thoughts on paper. The idea of writing private thoughts on paper for anyone to read feels like an invasion of privacy, so I end up writing stupid entries that have absolutely no meaning.

[ABQmom]

:iagree: I stopped asking the kids to write creatively in journals when I listened to SWB's Writing Without Fear lecture many years ago. She told a story about her brother doing horribly in a college level course because his professor required a journal and he simply isn't a journal person. I am not either. I've never seen the point in writing my thoughts on paper. The idea of writing private thoughts on paper for anyone to read feels like an invasion of privacy, so I end up writing stupid entries that have absolutely no meaning.

 

Yep. Me too.

[Guest elmstreetschool]

I think journaling is as useful to the writer as copywork and dictation, as a warmup and to build a daily habit of writing. We've tried starting the day with copywork or dictation but it's hard to do it consistently every day. The journals are easier because they're so portable and can be done independently. I know that as an artist I usually need to start drawing with a few practice sketches. I don't try to make them meaningful or creative although sometimes a good thing pops up.

 

They are required to write a page every day in their journal: each of them picked out a nice looking (5X7 size) blank book at the 1/2 price store. I don't assign a prompt or give any feedback unless they ask me to. If they can't think of something I might throw out suggestions - write a story. talk about a book you read. tell an incident that happened. Tell me how to play Pokemon. Quote the lyrics of your favorite song. say how mad you feel that I make you write in this stupid journal. Whatever. Just fill the page with writing, margin to margin, top to bottom. They could even write "I hate to write I hate to write I hate to write..." but this would get boring for them.

 

The 13 y.o. has been writing the same story for about 3 months; he especially likes to end on a cliffhanger so we have to wait for another installment. The 10 year old writes little stories mostly. I don't make my 6 year old write every day, but we'll probably start this summer: he can copy letters and draw pictures.

 

My kids like to make up fiction but hate assigned writing. So I'm on the opposite side of this issue LOL.

[Skadi]

I don't really like the idea of a "Dear Diary" journal, but I love themed journals. Science journals, travel journals, art journals, etc. I think it helps the creative process if a journal has some greater purpose (to get away from the feeling that you must write everyday in your journal even if it feels meaningless and trite). It helps to have a themed journal because it's easier for kids come up with cool ways to personalize their journals and make them into a kind of scrapbook. A travel journal, for instance, will have so much more than endless text and a few sketches. They'll paste stamps, post cards, dried flowers, weather reports, ticket stubs, and soil samples from their travels into the pages. There could be journal prompts that have to do with the history of the place they visit or people they meet or foods they tasted. A themed journal helps them explore the world around them and create a special keepsake that they can lovingly flip through for years to come. On the other hand, in my experience "Dear Diary" journals create a breeding ground for self-obsession and even indolence.