Journaling

Journaling and Homeschooling

Journaling is a vital part of any homeschool curriculum. It is easy to implement but often it is not easy to keep consistent. Using this tried and true method, Felice will share journaling tips that worked well for her children.

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There are different levels of journaling and it really depends on how old your child is, and the best time to begin. So many times when we try to “teach” our children a valuable lesson the best way to do this is to model the behavior. You want your child to journal, begin journaling. You want your child to use their manner? Give them an example. You want your child to read the Bible, show them with you reading the Bible first!

Journaling is a way for a homeschool family to keep a record of not only events that take place but heart issues. First let’s look at why people journal:

To practice writing
To keep track of their feelings
To keep track of events that happen that they fear they will forget
As an assignment for school

Older children:

The first and fourth reason are probably the main reasons that homeschoolers journal, yet you will find that journaling will be a welcome addition to your homeschool with very little pressure on your part. You can easily add journaling into your daily routine. The ideal time to begin is probably in the third grade when your child is comfortable with writing and can get their thoughts down in simple sentences.

Older children can journal by writing. Short sentences are a good place to begin. Slowly encourage them to work up to paragraphs or entire pages. Try not to focus on editing, but I’m a believer in good writing vs. ignoring all grammatical issues, however that doesn’t mean I will take a red pen to my children’s work.

My favorite part about journaling is that it teaches the children to work on the thought processes in an environment that doesn’t have pressure or grading involved.

Begin having your children write for a few minutes each day. At the end normally works well (for reflective pieces) and regardless of what you choose to focus on, journaling should be creative, fun and personal to your child.

Use the pages included in each of the monthly planners on the Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network to get started. (Subscribe to the ezine on this website here to get your planner).

What a journal is:

A way to record your child’s daily events.
A way to get information on paper that is not graded.
Private
A safe place to write feelings without comment

What a journal is not:

Everyone’s business
A place to correct spelling, grammar, punctuation
Only words – journaling can be illustrated with pictures
Something on the to-do list

Younger children:

Younger children who are not yet writing can be encouraged to draw pictures to “journal” their ideas. If they write about their day or activities they can use pictures or photos to illustrate their journal.

Reluctant Child:

Sometimes children need a little encouragement to journal. Here are some ways to encourage the reluctant child that journaling is a great idea!

Nature Journal:

I love the idea of nature journals. They are a way for the children to focus on observing when they take nature walks or sit outside in the backyard. What do the clouds look like? Did they see an “creature” that they want to draw, or write about? Nature journals are more about what they see than what they are thinking. If you have a child who is reluctant to put down their thoughts this may be a way to encourage the child. Nature journals can easily be created by stapling a few sheets of paper together.

Journaling Prompts:

This is a good way to encourage a child who says they don’t know what to journal about:

When I am finished with school I am going to…
The funniest thing I ever say was…
My favorite book is _____ because _____
My favorite movie is _____ because _______
The one toy I don’t ever want to break is ______
The one thing lost that I’m sad about is _______
My favorite place is …
I do (or don’t) like to be alone because…
In my free time, I want to…
If I could visit any place I’d want to go to…

Bullet Journals

I’ve seen various explanations of bullet journals and it is basically a series of dots (bullet points) and a thought, sentence or idea after each bullet. While I think journaling is valuable and that is training children to put their ideas and feelings into sentences, paragraphs and more, children can use this method and then create sentences.

going to the park
had fun time
wish we could have stayed longer
saw a big snake
tried to catch the snake
I think it was a black snake
got in trouble for trying to catch it
need to look up the kind of snake it was, need to get a book at the library on snakes

These are some examples of journaling –but I’ve only scratched the surface. If you have a great journaling tip please share it with me.