It’s summer! School is out and our desk is already dusty. I’m loving having Lydia home every day. (But maybe missing my Mommy & Asa days…) However, I didn’t want this summer to be a big blob of nothingness. If we’re going to homeschool (even partially), I want our lifestyle to be learning. I want my kids to love learning!
So, I’ve been thinking about something creative and fun, yet laid-back to do this summer. Well, good for me, I was invited to an event for Atlanta bloggers to connect with almost every fun museum, park, etc in the city. This summer the kids and I will be visiting the Botanical Gardens, Center for Puppetry Arts, World of Coke, Fernbank Museum, Georgia Aquarium, High Museum of Art, the Children’s Museum, Stone Mountain and Zoo Atlanta! I am so excited!
I am hoping to use these “field trips” as launching pad for other activities that interest the kids. And hopefully, we can even bring a little of God’s Word into our adventures, you know, as we walk along.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to chronicle our summer with journals. I read this awesome post about journals for 2 and 3 year olds and thought Asa would love it because he loved his writing notebook during school. Then it would give Lydia some writing practice during the summer, too.
So, I pulled out all my stickers and let the kids have at it decorating their journals. (And when I say “my stickers” I mean it–because many of them are mine from when I was a kid! I just can’t throw away stickers. I love ’em!)
After we decorated, I let them do the first page: a self-portrait and their full name (which clearly, Asa cannot write). They really enjoyed it. Now all I have to do is figure out some more topics! I was thinking 2 choices: 1) whatever we did that day which may include a little scrapbook-y type stuff with tickets or pictures from our fun outing or 2) draw a picture (and write a sentence for Lydia) about a topic I choose like…
- favorite Bible story
- favorite animal
- shapes (for Asa)
- a family member
- tracing/crayon rubbing items (for Asa, idea from this cute blog)
- what’s the weather today?
- colors (just coloring for Asa, but maybe for Lydia, how many objects of one color she can think of?)
- favorite toy/stuffed animal
- friends
- make up a story
I have no idea if this will go over well, so we’ll see what happens! I would just love to start a love for writing and journaling in my kids. I’ve always loved to journal and a blank book sets my little heart aflutter. Of course, now I tend to write more on my computer than with a pen and paper!
Do you have any ideas for me? Do your kids (pre-writers or great writers) have journals?
ps: If you’re gearing up for summer, too, don’t forget to check out our Super Sunny Day series from last year. I’ve put them all on a Super Sunny Day Pinterest board and added some more fun sunny day activities for you!
