J is for Journaling

One of my favorite parts of Lauren's school days is her journal time. We started doing a daily journal last year as a part of her Primary Arts of Language: Writing program.

My goal is for Lauren to dictate at least a couple of sentences for each day. While I write down her thoughts, I take the opportunity to discuss some writing ideas. For instance, I limit the journal entry to one specific topic. When she starts talking about other things, I tell her that we'll have to save that for another day because a paragraph is only about one thing. She's learned that exclamations end with an exclamation mark and will now tell me when her exciting statement needs an exclamation mark.

This year we've expanded our ideas for the journal. Instead of always writing about her day, we sometimes write a poem or make a list.

Lately, we've had a few days when Lauren has gone ahead and written her journal entry without my help. These entries are perhaps my favorites.

Last week, I looked at the library website and thought I saw that the Harry Potter audiobook we had place on hold was available for pick-up. Unfortunately, it wasn't ready when we stopped by the library that afternoon.

Here's what Lauren wrote the next day:

Translation: "Mommy was wrong it wasn't in. It will be in next week. She read it wrong. It may be in on Monday. I got audiobooks but it was not Harry Potter."

For the record, our entry a few days later talked about how Daddy was a hero and picked up the Harry Potter CDs over the weekend.

I love to look back at the entries Lauren and I have written since she started Kindergarten. Right now, I see the value in our journaling time as a way to model good writing skills. I also see the beauty in remembering all the little things that Lauren choses to write about. There are many precious memories tucked between the pages of her composition books.

My journaling entry is linked up with others that are Blogging through the Alphabet. You can jump in and join us anytime -- "J" week would be a perfect opportunity to do just that!