When I was a little girl, my grandpa, grandma, dad, mom, little brother, and I loaded up in a shiny white Cadillac and drove from Georgia to California. We saw the Grand Canyon, ate fancy jello with whipped cream on top in a restaurant with table cloths (the things that impress a 5 year old are fairly simple!), went inside of a giant teepee, stayed in quite a few hotels, and had all sorts of adventures.
I remember a lot of that trip, and part of it is because every night, my mom and I sat down and jotted down my impressions of the day in a little green journal with a shiny gold lock & key.
This summer, we may not being going on any major road trip adventures like that, but we are having *our* sort of adventures, every day.
I want my kids to remember them. I want to help them cultivate a sense of the small and the big, to soak in the details of the day, to push their sense of expressing their hearts, to spend some time in a little simple reflection at the end of the day.
So we have summer journals this year. They are simple composition books with a little space for drawing and doodling. The two little girls have just drawing books as that's how they express themselves.
This isn't to be an academic duty as much as a heart and soul discipline, but it definitely helps keep up their writing and storytelling abilities as well. :)
We don't do it every night. Some days I give them a specific question to answer. Other days I just tell them to write about their day or something they saw. Sometimes it's something we are thankful for. One morning I set up a sign and their journals with crayons with their breakfast and told them to write/draw about their dreams.
I think this is something that we will treasure, and maybe not even if the actual journals themselves survive, the act of gathering together their thoughts and taking note of the day is a gift that will.
