For several years on the last day of school, I’ve given the children in my class a special “Summer Journal.” They can do whatever they wish with this journal: record family adventures or use it as a scrapbook for tickets, brochures and park-entry stubs. When school resumes, the children make a special appointment with me and we enjoy looking over all the special summer memories and activities together. Not only does this give each child an opportunity to document fun (or sometimes, not-so fun) activities, it allows children to practice writing during the summer.

So, you’re thinking….summer’s half over….is it too late for my child to start at Summer Journal? No! Right now is the perfect time! They can either remember their June/July activities with written stories and pictures, or they can start fresh in August.

As long as the journal is a positive, creative outlet for your child, the summer journal will be fun. If it turns into a mandatory, daily activity, the entire concept is really lost. Who wants to be forced to sit down and write about their daily summer activities? Instead, encourage your child to save special mementos and/or write down funny things that happen.

If your child is really young, he can tell you stories for you to transcribe, and your child can phonetically write a few words and/or draw pictures to match the stories.

However you and your child set up a summer journal…..make it fun! It will be a blast to look back at this journal in the years to come.