This is an ongoing activity for the entire school year. Having your children set up a journal will serve several purposes including improving their writing skills. You can have them journal just about anything you can imagine. You can incorporate it into your current lesson or allow them to free-style journal (which is where they simply write whatever they want.)

The best idea is to have your children start a journal during their first week of their school. Allow them to take he time to make the journal their own by decorating it or choosing one that they enjoy. When they make it their own they are more likely to write and express themselves much more openly.

We use several different ways to journal including using topics from lessons for that day. It helps the kids understand an important figure better or express an opinion on a particular subject. I also have them use their journals to write out their debate speeches as it helps them grasp their points much more clearly.

Need an idea as to where to begin? Well here is a writing prompt:

It is ten years from today and..

Have your child(ren) complete the sentence in their journal. Tell them to try to get at least one full age. Throughout the year I’ll share more prompts with you.