|
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
JournalingLife.com's Monthly
Newsletter
September
2004
Issue Four - Volume One
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Teaching
Children to Journal
This is a subject near and
dear to my heart only because I am a dad who is
hopelessly crazy about his children. Yes, I admit it, I
admit it, I'm a
doting dad! I can't help myself. I have four children each
with different
personalities (surprise, surprise) and only one of them
really doesn't care
much for writing. It seems that whenever I was writing in
my journal one
or all of my children were hanging around. My oldest daughter,
Sandra, used
to come into my study and watch me either do research or
writing of some
kind. I was in graduate school studying for my PhD, and
my children would
often come and ask me about what I was reading or writing.
Sandra always
seemed to be fascinated with academic things, but particularly
reading and
writing. She is currently attending Central Michigan University
with the
hopes of one day getting her PhD in Literature. She loves
to write, and I
am overwhelmed by having been able to contribute to her
love for the written
word.
She wrote me a letter from
college a couple of weeks ago and had this to
say. "I just wanted to drop you a note to thank you
for all that you've done
for me throughout the years. You have taught me a great
deal that I am so
grateful for. I credit my love for the written word to your
influence and
to God. You have helped instill in me a rare quality of
true passion for
the value of the intellect. I'll be praying for you and
thinking of you,
Love, Sandra Joy" This comes after more than two years
of virtually no
communication with her. We had a falling out two years ago,
that has since
been redeemed and healed. How grateful I am.
This all boils down to teaching by example, does it not?
Children will
typically imitate their parents, and this is the most important
thing to
remember when attempting to pass things on. I have always
believed that
writing (particularly journaling) clarifies our hearts and
souls. It is a
way of bringing out those inner thoughts and feelings that
help make us what
we are. What better way to sharpen the mind and purify the
soul than to
dialog with yourself about your life and where it is going,
what you've
learned and wisdom gained? All of this to say, what better
gift to pass
onto our children (or any children in your life) than gifts
that will help
them develop great inner qualities of mind and spirit? All
the money in the
world could never buy the gift we can give to children in
the form of love
for the written word.
I had the chance to pass journals
out to my son Weston's class on the last
day of school this year. The kids were thrilled and asked
me many good
questions about journaling. One child asked me what he should
write, while
another wanted to know how I got started. I enjoyed telling
them about the
importance of cultivating their thoughts even on simple
things about which
children think. One child thought she would write about
how she felt about
her cat dying and wanted to know how to start. So I gave
her some lines to
consider starting the process of reflection on how she felt.
All it took
was a line, "My cat died and I feel just awful about
it. I miss her very
much." She sat at her desk and by the time class ended,
she had more than
a page filled. I',s like priming a pump. Once primed, the
water flows.
I wanted the children to understand that they don't have
to wait to be
flawless articulators and writers to get started. Mastering
the language
and learning to be articulate come with time. I was not
able, for obvious
reasons, to address spiritual issues in journaling, but
the discussion was
fun and I know of at least three kids who have kept to their
journals all
summer long. In an age of video games, cable T.V. and computers,
it's a
wonderful thing to see children develop a love for writing
and reading.
That means it is possible to win the battle against the
media age in which
we live. I have noticed that if I sit and waste any time
with television or
computers, my two youngest children will want to do the
same. On the hand,
when I am writing or reading they follow. I was writing
a letter the other
day when my youngest daughter, Vonnie, came over and sat
on my lap and
asked, "Who are you writing to?" I told her, and
within a minute or two I
noticed she went over to her little art table and started
writing a little
story book with pictures she had drawn. I enjoyed watching
as she worked
away at it.
I don't mean to make it sound easy, and believe me it's
not always like that
with my children. Sometimes I stop and ask myself just where
I've dropped
the ball with them. The only redemption is being consistent
with exercising
our love for journaling in the presence of our children.
Generally, they
will love what we love, value what we value, and imitate
us when we're not
looking. Now that is a sobering thought don't you think?
I get a great
deal of inspiration and wisdom from the Bible (perhaps some
of you do as
well) and I have always believed that the following verse
from Proverbs
holds true. "Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old,
he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6). Many
people refer to this
only from a spiritual or theological standpoint, but I believe
it applies to
any kind of values we hope to pass on to our children. We
have a wonderful
opportunity to model to children who are productive, thinking,
and value
driven individuals. We need to encourage one another to
stay the course and
in the end we can participate in a more redemptive world.
It all starts
with us.
We are having a big journal
sale during the month of September and we invite
you to take a look at the journals made for children. I
will include thirty
free journaling prompts for children with every journal
purchased from
JournalingLife.com. We would love to assist any of you who
desire to get
your children into a life of journaling. Please let me know
how I can help.
Until next month, keep the journeys going.
-David Russell, Ph.D.
Editor, JournalingLife.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please feel free to share this
newsletter with all of the people in your
life that you feel might benefit from learning about journaling.
Invite
them to come and visit our website and we will strive to
offer you a
wonderful visit as you explore the wonderful world of journaling.
http://www.JournalingLife.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Question
of the Month
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We are adding in a reader commentary
column to the website very soon and we
would like to post a question or two about journaling and
memory writing and
we hope that our great readers will write in to share their
thoughts on the
questions. If you have something you would like to share,
please send them
along! We will be offering a drawing for a great product
each month from
those who will take the time to share and add their ideas,
comments and
suggestions to our website!
September's
Question:
******************
I have recently gone through
a bittersweet divorce and though it's been
about 8 months since finality, I still can no find time
or desire to begin
scrapbook journaling again. I loved making memory books
and have done over
18 albums which my family adores. Especially my two young
daughters. But
now, I find I am unable to sit down and work with pictures
during this
painful chapter in my life. What can I do? Will I ever be
able to record
this time period of my life without sitting and angsting
over the past? Are
there ways of getting past a painful time of your life in
conjunction with
scrapbooking? Any suggestions would be so helpful!!! I miss
working with
the photos and papers and the creative sense of journaling
my family's life,
but I can not get started again after such a painful situation!!!
Sherri C.
(Yes, I'm the webmistress here at JournalingLife.com)
Direct your comments and suggestions
about September's Question of the Month
to:
question@journalinglife.com
(Sherri can't wait to hear
what all our wise readers can offer to get her
cutting and trimming and pasting in her beloved scrapbooks
again!!!)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
September's
Get Back to School Sale
All our journals are now 20%
off... with
FREE SHIPPING!!!
Yes, we want to encourage everyone
to start journaling... and we've redesigned the Journal
Shop to really make browsing through the journals easy and
enjoyable. We'll be working on upgrading the website over
the next two months and we hope you'll really enjoy the
ideas and things we'll be adding!
And to celebrate the fact that
we FINALLY were approved and all the papers signed to get
our merchant account to be able to accept Visa and Mastercard
as well as PayPal, we decided to mark all the journal down
20%.... these are all brand new journals from high quality
manufacturers. We offer them at a really low price, much
lower than you would ever be able to buy them at a large
book store or stationery store and we still make a small
bit to help keep the website running. You win with a great
savings on the journals you want, we win by earning a little
bit to pay for our hosting and computer services to keep
JournalingLife.com up and running for you!
Thanks again!
All of us at JournalingLife.com
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Journaling
Life
Email: Dave@westvon.com
Phone Contact: (419) 250-1096
P.O. Box 501 - Maumee, OH 43551
The information presented in
this online newsletter is Copyright © September
2004 by Westvon Publishing, LLC.. All right reserved. You
may forward this
newsletter to anyone, though please include this copyright
and contact
information in all forwardings.
If you would like to receive
our monthly mailing of this newsletter, please
send an email request to:
info@westvon.com
If you would like to NOT receive
this newsletter, please send an email
stating "REMOVE" And you will be promptly deleted
from our list.
info@westvon.com
We will not mail anything other
than this newsletter at the first of the
month and we do NOT sell our mailing list to anyone, not
even for a a brand
new Mac laptop! Or a rock mine, or even a big litter of
hammies!!!!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Our Websites of Interest
http://www.TheHomeschoolShop.com
http://www.TheMasterPlanner.com
http://www.TheParentTeacher.com
http://www.Rockhoundkids.com
http://www.Chekal.com
http://www.JournalingLife.com
Also, as a bonus, recieve our
useful PDF file entitled:
30 Journaling
Prompts to Get You Started...
FREE when
you join our newsletter!
Visit
our Newest Site... Journaling Prompts for a month of writing!
|
|
