Journaling

Writing is such an important component of learning, but Madeline has been somewhat resistant to the idea. She has, though, for the past year, been happy to write on her own terms. This means she writes what she wants, when she wants. Truthfully, I would expect nothing less from her! Her "invented spelling" has improved over the year however, and we can now read most of what she writes. Mostly she writes cards for people, or notes on her artwork. So, I decided to introduce journaling (yet again), and this effort was met with some success.

Madeline wrote a very nice story, which was illustrated, based on the movie "Fly Away Home," which the girls just watched (and love, by the way), as part of our study of migration and hibernation (a subject of another blog entry, coming soon). She was so proud of it that she read it to everyone at bedtime.

Isabella also decided that journaling would be a good idea, when she saw Madeline doing it. She "wrote" and illustrated a story about "The Very Hungry Princess," which was very loosely based on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She also "read" her story to us at bedtime!

Hopefully their enthusiasm will continue and lots of writing will take place in the days, weeks, and years to come. It is so wonderful to see them expressing their own creativity on paper!

Here are some pictures of the girls in the act of journaling.