By Heather Sanders.
You may remember my blog post about the summer journaling project initiated at the start of this past Summer.
I meant to follow-up on our efforts at the start of the Fall school semester, but it completely slipped my mind. So, with the “better late than never” mindset, you should know that while initially everyone “eagerly jumped on board” and “voiced ideas of what they want[ed] to write, draw, and paste in their new notebooks”, it quickly disintegrated into a chore for Kenny and Meredith.
So, I chose not to push it. After all, in our household Summer is a time to relax and while the kids still have chores and responsibilities, their “off” time is spent doing what they prefer, not what I think might make a fun activity.
For as much as Meredith and Kenny DID NOT get into the journaling experience, Emelie and I did, though we journal in two very different ways. My journals are simple. I record favorite quotes, scripture passages, things that make me laugh, daily thoughts, and issues I am working through. I tuck-in notes, cards, and affix post-it notes I sporadically get from Jeff and the kids, but that is about it.
In other words, there is nothing artistic about my journal. It is a messy collection of randomness secured with a rubber band, so nothing falls out.
Emelie’s journal, on the other hand, is a work of art, a visual expression of what attracts her eye, compels her day, engages her mind, and stirs her heart.
While Jeff and I respect her privacy, I asked her if there were any pages I could photograph in her journals for the purpose of this post. Thankfully, Emelie found a few pages she did not feel were too personal for me to share. Reservedly, she flipped through her journal, laying it flat here and there for me to photograph.
Emelie takes her journal everywhere she goes to record her thoughts and sketch the world around her, but at home she spends more time focusing on mixed media, cutting, pasting and her newfound love, watercolors.
Anything is fodder for Emelie’s journals. In fact, it seems the more unrelated her content, all the better. Here, she pasted in a sushi menu behind a number of cut-outs from a National Geographic magazine.
She told me that her November calendar page was an “epic fail” because she doesn’t like calendars and every time she wanted to use it, she had to flip back to the page.
“Once I’m finished with a page, I’m done with it.”
She also added that “Calendars are threatening, they are stressful and look a mess.” My daughter and I? Exact opposites in our view of calendars. Calendars bring me peace in the way they organize chaos.
Her favorite part of our dry-erase calendars are wiping them clean at the end of the month. My favorite part is when we fill them in.
Some of Emelie’s journal pages are simply a collection of styles and products she likes, topped with oddities, like the framed head of a polar bear or mouse.
Admittedly, some of the juxtapositions in her journal are both random and hysterical; she is also a fan of recording quotes she likes, for instance, “We have a world of pleasures to win, and nothing to lose but boredom…”
“Momma voted, I watched.”
Song lyrics, daily occurrences, torn pages, and more watercolor.
Lists of how she wanted to spend her birthday money. More watercolor practice.
It takes Emelie about 2-3 months to completely fill in one of her 7×10 Utility Series Miro journals (50 or so pages).
It takes me CONSIDERABLY longer since I do not draw, paste or watercolor in mine.
I am glad we stepped out on this adventure. It expanded a desire to journal in one of my three kids, and simply extended my love affair with paper and journals. Emelie is looking for a new brand of soft-cover journals with threaded binding (non-spiral) and significantly thicker pages (so when she watercolors it doesn’t ripple the pages as much).
How do YOU journal? Does your journal meet your needs? What brands do you recommend?
OMSH/Heather L. Sanders is “Momma” to three kids, Emelie, Meredith and Kenny. When not homeschooling, or writing about homeschooling, Heather is busy designing websites or going on dates with her husband Jeff, the love of her life.
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