I’m not sure whether I’ve mentioned this before or not, but Leo has been working on a family history project for several months now. The idea started with a Story of the World workbook activity and grew from there. When he first started the project, I suggested that he start with our family first, and then move on to grandparents, and then to aunts, uncles, and cousins. Leo would hear none of this, he wanted to do all the things, and do all the things right now. Have you guys seen that “do all the things” meme floating around the internet? I laugh every time I see it because it’s so Leo.
And so Leo embarked on doing all the things. He emailed every family member a list of questions. I would print responses and he would hand copy parts of the responses onto the page he had created for that particular person. He thought of more questions, we emailed again, he asked for pictures, we emailed again, we printed more responses, and gathered photos.
Folks, the project snowballed. He would work on it furiously for a few days. He’d start a page about a grandparent, then he’d start one about a cousin, then he’d start one about an uncle. Nothing was finished, nothing appeared organized, but I figured there was a lot of learning going on despite what I viewed as chaos. After a few days, he’d abandon the project entirely and move on to some other passion of the moment. I would pick up the papers, organize them a bit, and stow them away in a folder until he asked for them again. And he always did. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Well, I must have mentioned this to friends because my dear friend (the one we gave our miserable elf on a shelf to), sent me an email a few weeks ago with a link to this post about creating a grandparent journal. I thought the idea was brilliant (I told you guys I’m a hoarder of memories!) and so I shared the post with Leo. I said nothing of the ongoing family history project, just simply stated, “M___ thought you might like this idea.”
Leo loved the idea. “This could be part of my family history project, only better! It’s a book! It could even be a Christmas present! We can read it over and over and save it forever!!”
Exactly.
We got to work. We purchased four hardcover, lined journals and began thinking of questions to ask.
These are our journals.
Leo wrote down a bunch of questions he wanted to ask his grandparents. Then, he researched more questions online via both the internet and Pinterest. Folks, we had so many questions that we decided we’d include one set first and then re-evaluate. We wanted it to be fun and not overwhelming for anyone, especially Leo’s beloved grandparents.
Next, Leo dictated a letter that we would enclose with each journal and set of questions, explaining the project. If you want to see Leo’s letter and list of questions, you can hop on over to Leo’s Lounge where he wrote about the project.
We were going to write about this project after the holidays, but Leo is concerned about all of his readers who are scrambling for last-minute gifts this week and he wanted to post it all right now! I told you the kid loves to do all the things!!
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Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.
~Rosa Parks
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