I’m so excited to tell you about this super-easy and fun homeschool project, folks. I cannot take credit for this idea. Last summer, a friend of mine sent me a traveling journal that she had received from her friend. It was amazing!
DIY Traveling Journal Homeschool Project
Here’s the back story…
A classroom teacher in Scottsdale, AZ had given each of her students a composition notebook and asked them to write a little bit about their town in it. Then, they each sent it off to a friend in another state with instructions to keep sending it to other places until May, at which point it was to be returned to the school’s address. Genius, right? Well, let me tell you, folks… I poured over page after page, reading about the families who had received the journal before us and reading about each of the cities and towns that the journal had visited. I immediately decided that we needed to do this, and so we did!
How to make a traveling journal
This is such an easy DIY! All you need to do is the following:
- Purchase an old-school composition notebook.
- Head to the library and help your children research the town or city in which you live.
- Write a page or two about your town or city in the notebook. Don’t forget to include some photographs of the area in which you live or of some of your favorite pastimes.
- Print out the following instructions and staple them to in inside front cover of your notebook:Greetings from the ______ family from [city, state]! This is our traveling journal and we would love for you to participate in the fun. Here’s how you can help us out:
- Complete one journal entry by writing about the town or city in which you live. Feel free to include photographs!
- Send a post card (or drop us a note if you don’t have postcards) to the address below.
- Send the journal to a friend or relative who lives in a different region of the United States, or in another country!
- This traveling journal is to be returned to the address listed below by [insert date].
Thanks so much!
The ______ Family
Please send all postcards to:
[Add your address here]
- Mail your journal to a friend or relative in another part of the US! That’s it!
So, how did it go?
We sent our journal in late September and asked for it to be returned by May 1st. It was! Our journal traveled to:
Leesburg, Virginia
Granger, Indiana
Denver, Colorado
Atlanta, Georgia
New Orleans, Louisiana
Alexandria, Louisiana
The stories, photos, and information contained in our journal is priceless, folks, but I will not share it online for the privacy of those who participated. Because we share our story online, we did include the My Little Poppies address so if any of our traveling journal participants are reading this post…
Thank you so much!
Our traveling journal is soon to be on the road again!
Would I do it again? If so, would I do anything differently?
Yes! We are absolutely doing this again. In fact, we are sending it out very soon. If you live somewhere super cool, please let us know and we’ll send it your way!
As for doing things differently, I would request that folks send an e-mail when they receive the journal. We only received one postcard during the time that the journal was traveling. I think it is difficult to find postcards for the place in which you live and e-mail is just so much easier and faster. That way, we’ll be better able to track the journal’s travels across the globe on a map.
Tell me, folks… how do you make geography and social studies fun? Do you have any project ideas that we might like? Please share here!
***
On the road again
Goin’ places that I’ve never been
Seein’ things that I may never see again
And I can’t wait to get on the road again
~ Willie Nelson
***
Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley
Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Raising Poppies, a community for parents of gifted and twice-exceptional children. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.
Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, Scary Mommy, GeekMom, and many others. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram
and G+.
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Walgreens and Wal-mart both carry regional or local postcards. They are not located in high visibilty areas most likely due to demand and profitability. It will save you time, reduce your frustration and increase your odds of success on this mission if you ask an employee as soon as you enter the store where they are located.