What do I do all day? Let me tell you!
Supplies: Paper Pencil Camera, optional
Benefits:
• Give an hourly update of life at your house! • This is a literary snapshot of the reality of your life.
Directions:
1. Choose one day you want to write—try to keep that day free of too many outside activities. 2. Keep a notebook handy (in your hands!). 3. Document what your family does all day. Break it down by hours. 4. Write down conversations, routines, activities, and thoughts that you have as the day progresses. 5. Skip an hour if you need to, or document the morning of one day, and an afternoon of the next. 6. Don’t forget to add your observations and reactions to things (how cute the kids were as they put on the puppet show, etc.) 7. Make it REAL! Don’t sugar coat your life, write about the spilled milk and the wrestling matches. 8. After your days of writing, take time to type everything up. Add anything that you forgot.
Hints for Parents and Teachers:
*** When I do this, I usually take 2 or 3 days. (I am really trying to capture the essence of our life, not specifically what happened on a particular day.) It is difficult to catch everything—and your hand starts to cramp from writing non-stop!
I break it down by hours and put 1 hour in an envelope marked with the hour on the outside. I try to include funny sayings, what the kids do, their hobbies, interests, and events that keep us on the run. I only do this once a year, usually in January. It has been a Valentine gift to my husband and our grandparents. Start early, it takes time to observe and write, then it takes time to type everything up.
Do It Again!
We have added snapshots of our life. Have older writers keep track of their own day. Track a character in a book’s day. Use your imagination to break down hour by hour and describe their day.