How Children Can Use Writing Journals (even Dot Grid Bullet Journals) to Improve Comprehension and Experience

© 2018 by M. Mitch Freeland

Throughout history there have been many famous and more not so famous men, woman and children who have memorialized their thoughts by writing them down in journals.  The father of our country, George Washington had a journal which he wrote in daily.  Great inventors like Thomas Edison, explorers like Christopher Columbus, Lewis and Clark, children’s book author Beatrix Potter journalized their thoughts.  And then there was Anne Frank, who memorialized her thoughts and her ordeal in what is known as “The Diary of Anne Frank.”  Almost every notable person you could think of has or had practiced journal writing.  All great thinkers have used journals—so, why not you and your children?
 
Millions of others have recorded their thoughts and experiences in journals; and so should you.  If it is worth living, it is worth recording in a private, personal journal.
 
But what is a journal to you and your children?  A journal is many things to many people.  Here are a few reasons journals are kept:
 
1.  Journals are kept to record personal experiences.
2.  Journals are used as a way to stimulate thought and ideas.
3.  Journals are used as ways to record and monitor work.
4.  A journal is used as a personal record of one’s observations.      
 
Journals become learning tools for children and adults. By writing in a journal one accomplishes many things:
 
1.  Thoughts can be organized.
2.  Writing clarifies thoughts.
3.  Writing helps students remember important concepts.
4.  Writing in a journal helps students to think, to comprehend subjects more deeply.
5.  Writing in journals builds creative and imaginative skills.
6.  Learning is accelerated by writing. 
 
Why Should Your Child Use a Journal?
Writing in journals is useful in many ways as noted earlier; however, for a child, journal writing is an excellent method for learning and also for discovering oneself in the process.  Listed below are a few reasons your children should use a journal.

• Journals encourage children to reflect on experiences.               
• Using journals helps children clarify clouded or obscure issues.
• Children who write in journals are proactive and become more actively engaged.
• Journal writing helps students learn complex subjects faster.
• Journals offer students the ability to think outside of class.
• Journals offer children of all ages somewhere safe to put their thoughts—an outlet per say.
• Journal writing builds individuality into your child. In a journal, your child expresses himself or herself freely without being judged, as in a classroom or other communal learning center.
• Writing in journals is an ongoing process. An entry in a journal can occur once per day or many times throughout the day.  Journal writing develops writing skills at an accelerated level.
• Using a journal builds discipline in your child—yet, it is something they do on their own. What they write down in their journal is theirs and no one else’s.  And it does not have to be shared.

 
Try Using a Dot Bullet Journal or Notebook for Deeper Engagement
Journal writing is for everyone, young and old alike. Have you tried using a Bullet Journal?  For creatives, Bullet Journaling has become very popular.  If you and your children have not used a journal, using a Bullet Journal could help with our creativity and imagination--it could be an awakening experience—an experience to last a lifetime.  Give it a try. If your life is worth living, it is worth recording.  When years pass, no one ever says “I wish I didn’t have a journal.” But as the years pass, many will say “I wish I had recorded my life in a journal.” 
 
The good times, the bad times, the sometimes daily malaise, birthdays, and family vacations and graduations; all are journal material.  Get a journal today and begin recording your life. Five, ten, twenty years from now you will only regret you did not journalize your life.
 
At www.MitchFreeland.com we have some of the best Bible, Prayer and Sermon Notes Journals for grownups and kids. You can also try our Dot Grid Bullet Notebooks. Visit us and learn more about journaling.  Isn’t it time to record the best years of your life in style?