WHY SHOULD KIDS JOURNAL?

Mark Akins is the author of the book, “The Lyric of Languague – A Writer’s Journey”.  His chapter on Journaling begins…

“Life, even for children, is seemingly a series of continuous events that fill each day.  Things that were accomplished, felt, struggled with, overcome, enjoyed, or brought disappointment yesterday or last week are often lost amid the need to do the next thing in the schedule.  Memories dim and the essence of an experience seems to lose its clarity. Keeping track of our thoughts and experiences on a regular basis is not only a way to make concrete our reflections, it can be an important vehicle to process emotions and events.  Journaling is valuable for the beginning writer who is newly experiencing life’s doings, as well as adults for whom writing and the workings of the world are old hat.  For those whose ages fall in between, recording life’s journey can help make sense of the adventure.”

Magic Lantern’s line of Theme Journals help children write freely by creating interest and excitement surrounding common themes in their lives – A Visit to the Zoo or the Nature and Science Museum, An Adventure in their own Backyard or a journey through the beauty of Mother Earth through the art of Environmental artist, Schim Schimmel.  Each journal includes beautiful pictures, writing prompts, and vocabulary words to help spark the writer’s imagination and get those creative ideas flowing.  Over 100 lined and blank pages for writing sketching complete these beautifully designed journals.  Your child will enjoy filling each journal with their thoughts, ideas, and feelings.  What a great way to help your child express themselves!

In partership with the Brio Dream Foundation, Magic Lantern is sending over a hundred journals and writing kits to an orphange in Brazil. Familia Santa Clara is not just an orphanage, it is a Family Home that celebrates children, love, and learning.

We can’t wait to see the stories these kids write.  Each child who opens a Kidz Story Kit for Christmas this year will have the opportunity to “tell their story”.  We are encouraging these kids to write about themselves, their lives, their “family” at FSC or about anything that inspires them.  I can’t wait to see the smiles on their faces when the receive their “professionally bound books” all about them!!

From the Familia Santa Clara website (http://www.familiasantaclara.org.br/ingles/index.asp):

The Santa Clara Family project is the realization of a dream of constructing a big family, a family that substitutes cold, impersonal shelters, broken homes and despotic institutions that lack focus on education and personal realization.

That’s what we are: a big family that opens up to children, teen-agers and young people that society has abaondoned. A family that embraces and takes in who has been sent to the streets, either by the government or by exclusion.

The Santa Clara Family is a real family, with a normal family routine, in a house that is very big but otherwise normal, in a place where the gates are always open to life and where help, education and love are fundamental.

We are a family just like yours, but from a different background. We came from shelters, from violence and from abandonment, but here we found a home, a house, education, love and dreams. A family a lot like yours, just a bit larger. We invite you to get to know our story and the life of the Santa Clara family: the everlasting dream and a future for all of us.

Please help support this project and the kids at Familia Santa Clara by visiting The Brio Dream Foundation at http://briodreamfoundation.org/.