School Memory Scrapbooks

 Autumn and Farrah at Autumn's class Halloween party.

Most children, mine included, purchase a yearbook.  This is a good way for kids to have pictures of themselves and their friends in a format where they can look back at the year gone by.  The autograph section always ends up being something special.  Years from now, they can look back and say, "Oh, I remember how nice/nasty/flat-out weird that student/teacher/principal was!"  Or, "Look how different I have become."  Even year-to-year, this can be a nice activity.  The problem is, this memorabilia represents such a small slice of the school year, that many important events may be forgotten.

My solution to this actually comes from a project my older daughter had to do last fall at the beginning of her third grade school year.   She was given a packet of about six pages stapled at the side like a book in which she answered questions about herself.  She told her favorite hobbies, colors, classes, etc.  She also had the opportunity to write about how she thought her future would shape up.  The teacher took a copy of her yearbook picture and attached it inside to show how she looked.  It was a great little project that gave a nice snapshot of her at that moment, as well as a wonderful keepsake.  Again, this is a small snapshot of a bigger picture, but it is still better than just the yearbook.

What I would like to start doing is to create a binder with clear plastic page protectors inside to protect the documents.  Inside, ideally, there would be entries from each month.  Pictures, special reports or projects, journals from my daughter about the milestones of the year, report cards.  There would also be interest inventories like she filled out for class to see how and when she changes, if this can be done without being too repetitive.  There would also be Valentines, handouts about field trips and class parties, and whatever else.  Maybe there could be notations of height and weight.  In short, this would be a great place to store memories as well as a way to have her create while developing her writing skills.  My daughter loves this kind of stuff, so maybe other children would as well.

On my own, I would like to set aside some time to make a journal of my own about how she has grown and changed (and stayed the same).  This could even begin at birth if you are a new mother looking to create a legacy.  This can be made in the open or created in secret to be given at some milestone: graduation, marriage, when your child has a child, if that is in the cards.  I used to journal a lot for my daughters when they were babies but never kept it up.  Maybe now is the time to start.