Charlotte Mason might refer to journaling along the lines of "oral composition" and you can flesh that out here.

What do I mean when I talk about journaling?

Let's start with a definition so that we're all on the same page. (Don't you love a good pun?)

Journaling is essentially a record of things. It can be driven by writing prompts, emotions your're experiencing, or it can be study specific.

For our purposes (we're using Easy Summer Planning, remember?) we are going to define journaling as keeping a record. That's easy, isn't it? Yes! But- we'll be recording more than facts.

Now, let's lay down those rails.

Journaling as Research and Reasoning

With any writing endeavor, keeping a journal included, there comes reading and research. With this research comes reasoning. As children interact with the research, they use the information they have on hand (what they know), and are sometimes inspired to search for additional information (what they could know).

When we think of research, we tend to picture someone slumped over piles of books, looking for answers. We can call this search a quest for truth.

This aspect of journaling then provides two parts of a rail that build character. Diligence in the search and wisdom in distinguishing truth from error. By allowing our children the joy of searching the Scriptures as the foundation for all research and reasoning, we can further mold their character. Research grounded in truth brings wisdom.

Rail: Diligence in the search and wisdom in distinguishing truth from error.

Journaling as Relating

Once a student has gathered the facts and reasoned through them, they are called to make a decision. Note: this decision-making can also happen during the research and reasoning portion of journaling. But, it's true in either case that a decision is made on whether or not the fact studied applies to the topic at hand.

If your child is studying birds or music, they may begin with facts about the birds or information related to a composer or piece of music. They will have to make a determination if the facts at hand relate to the specific topic being studied.

This is an important process in becoming an independent learner.

For further example, let's say your student is studying a particular piece of music. During his study he comes upon information about a certain type of music written for a specific time period. The principles of music he may uncover that apply to one type of musical piece may not apply to another. He has to know when the information fits.

Journaling as relating can lay the rails of diligence, insightfulness, creativity, and logic.

Rail: Journaling as relating can lay the rails of diligence, insightfulness, creativity, and logic.

Journaling as Recording

This is what most people think of when they think of keeping a journal, the actual writing and recording. But, it can be so much more than that.

If we can think of journaling as recording not just what the student has learned, but as a way for the child to do the actual growing, we can begin to see just how much value it has.

I think of this in terms of my own life - I have been keeping a reading journal, and as I look back through my books - where I have marked things that jump out at me - there is a lot of growth happening through my journaling.

Consider a quote I journaled from A Well-Tempered Heart:

How to Build Character Through Journaling

What a gift it is for our children to look back on their thoughts - what has had meaning to them - and how they have grown through their journaling.

The pages where the recording takes place are made of, in a sense, the blood, sweat, and tears of a child's growing in wisdom and stature. It's not a mere intellectual exercise. As she matures from childhood through her teens and into adulthood, so do her thoughts, her reasoning ability, and the depth of her entries.

This is such a privilege to witness as a mom. It's a true treasure. It lays down the all important rail of stick-to-it-iveness. And in life, few character traits serve us better than this one.

Often in life our success is measured in our ability to hang on longer than anyone else. When this is healthy, it shows up as "getting the job done" and "going the extra mile" - qualities that show our character to the world.

Rail: Journaling as recoding lays down the all important rail of stick-to-it-iveness.

For Easy Summer Learning

These rails aren't difficult., but they are deep. They aren't complicated, but they do require commitment. But, this deep commitment will pay big dividends during your school year and during the rest of your student's life.

This post is part of the series Laying Down The Rails in Your Homeschool.

Laying Down the Rails in Your Homeschool Series

Do you often stop to consider the simple importance of PLAY in your children's lives?

Do you give enough value, time, and emphasis to play?

Certainly, our society does NOT, but this is one of the many reasons to homeschool - to give our children so many of the things a traditional public school deems unimportant.

We've heard the idiom, "child's play" in reference to something that is easy to learn.

I've often wondered who decided that a child learning anything comes easily to them. It must come from the adult perspective.

Child's Play as Teacher - laying down the rail of play in your homeschool

That's why when laying down rails, play is an important teacher. Not because it's something that comes easy to learn, but because often times it does not.

Miss Mason on Play

“There is a danger in these days of much educational effort that children’s play should be crowded out [or what is the same thing] should be prescribed for and arranged until there is no more freedom of choice about play than about work. We do not say a word against the educational value of games (such as football, basketball, etc.) … but organized games are not play in the sense we have in view. Boys and girls must have time to invent episodes, carry on adventures, live heroic lives, lay sieges and carry forts, even if the fortress be an old armchair; and in these affairs the elders must neither meddle nor make.”

-Charlotte Mason

I don't know about you, but when I read her words wisdom on the value of play, my mind goes to the scenes from Little Women. Do you know the ones? The girls read from Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, creating roles for themselves from the novels, putting on plays, and doing what seems to be "child's play" - internalizing morals, wisdom, and guidance from an author.

This is the type of play that is not only perfect for summer, but really for every day in a child's life.

My own children didn't act out a Dickens novel (exactly), but because we placed a high value on living books, what they read crept into everything they did. The Barbie hair dryer chair from the beauty salon set became Queen Victoria's, "Protestantizer." The discarded Harry Potter doll they insisted I buy at the Goodwill became Pa Ingalls from Little House.

The simple act of allowing time for "child's play" laid down of imagination. And this rail was connected to the rail of attention, which would've been necessary during read-alouds to put together the simply plays and Barbie shows.

Getting Along

Nothing lays the rail of getting along down faster than play.

Everyone wants to be the hero, the princess, or be the one to choose who will be on their team. Simply allowing our children the freedom to choose their own games, create their own fun, allows us to use our influence along the way.

We can employ the art of motherly suggestion to help them see that it's better that everyone get a turn, learning to accept the limitations of younger siblings, or helping them choose the right thing to do, and so form their conscience.

Getting along is more than just telling our children to "just stop it" and it's not over explaining to the point of losing their interest. Using motherly admonishing, training, and suggestion in a consistent manner helps them know what to expect. They develop strong social cues of appropriate behavior. To quote my Grandma, who was unknowingly quoting Proverbs 18:24, it helps them to "show themselves friendly", and make friends of their siblings and others.

This rail alone will save you a lot of headache during the normal school year.

Usefulness

Another way that child's play is a wonderful tool to lay down rails, is in the way it demonstrates usefulness.

During a game, especially one of strong imagination, a child loves company. The role that each child plays in the child's play story helps them see and understand usefulness.

This is important when in real life they are more than useful, they are necessary. Their roles and responsibilities in and to the family can be shadowed in their play.

A wise mother will point out (in a natural way) the role her children play in the day-to-day functioning of her home. Not to pigeon hole anyone, but with a spirit of thankfulness.

Therefore, usefulness lays down another rail- gratitude. And that leads us to temper.

Temper

Temper is really two things. It's a nature we're born with in our natural self. As we mature, our natural self maintains its temper, also known as personality or temperament. You've probably heard of choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholy. Each person is a natural combination of these traits, and often lead with a dominant one. Is your child introverted or extroverted?

Our own parental temper can rub up against that of our child's temper, and that can be a source of trial and training. For both of us!

(Ask me how I know.)

Play easily lays down the rail of forming the temper, because it respects the natural temper of the child (what gift he brings to the play), while teaching him to bring it under command.

A choleric child may be prone to quit if he's not in charge.

A phlegmatic child may want to sit on the sidelines and watch the play.

A sanguine child may be so imaginative it can seem they aren't truthful.

A melancholy child might complain about the way the others are playing if they sense injustice.

Knowing and understanding your child's natural temper, and your own, can help you guide them with understanding. And as a rail, it can prepare you for less exasperation during the school year.

It's not reasonable to expect a naturally phlegmatic child to take center stage without some training, guidance, and patience.

Child's Play as a Foundational Rail

If you've never really looked at play this way, it can be a little intimidating. It's sometimes easier as parents if our children would just "go play" so we can accomplish something. And while I wouldn't advocate hovering, as far as laying down rails, play is the perfect opportunity.

Next time your children engage in fort building, putting on plays, and creating—stand at hand, looking for ways you can lay down rails.

Habits: The Mother's Secret to Success (Charlotte Mason Topics) (Volume 1)David Copperfield (Penguin Classics)A Tale of Two Cities (Dover Thrift Editions)The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children During the Years 1846 to 1849 The Pickwick Papers (Penguin Classics)Little Women (Puffin in Bloom)Laying Down the Rails for Children: A Habit-training Companion; Books 2 Laying Down the Rails -- Workshop DVD