If you know me, you know I love a good homeschool hack! Creative hacks often come to us in moments of desperation, or moments of burnout.

This summer, I wanted my kids to maintain some of their writing skill, without overdoing it. I always have them maintain basic math facts with these simple skills books, and I knew I wanted something basic for writing, too.

Enter: free Shutterfly prints!

Printed Photos = Automatic Writing Prompts

This summer, I grabbed our shared family homeschool notebook and turned to a fresh page. We use this notebook during the year to document our favorite parts of read-alouds, history, science, or field trips. I love this one because you can watercolor, oil pastel, cut/paste, or just draw and write on the pages! Because it’s a mixed media book, the pages are thick enough to handle different mediums.

I decided the easiest way to have my kids “journal” each day of summer, without it feeling too laborious, was to print off pictures of our summer adventures!

I knew Shutterfly had a deal, where you could order unlimited 4×6 prints, in their app, for free–so I got right to work. I had over 100 prints in the cart, and just paid shipping.

I grabbed my handy-dandy lining tool, made my own lines in the notebook, and once the photos came, began pasting them in!

Keep Journal Writing Simple

I wanted to keep things simple, since it was summer-but even if you do this another time of year, you can make whatever parameters you want! I told my kids they needed to write 3-5 sentences describing the photo.

You could start with something simple like that, then expand it as your kids’ abilities grow. The sky’s the limit!

We all hit writing ruts. Sometimes you just need something simple. Sometimes kids need a break from routine, and writing about their own experiences (with great visual aids) can really help with that.

I also hope this inspires you to print physical prints! I used to be a wedding photographer, so I feel strongly about this. 🙂

Happy photo printing- and writing!

With love,

Cait