Record the Memories

We are up and running. It’s a brand-new year. So much to be excited about. It’s hard to believe that soon this school year will just be a memory.

My Missing Photos

I have been homeschooling since 1991, and as I look back at our photo albums—yes, I used to get photos printed, and put them in albums, before digital—I’ll find one set of photos missing: the photos of my children reading, working on a math problem, reading to a sibling, or doing chores. I have lots of photos of birthdays, holidays, field trips, and special days, but I wish I had more photos of ordinary school days.

Maybe you do take lots of photos of school and chores, posting them on Instagram for the world to see. Good for you! You will treasure those memories one day.

Storing My Photos

As you go through the school year, don’t forget to snap photos and save mementos. Maybe you don’t scrapbook or print photos and put them in leather albums, but you can label and save them in folders.

I don’t print up photos much anymore, unless I am framing them, but I do label photos with the date, and list the people in the photo. Sometimes I just use initials like this: “Christmas Day 2016 JR JA Dad Jim KB Rusty.”

My photos are organized on my computer, too. There is one folder for every year: 2000, 2001, 2002, etc. Then, I also have all twelve months in separate folders: Jan 2015, Feb 2015, March 2015, etc. Inside these folders are all kinds of folders: Beach 6 6 15, Road Rally 6 17 15, Mom’s BD 6 2 15, etc. These folders are descriptive, so I can easily remember the day by looking at the title.

Finding Photos

So, I label photos and put them in labeled folders within other labeled folders. Isn’t this a lot of work?

Why, yes, it is, but the benefits are a blessing. Everyone in my family teases me about my photo system, because it’s so much work, but when my children, and even my friends, want to find photos, they usually give up on their own computers and come search on mine. They can search by name (e.g., “Mark” or “Julie”), and they can search by dates, events, or years, because of my system.

Here’s another plus: as I get older, I don’t always recognize whose baby picture is whose. This tells me instantly who it is.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should use my system, but I am urging you to have some kind of system, so that these precious memories are not lost.

Enjoying My Photos

My grown children still love to pull out the old family photo albums and browse, giggling and retelling old family stories to one another. I sit back and watch the fun, glad I’ve invested time, not just to make memories, but to record them.

As the years fly by so quickly, choose decisively to record the precious memories you are making this year, and store them on your computer or photo album, in a way that you can retrieve them easily.

Here are some resources to make your life a little brighter!

Rusty’s Third Birthday https://powerlineprod.weebly.com/blog/rustys-third-birthday-party

Why are My Children Always Fighting and What to Do About It https://powerlineprod.weebly.com/blog/why-are-my-children-always-fighting-what-to-do-about-it

Raise World Changers https://powerlineprod.weebly.com/blog/raise-world-changers

Until next time, Happy Homeschooling!

Warmly,

Meredith Curtis

Meredith Curtis, homeschooling mom, writer, speaker, and publisher, loves to encourage families in their homeschooling adventure. She is the author of Joyful and Successful Homeschooling (https://powerlineprod.weebly.com/joyfulhomeschool.html). You can check out her books, curricula, unit studies, and Bible studies at PowerlineProd.com (http://www.powerlineprod.com). Free Reading Lists (http://www.joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/books/reading-lists/) for all ages are available at JSHomeschooling.com (http://www.joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/). Read her blogs at MeredithCurtis.com (http://www.meredithcurtis.com/blog) and PowerlineProd.com (https://powerlineprod.weebly.com/blog) and listen to her at Finish Well Radio (http://ultimateradioshow.com/finish-well/).