A Year in My Life: Be Creative Every Day Review

A Day in the Life was provided to me by Timberdoodle for review purposes. I have received no compensation for this post. May contain affiliate links.

Apollo loves using the Doodle Adventures book for drawing.

Tears of frustration streamed down my son’s bright red face. He was 12, on the cusp of manhood, and felt totally defeated by the goliath in front of him. He had to write a 500 word essay for Boy Scouts on a book he had read (and loved). He was passionate about reading and about scouts. But writing? Every single word in that essay felt daunting to him. He yelled. He crumpled up his paper. He cried. He was miserable.

Yes, he finished the essay. He finished high school and university. He has grown into a fine young man who, it turns out, writes a whole lot in his current job. But wouldn’t it be great to have been able to skip the epic scene at our table?

I think so.

A Year in My Life: Be Creative Every Day

Teaching Kids to Write Can be a Struggle

Getting kids to practice writing can be a struggle. What comes naturally to some is like pulling teeth for others. I am personally in favor of helping kids learn to write without the tears and yelling. And the best way to do that is to find ways of writing that are fun, and for really stubborn kids, if not fun, at least less miserable.

Part journal part sketchbook, A Year in My Life is a little larger than a paperback book. This size makes it easy to pack in a backpack for homeschooling on the go. The paperback book style means it can be lined up along with your other books.

This makes storage easy and it looks great.

A Year in My Life is part journal part sketchbook.

A year in my life has 365 “scribble and sketch” ideas. Some just require a drawing or sketch and others have places for you to write. The ideas are all random, so there is no need to do them in any particular order. You or your child can just flip through the book, find a page that grabs your interest and sketch away.

No-Prep Writing Prompts

A Year in My Life journal is great for reluctant writers.

This book would be great for a plane flight or road trip. There is no particular reason why you need to do one activity a day. A Year in My Life is full of great no-prep writing prompts which are perfect for when you are sick or attempting to homeschool on the go during busy seasons.

A Year in My Life is very affordable at $9.50. I personally think this book is great for both reluctant writers (and believe me, I have a few of those) and kids who already enjoy writing. Artistic kids will love the ideas and space for sketching while the book will stretch the kids who “aren’t creative” and help them grow.

Now for the blunt, honest truth. Apollo (11) has shown absolutely no interest in this book. He has enjoyed other journaling books in the past this one has not sparked his interest. I imagine he would choose this over other writing assignments if given the choice, but has not chosen to pick this one up on his own.