Monday, April 07, 2008

The Home Newspaper

Three Generations by Melinda Byers from allposters.com


Possibly, many families have made little newspapers for their homes. It is not like a newsletter. It is a miniature newspaper that either the children or the mother makes to put on the side tables by the beds in the morning, or at the breakfast table by the plates. All it consists of, is hand written little news spots about things around your home. (Has anyone else ever done this?) You use it to remind the children of the things that need to be done, and include things like, "Please, lets just let one person feed Mr. Fish. He is getting very fat." We used to put inspirational poems about work: "If a job is once begun, never leave it, til its done,..." etc. We included our own cartoons of something funny that someone in the family was always doing.



Reading, by S. Wilson from allposters.com


We wrote out verses in small boxes around the paper and decorated them with fancy hand-drawn borders. We might have included the menu for the day, and even paper dolls for the girls and a truck for the boys. All this was hand-done.





Pure Hearts by Liv Carson from allposters.com



The little newspaper might be called "The Family Times," or "The Humphrey Home," or something catchy from the mouths of your own babes. Even before I had children, I liked to write a little newspaper, making headlines with wide markers, putting in columns and hand-printing little things to remind my husband of his appointments that day or that he had to call someone.


You can use pink paper for little girls, and blue for boys, or you can print the same paper off on white, and let them color it themselves. I found the home newspaper a great delight. I always liked newspapers and publications when I was a child, but we didn't get them often. When we did, I thought it was such a luxury, yet I believed it could be done so much better! Then, I started writing my own little paper by folding a typing sheet in half and pretending it was a newspaper. I gave the weather around our house (it is snowing today but the chickadee is singing) and included a craft, a cartoon, a coloring section, and news of the home: Dad will be bringing in the potatoes today and Mama Makes A Great Soup."

The three artists I show today have a host of other good paintings. Just type in their names at allposters and enjoy



















15 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds like a great idea for an English project for the children.

Anonymous said...

What a creative idea!

Lynn said...

My youngest son used to spend hours doing this - he would leave requests on our pillows for us to contribute an article to his newspaper. I don't really know where he got the idea - he was 7 or 8 I suppose. Happy days!Thank you for reminding me.

Polly said...

This is a *fabulous* idea. I'm going to start--I thought of a catchy name while reading your post....published once a week...(probably on Mondays?)...fantastic, wonderful little idea!

The Proverbs Wife said...

This sounds like a great idea. Since my little ones will be returning to public school in the Fall, I would love to create something like this for them to read when they arrive home.

My toddler and I could work on it since he will be the only one home with me during the day.

I would love to see and example if you could post a picture of one that you have completed.

If not I certainly understand. I am more of a visual person and a picture would help me get started.

Anonymous said...

So sweet! Reminds me of Little Women, didn't they do something similar? In my childhood, we used to do magazines with my girlfriends.

Brenda@CoffeeTeaBooks said...

My Jewish friends had a family newspaper. Each of the four boys were in charge of a different section. They printed it and sent it out to extended family.

I always thought that a great idea.

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Anonymous said...

What a great idea. I am so glad you posted this.Yet another fun thing to do with my grandbabies.I just love your ideas,they are always so original and family friendly.Have a great day.Blessings,Gayle

Anonymous said...

That is a lovely idea.

I remember as a child making newspapers and magazines with some friends who lived over our back fence. We would write poems and stories and have a cartoon and puzzles page.

Such lovely memories,

Kate

Stacy @ The Next-to-Nothing House said...

I love this idea! I love the thought of having my children work on this together.....they can each be a columnist.

Lydia said...

Yes. If you will look at Lillibeths blog (The Pleasant Times, on the sidebar, under "Those Special Relatives") you see how she gave each member of her family an editorial job. One is the fashion editor, one is the historian, one is a field reporter (you can actually see a picture of the little guy somewhere in a field), one is a resident architect.She even has a resident critic and a resident artist. With your own newspaper you can have your own experts. She has a very large staff but it is anyone's guess who they are, for some of them are imaginary.

Heather said...

Years ago my sister and cousins and I had a paper we'd cobble together during holidays spent together at Grandma's. We called it the Cousins Chronicle, and each of us wrote a column or two. The idea was to imitate in some sense the Pickwick Papers they did in Little Women. We would each borrow from Grandpa's fedora collection, and put "PRESS" signs in our hatbands!
I've been re-inspired by Lady Lydia's post, and have just this morning handmade a little newspaper for the household of my husband and I. It was quite delightful. As we are newlyweds and our last name is Neuharth, I've named it Our New Hearth, which I think is cozy. This is, for me at least, a quick way to record/showcase/archive household day-to-day happenings of interest that might otherwise be overlooked in future family lore....for me this newpaper idea takes some pressure off of the idea that scrapbooks and photo albums need to record our story. Our future children will learn a lot about our humor, habits, values and daily life just by perusing this wee modest paper. Oh, Lady Lydia - in the paper I included one of your charming Victorian poems under a column I called Wise Words. Thank you so much for your inspiring and wholesome ideas. Kindest regards!

Stacy said...

I really like this idea and plan on doing it with my daughter when she is a little older. Including the weeks menu is a fun idea too, no more "mom, whats for dinner?" several times a day =p not that i get now, the only word in that sentence little miss can say is mom =D

Unknown said...

I made a little newsletter for my kids to wake up to this morning and they LOVED it! Filled with lots to read--and inspire--it was a big hit. Kids love to see their name in print, even if it's just at home. I think I will try to make a little one for them each day as I am able. It was fun to make and really helpful to give them info in a new way. I even added a little "did you know" column with trivia about our family. The idea is to learn more about the extended family and that was a fun way to do it.

They sat at the table with their juice and "paper" and felt like grown-ups. Thanks for the idea Mrs. Lydia. It reminds me of something Mrs. Schaeffer would have put in her book "The Hidden Art of Homemaking".