First Day of School

Another prompt for writing your story:
How did you feel about your first day of school?
Do you remember your first day of school?  I'm not sure that I remember the first day, but I do remember things about my early school years.  I remember being excited because of the new things I would do, but I also remember being very nervous and scared because I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do or I would do something wrong.
Did you go to Kindergarten or was first grade your first experience with school?  Did you meet your teacher before you started school or was the first day of school the first day you met your teacher?  Did you know a lot of the other kids in the class or did you not know very many of the kids or maybe not even know any of the other kids in the class?  Did you have older brothers or sisters going to the same school?  Did you walk to school or did you ride the bus?  Did you take a lunch or did you eat in the school lunchroom?  Did you find your way to the classroom, the bathroom and the lunchroom okay or did you get lost?
Describe what your school was like.  How many classrooms were there?  How many teachers were there?  Describe your teacher.  Who else was in your classrom?  What did you do at recess?
What was your favorite thing about school?  What was your least favorite thing?  What do you remember most about school?

I went to Kindergarten for a couple of months the summer before I started first grade.  I remember taking a mat to take a nap on and having snacks.  I don't remember the teacher.  I do remember graduating and getting a diploma with nursery rhymes around the edges.  As I start to think about my school experiences I could write many pages about them.  
As you write you will probably think of a lot more to write.  Add your school pictures to your story.  If you have any of your papers from school add them too.  School is a significant part of your childhood and writing about it will add a great deal to your story.

What Frightens You and Why?

Here is another question to help you write your story:
What frightens you and why?
Change has often been frightening to me.  The first day of school was always frightening because of all the new things.  I didn't know what the teacher would expect.  I didn't know for sure who else would be in my classroom.  In grade school I even found going down the slide or swinging very high to be scary since I hadn't done either all summer.   In junior high and high school and in college I would worry about finding the classroom and getting to class on time.  Even as an adult things like going for a job interview or starting a new job are scary. Of course things that can hurt me are scary.  Badgers scare me after seeing one charge my dad.  Rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widow spiders all scare me.

Image by: George Marler - NPS Photo

If you list all the things you are afraid of and why, you will add a lot to your story.  It might give you a little insight into yourself too.  Then write down what other members of your family are afraid of and why they are afraid.

Describe a favorite childhood toy

Here is another prompt for writing your story:
Describe a favorite childhood toy.
Write down what toys you remember from your childhood.  Keep photos that may show some of the toys you had.  I don't have many pictures of toys I had from my childhood.  But I can take photos of toys my kids have and keep those even though the toys may break and be thrown away or may be given away.  The memories will always be there.  Write down how you played with the toys.  My brother and I would line up all the dolls and stuffed animals we had on a bed, and then we would pretend to be in a bus or an airplane and all the dolls and stuffed animals were the passengers.  Do you know of toys your parents had?  Record what kinds of toys they had.

 

What Foods Don't You Like?

What foods don't you like?
Answering this question and adding to it why you don't like certain foods will expose a lot about your life.  Perhaps you ate too much of a certain food and got sick.  Now you associate being sick with that food.  Perhaps eating some foods reminds you of other bad experiences that happened coincidentally at the same time as eating a certain food.  Maybe you just don't like the taste, the smell, or the feel of certain foods.

Then reverse the question and answer what foods you really like and why.  Many of the foods we really like will be associated with good memories from our childhood or a good experience we've had later on in life.  I liked the cookies in the picture above that look like witch's fingers.  They tasted really good, but some people I shared them with thought they looked too real.  I like green peas straight from the garden.  They taste the best if you eat them right out of the pod even while you're standing in the garden.  Maybe they taste so good because they're one of the first vegetables ready to eat from the garden.  I love the taste of apricots.  I loved harvesting the fruit and even helping my mother can as we got to eat some of the apricots as we worked.  

Write down the foods you don't like and the foods you do like.  Include why you don't like them and why you do like them.  Record the recipes to add even more to your story.