My children love to write to penpals and email pals. My 14-year-old has a penpal she considers to be one of her best friends. I encourage them to write to grandmothers, cousins and all friends far away.

Recently, my 10-year-old can up with a writing idea that she thoroughly enjoys. She does not like the skill of writing, but likes the concept of letter writing. She decided to have an "in-house" penpal--mom.

She has a box on a table in her room that she calls the mailbox. Daddy is the mailman. She writes me short notes telling me something about herself, her day or how much she loves me. At the bottom she always adds "write me back!"

Sometimes I write her a note, but I also type her notes on the computer adding clipart that she can color. I have also added Bible verses and their explanation. The last one was a note about agape love. I wrote agape phonetically and told her what it was called when you wrote words like they are sounded.

Basically, she does not care what I write, as long as I write. We both address the outside of our folded notes like they are real letters--reinforcing her envelope addressing skills. It is a lot of fun, she thought of it and we did not have to crack a book to enjoy so much learning!

Do you have a story about your experiences in your home school? Please share them with us!