I’m so excited to introduce you to Tara from Feels Like Home!  She is giving us an in depth post about thank you note writing and she has great ideas for all levels of writers!  Please be sure to follow Tara, I’ve provided the links at the end of this post.

Scientific research has shown that gratitude makes you happier and healthier. {Paraphrased from a Daily Good article (a great website to subscribe to if you want a daily dose of positivity delivered to your inbox)} I want to be happier and healthier. I want my kids to be happier and healthier.

  Gratitude is a way of life.

It is consciously thanking God for everything that goes your way. It is thanking the person who held the door for you, thanking the cashier who showed up to work and rang your groceries, thanking your kids when they find your phone. It is being content and not needing wanting every new shiny thing.

 God has blessed us with so much. (Here’s an interesting study on the global distribution of wealth. Can you tell I like scientific research? Give me charts and graphs, and I will understand.) We take for granted “necessities” that many families – here and across the world – go without. How do you explain that to a 6-year-old who just. has. to. have. the. newest. Barbie. OR SHE’LL DIE? It’s hard for me sometimes (excuse me while I pine for an iPhone 5s and an iPad Air), so how can I possibly expect my little kids to get it – and more importantly – to be authentic about it?

 We practice gratitude as a family, each night saying something that happened during our day for which we are thankful. It’s a start. At Thanksgiving time, we go the extra mile, one year creating a thankful poster and another time hanging labeled leaves in our dining room. It’s nice to be grateful during this month of plenty, but it’s really important to me that my children are grateful every day of their lives. The fastest way to teach your kids something is to do it yourself.

  I write thank you notes, and I make sure my kids see me doing it. I let them help pick the notecard from my collection. I also expect them to write thank you notes. Birthday gifts, bags of hand-me-down clothes, kind gestures. I wrote a note to my boss for a Christmas bonus. I wrote a thank you note to my best friend when she watched my kids during my mother’s funeral. If someone does something nice for us, we write a thank you note and send it to them through real mail with an actual postage stamp.

 The 11th commandment should be thou shalt not send an email thank you note. Writing thank you notes is an awesome way to practice handwriting skills, spelling, sentence structure, the format of a friendly letter, and (if your child is old enough) the parts of an address. Most importantly, though, writing thank you notes teaches kids to be grateful and to communicate their gratitude.

How to Help Kids Write Thank You Notes

For kids who aren’t yet writing
Don’t just write the note on behalf of your toddler or preschooler. Model the act of writing. Have her one sit down with you and draw a picture of the gift or act for which you are writing the note. While she is drawing, narrate the note you’re writing, and have her sign her own name (even if it is just a scribble).

For beginning writers
For kids who are just beginning to form their letters, you may do the above or you may write DEAR GRANDMA, THANK YOU, and LOVE, GRACE on a piece of scrap paper and have her write just those parts of the note. Or make a thank you note template like the one above.

For developing writers
Once your child is beginning to write on her own, she may want to compose her own note, simply wanting you to dictate the spellings of each word or create a word bank of words with unfamiliar spellings. She may want to write her own note, figuring out the spellings herself (do NOT criticize her spellings, and only make a correction if a word is absolutely undecipherable. In that case, write the word she meant above her word.). She may want to dictate her note to you, having you write her thoughts in the card.

For struggling writers 
My 6-year-old has a hard time writing. She composes her thoughts well, but she has a hard time with the physical act of handwriting. She usually dictates her note to me, I write it on notebook paper, and she copies it in her best handwriting onto the notecard. (Charlotte Mason called this copywork, and it is a valid and wonderful method to help kids improve their handwriting, spelling, and writing mechanics.)

For proficient writers
Once your kids are writing well on their own, you may just supervise the process. They may need help with spelling or with the words to say (especially if thank you notes are new to them). They may need help with the format of a thank you note.

The point is to start writing thank you notes. 
If you’re not sure how to write a thank you note or want some pointers on the parts of one, check out this article from The Morning News. It’s the best explanation I’ve seen.

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Meet Tara Ziegmont:  Tara is a homeschooler, former high school astronomy teacher, Certified Writing Specialist, blog coach, and SEO Specialist. She has blogged at Feels Like Home since 2007, where she helps women to live more fully in every moment (even the ones that suck). Tara celebrates her two crazy daughters (ages 6 and almost 3) and lives an old-school back-to-basics frugal lifestyle near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.