AB #5 Floor Plan
“Home is a place, where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
Robert Frost
Draw the floor plan of the first house you remember. Put in the rooms, closets, and the hallway to the elevator, the fire escape, and the deck in the back, the garage – whatever you remember. Also put in the big pieces of furniture and appliances that you recall: the kitchen table, the sofa, the television, the refrigerator, and the coffee table.
As you draw, try to remember the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings from this home. Perhaps you will smell hamburgers frying or the baby smells of a new brother or sister. Perhaps you will feel your special blanket against you cheek or the cat rubbing against your leg at the dinner table. Perhaps you will taste your mom’s homemade tortillas dripping with butter or the sausage and mushroom pizza your father always ordered on Friday nights. Perhaps you will see your brothers squirting each other with the garden hose or your sister getting dressed up for a date.
Our memories are put into our hearts and minds through the five senses. We write most expressively when we remember what we saw, heard, tasted, smelled, and felt. Drawing a floor plan should help you remember what life was like for you when you were little.
After you complete your floor plan, write about one of the scenes, events, relationships, or storied that you remember. Make sure you use your senses to “show” this event.
AB #6 Before You Started School
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Dr. Seuss
What was life like when you were a preschooler – from about ages 2 to 5? Write about the years before you started grade school.
Getting Started
Choose from the questions below to help you write:
- What is your earliest memory? Describe it. Why do you think you remember it?
- Describe yourself as a preschooler. What did you look like? What did you enjoy doing? What was your favorite thing to eat? What was your general nature -- sunny, shy, serious, quiet, ornery, etc.?
- How did you feel about baby sitters when you were small? Did you have a favorite baby sitter? Who was it?
- Before you started school, did you stay at home most days, go to a relative’s houses or attend day care? How did you feel about whatever arrangement you had?
- Ask your parents (or others who remember you) to tell you about any one or all of the following:
- Something cute you did as a toddler
- A time when you embarrassed someone
- A time when someone was frightened for you
- A time when someone was proud of you
- A time when someone was irritated or annoyed with you
- A time when you surprised someone
- An incident that sums up your personality
AB #7 Your Early Years
“Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Robert Fulghum
What was life like for you as a child? To help you start remembering, look at school pictures, family snapshots, an old diary (if you kept one) and/or old scrapbooks. Write about your early years,ages 5-9.
Getting Started
- Tell about a mischievous thing you did when you were younger.
- What did you want to be when you grew up?
- Were you ever really sick? Did you have any broken bones or operations? Tell about what happened and how you felt.
- What were your favorites – favorite comics, clothes, television shows, books, movies, toys, etc.? Describe them.
- What sorts of things did you believe when you were younger that you don’t believe now? For example, did you believe that little people lived inside your television, or that trees flapping their branches caused wind?
AB #8 You and the Outside World
“All adventures, especially into new territory, are scary.” Sally Ride
How were you involved in the outside world when you were younger, the world away from your family? Write about school and activities you were involved in during your earlier school years?
Getting Started
- Describe the schools you attended. What was each like? How did you feel about school? What were your favorite subjects? What school programs do you remember? What teachers do you remember most, and why?
- Did you ride the bus, walk to school or get a ride from your parents? What memories do you have about getting to school?
- What do you remember about lunch at school? Did you pack your lunch or eat school lunch? If you packed your lunch, what kind of lunchbox did you have?
- What were your favorite school activities? Did you ever enjoy being in a play, spelling bee, a concert, a poster contest, student council, etc.? Explain
- How did you spend your free time after school and on weekends? What did you do for fun? What games did you play? Did you have any hobbies? What were they?
- Where did you live where you were little – on a farm, in a town, in a city? Describe your neighborhood and some of your neighborhood and some of your neighborhood activities. How did you get around? (You might even want to draw a map of your neighborhood and important places in it.)
- Were you active in any clubs – 4H, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Bluebirds, Boys and Girls Club? Why did you join? What did you do? What did you learn?
- Were you involved in organized sports, either through school or other organizations? What did you like about sports? What did you dislike about them? Did you have a favorite coach? Why was he or she your favorite? Hat was your favorite sport?
- Did you take lessons of any kind – music lessons, dance lessons, karate lessons, acting lessons, etc.? How did you feel about the lessons? What did you like? What did you dislike?