What I Keep in My Commonplace Book
I’ve mentioned my beloved Commonplace Book many times – I love that thing. I think I could lose my wallet and be less stressed than if I lost my Commonplace. I don’t do it in any wonderful way- it’s just a place where I collect notes and thoughts and quotes and such.
Commonplace books aren’t anything new.
For centuries, these personal collections have played a significant role in the way scholars read, learn, and remember. They paint a beautiful picture of an individual’s growth over time- of his or her personal journey of learning and growing.
I’m learning how to take this thing up a notch (more on that in a minute), but for now I thought I’d tell you what I currently keep in my Commonplace Book.
Quotes & Passages
When I run across a beautiful passage or something that moves me, I copy it into my commonplace.
Sometimes I draw a line down the middle of each paper and copy the passage on the left and my response to that passage on the right. Other times I just copy down the passage.
Writing it out by hand helps the passage become a part of me, somehow. It’s a little hard to explain, but if you try it, you’ll know what I mean.
In my Commonplace book, I jot down snippets, quotes, stanzas.
They can be words from a novel, from a poem, from a picture book, from the side of a cereal box. Anything I read that causes me to pause and read again- to stop and savor the words or ponder the message- it all belongs in my book.
This is the heart of my book and what really makes it a treasure, I think.
Mind-maps & Random Thoughts
This is where it gets scary. I’m always coming up with new ideas, but they way they fire off in my head is somewhat… disorderly. A bit untethered, if you will.
The worst part is that my brain doesn’t know it needs to stop firing off ideas and contemplations when I’m in the middle of a math lesson with my kids.
I’ll be sitting there drilling a 4 times table or explaining the difference between an adverb and an adjective, and all of the sudden I’m considering what it means if “education is repentance.”
I’ll be thinking over something heady that I heard at the latest homeschool conference, or coming up with a great new idea for the podcast.
My solution to this is to keep my Commonplace nearby and just dump it down as fast as I can. If I can take 10 seconds to jot it, then (hopefully?) I can turn my attention back to the task at hand.
Sometimes that looks like a mind-map, sometimes it looks like a list, and sometimes it just looks like a bomb went off on the page.
[Ahem.]
I’m a bit conflicted about having such wild and unruly thoughts next to the pages with bits of Chaucer or Tolstoy, but then it’s kind of fitting. It’s just like my life- a bit unwieldy with high ideals and a lot of real deal nitty gritty. :)
Until today In had never heard of a common place book. Thanks for the info. I hope tot start mine soon.
Just finished reading your article. I have been researching Commonplace books since I stumbled across an article online. This has been very helpful for me. I have scads of small notebooks with things I wanted to keep. Finding it after written down was quite frustrating. Never thought to get a larger notebook and keep it all in one place. Thank you for giving me some very helpful hints.
I just read this post and would LOVE to see the workshop you did with the Schole Sisters! I pressed the link but it goes nowhere. Was this ever done? Is there somewhere I can find it?
Is this available through membership or is it separate?
I love my commonplace book! It is such a key part of my personal schole.
I like to make notes, highlight and underline in my books as I read. I will often put qotation marks in the margin if it is a quote I especially want to include in my commonplace book. Then, a week or two after I have finished the book (which gives me time to let my ideas and impressions marinate a bit), I go back through the book and copy down quotes and any thoughts related to those ideas that I want to remember.
Doing it like this reinforces what I read in a couple ways. First by writing it down, and also by essentially doing a second quick read through. I also love how new thoughts and ideas come to mind as I read the quotes out of context, and after a couple more weeks of life have been lived. I will often make more notes in the book at this time too.
The only organization I have is by book, as I tend to remember which ideas came from which books. And I write quotes outside of my reading starting at the back of my commonplace book. Eventually they meet part way through the book. I enjoy hearing the different ways people use their own books. Thank you for sharing!
I like to choose a certain topic and read dozens of books on it and write down a sentence or two every few pages. Maybe make a comment on the quotation if I feel it needs one. Right now I’m working on my Common Place Book of Solitude.
Eventually I’m going to print it all and put it in a huge three ring binder.
OCD, I know. I guess it’s because I’m single and childless and have retired early. Got to have some kind of a hobby!
After watching the video & reading the cheat sheet I think I’m still missing something…..the quick scans that Andrew talks of – is he doing this for the WHOLE book at once or chapter by chapter before he reads that chapter? If I were to do the whole book, no way could I do it in the time he mentions.
I do think he does it for the whole book- I’ve watched him do it and he spends maybe one second on each page. I have a feeling it’s something you get quicker at it when it’s a habit… because it would take me a lot longer than that too! :)
Hi! I am slowly working my way through both webinars, and LOVE what I am hearing so far. One question, though…at what age do you implement careful reading/highlighting with your kids? I will definitely be using the idea for myself, but wanted to start with my own kids, too. I love the idea that each kid could have their own set of school books they can write in. We have a family library that would be off-limits for highlighting, but I may be able to splurge a little and buy them individual literature books.
I think Brandy started with her son when he was 12. I’m just now introducing my 13 yo to the idea of marking up a book. I love marking up a book myself, but it seems to me like a certain level of maturity might be helpful before introducing it to kids.
Is this $5 workshop still available? Sounds like great fun
Yep! You can find it here:
https://readaloudrevival.com/commonplace-book/
I would LOVE to hear Andrew talk about commonplace book but the link doesn’t work anymore. Why?
I had never heard the term commonplace, but that was essentially what I was creating before husband and kids arrived. One way I made it more useful was by reading the previous year’s entry on the same date. It encouraged me that I could learn, grow and change in 365 days. God was always commanding the Israelites to pile rocks and build monuments as reminders to what he had done in their lives in specific places. I saw this practice as the paper version of the same thing. Thanks for inspiring me to get started again! Hopefully, I’ll have something interesting to read a year from now.
This is so interesting. I just started doing this in January. I have a spiral notebook were I put thoughts I have, things I want to remember as I read or things to remember when I go to conventions. It’s not very pretty but it works.
I used to keep a commonplace book — I didn’t know that was what it was! It was highly decorative, though, and I think that would be too much strain on me nowadays. If I could suppress my perfectionism and just slap some things into a notebook, maybe I could do it again!
Hi Sarah, I received confirmation of my payment for your commonplace webinar with AK but am unable to access the replay (couldn’t tune in for the “live” version). Can you send me a link?
Thanks,
Christy in TN
So I happened to go in to Books-A-Million today with my kids and wandered over to the blank journal section. I love blank journals but most don’t lie flat which annoys me so I generally use spiral notebooks for my journaling (commonplace book – though I’ve never called it that until now!) I found some fabric covered, lined journal books that actually lie flat! They don’t have a spine that prevents them from opening flat but they appear to be well put together. They are made by Studio Oh! and BAM had several designs and two sizes. Here is an Amazon link for anyone not close to a BAM or if you just want to look them over. (hope the link works!)
a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1622261402/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1622261402&linkCode=as2&tag=chantelsadven-20&linkId=QW74GGNQNU4RD675″>Studio Oh! Deconstructed Journal, Sweet Garden<img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=chantelsadven-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1622261402" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /
I have to admit that I have never heard the term “Commonplace” as a way to keep thoughts, passages, Scripture, etc….I have heard of a journal but never really liked the idea of writing in it. However, the commonplace book is perfect for me! After listening to the podcast with Andrew Kern I went out and purchased an ARC notebook from Staples with dividers (I do like to be organized). My first entry is a quote from Linda Fay Johnson at Charlotte Mason Help. Oh how I wish I had known this quote when my daughter was younger…..”Children’s wills are weak compared to their natural physical desires and emotions. As they go through life, the will is strengthened through training and discipline so that the emotions do not rule OR it is left weak and emotions and physical impulses are King.”
Hi Sarah,
I got the email about the webinar on my phone and wanted to register but then realized I had to pay and would have to wait until I could get to my laptop. I was a bit surprised since the last one was free.
I, of course, promptly forgot and remembered last night when I was just a couple of hours too late to register. I filled out the keep me posted form but what will that do? It would be nice to give people a little more time to pay and get access.
Also, would you consider sending a reminder email the day of the webinar for people like me who wait until the last minute or are forgetful? :)
Thanks,
Sarah
Oh no! I’m sorry for the frustration. Just sent you an email with access to the webinar replays. :)
My LTW-Literature class has been using a commonplace book this year. I found some wonderful books at JenniBick.com and everyone chose a unique book, although we all purchased the ULTRA size. The designs are beautiful, and you can also choose books with your favorite author, composer or artist signature on the front. (Michaelangelo, Mark Twain, Jane Eyre, Mozart) My students love these!
The site has many different types of books. Our are from the ‘Paperblanks’ collection.
http://www.jennibick.com/bronte-jane-eyre-leather-look-journal-ultra.html
oops. Charlotte Bronte, not Jane Eyre! I was a bit excited to tell you all about these books and my fingers were typing faster than my brain was composing!
Sarah, thanks for these excellent thoughts on keeping a commonplace book, and the wonderful webinar with Andrew tonight.
I have kept a commonplace for many years. My own commonplace book is a mashup of commonplace, journal, and weekly calendar, so I LOVE your method. Someday soon, I’ll share it on my personal blog.
I also require my students (my kiddos and my co-op students) to keep both a commonplace and reading journal. I blogged about what I require from my homeschoolers here: http://thereadingmother.net/?p=628. I’d love to have you visit and share your thoughts!
Hi there! I wanted to find the link for the commonplace webinar from yesterday. Both of the links I received in my email did not work. Can you please help! I paid, but do not have a working link.
Thanks!
Julie
I just emailed you, Julie. I’m so sorry about that!
Loved your blog post. Pondering how to start a similar process with my “writing phobic” 14 yo son and my “reading and writing phobic” 11 yo son. Thanks for the inspiration!
Can I just say how grateful I am that you share your ideas with the world! I feel so inspired every single time I come to your blog and am so glad I stumbled upon it! I also have you on my list called “I can do this because Sarah is” as my five babes in six years is topped by your six ending with twins. :) That might not make sense but hopefully I am not the only one who sometimes has to take a deep breath and remember all the other women in the world working for the same cause! I just read the book you suggested about keeping a commonplace and learned there is a name and purpose for something I have always loved keeping! I can’t wait to listen to the webinar. Thanks!
I’ve NEVER heard of a Commonplace Book or “commonplacing” before! I keep a journal but I guess it’s more like a diary. Sometimes I’ll write a quote but I’ve never thought about really taking notes & dissecting what I read. I guess I’m just a reader and not yet a “digester”. Thanks for more food-for-thought. I think I need to sign up for the webinar!
I heard about the commonplace some time ago, but really started taking it more seriously after reading The Living Page by Bestvater.
“Sometimes I draw a line down the middle of each paper and copy the passage on the left and my response to that passage on the right.”
I never thought of this idea, but absolutely LOVE IT!! I think I may give this a try :)
Thanks,
Melissa
I’ve been keeping a commonplace book for years…well before I’d heard it had a special name! :-) For a while I tried keeping on as a blog, but there is something much more satisfying about perusing the actual pages of a notebook. Love that you are highlighting this wonderful practice! I do post a few more special quotes on my blog from time to time. http://pottersshed.blogspot.com/search/label/Commonplace%20Book
I look forward to the webinar! I’m wondering how similar and different this is than a Book of Mottoes a la Charlotte Mason?
Just today I was reading a book and a passage struck me. I was on my Kindle and highlighted it but I want it written in a book, with some of my thoughts on it. Here is the passage, it is from Inheritance by Christopher Paolini:
“As he looked at the villages, it struck Eragon just how small and isolated they were and, in hindsight, how small and isolated Carvahall had been as well. Compared to the great cities he had visited, the villages were little more than clusters of hovels, barely fit for even the meanest of paupers. Many of the men and women within them, he knew, had never traveled more than a few miles from their birthplace and would live their whole lives in a world bound by the limits of their sight.
“What a blinkered existence, he thought.
“And yet, he wondered if it was perhaps better to remain in one place and learn all you could about it rather than to constantly roam across the land. Was a broad but shallow education superior to one that was narrow but deep?
“He was not sure. He remembered Oromis once telling him that the whole of the world could be deduced from the smallest grain of sand, if one studied it closely enough.”
What struck me today reading that was the similarity to homeschooling – have we set up learning in our home for a broad but shallow education or a narrow but deep one? Is one preferable to the other? Is there a way to transition between the two as needed – such as beginning with a broad, shallow exploration to whet appetites and interests and then allowing children to narrow the focus and go deep when they desire to pursue something?
Thoughts?
I’m so glad the webinar is this week! I’m also counting down to the April GHConvention in Ohio. :)
Tristan- I just forwarded your comment to Dr. Perrin because I think he’ll enjoy it. :) This is exactly what we’re discussing as Multum Non Multa when we come to GHC in Ohio in April.
The tricky part, I think, is figuring out how to toggle between offering enough breadth and then still making depth the real essence of learning.
I’m thinking over what you said about beginning with a broad, shallow exploration to whet appetites and then allowing children to narrow the focus and go deep when they desire to pursue something. I wonder, though, if some students wouldn’t be inclined (I would have been one of these!) to flit hither and yon as the whims struck. :) I wonder if that’s what we’re going for as we cultivate the mind and grow in good intellectual habits. I don’t know. Just thinking out loud here. :) I’ll have to think on that more.
I think a Commonplace is much like a book of mottoes, except (correct me if I’m wrong! I could very well be!) that a book of mottoes is more for just copying in your neatest handwriting a passage or quote, right?
I have a separate journal where I’m copying out John 2 by hand in my prettiest handwriting, but I don’t do that in my commonplace- in my commonplace I throw all the smatterings of my brain plus anything I run across in my reading, and often times my responses to those.
I have no idea how Charlotte would have done things, though. I’ll have to ask Brandy or Cindy. :)
I have a flitter too in the ranks, probably more than one with eight going on nine children. I think how I envision it is introducing a broad topic, such as Moses and the Israelites in Egypt, in a week or two of family readings and exploration. Then once that introduction is done I would challenge each child to choose something of interest related to it to learn more about with the aim of sharing what they learn in some way with the rest of the family (oral/written/project). Topics that come to mind for going deeper in just a moment of thought include pyramids, ancient Egypt, slavery, the geography of the Exodus, the Nile river and it’s flooding, Egyptian art and architecture, chariots and weaponry of ancient Egypt, pharaohs, mummies, comparing and contrasting Egyptian beliefs with those of the Israelites, and so on. Then each child would spend time researching deeper in their chosen area and create a meaningful way to share what they learn with us at the end of the study.
Multum non Multa – I’m assuming that is Latin and off to do my own research into what it means. :)
Oooh- that sounds really good. I like that.
Multum non Multa = much, not many. Basically a latin maxim that means go for depth not breadth (or less, but better).
Mystie has a good post on it here: http://www.simplyconvivial.com/2013/education-is-for-life-simplicity-or-multum-non-multa
I remember hearing Dr. Perrin mention Multa non Multum a couple years ago at the GHC and it struck me pretty deeply. It was after that that we made a major change in our curriculum and truly, it has changed our school and my life.
I’m so excited for tonight! And for April!
I have a common place book that I keep quotes, poetry, and various (grownup) copy-work, big vision goals, wacky ideas, even “what went right today” lists. I like to keep my thoughts and copywork somewhat organized, so that I can find them again. So I have a mini binder and keep loose binder pages in all my books as bookmarks. Then I write while I read, which helps me process and go deeper. Once I fill a page, I put it in my binder. I also have several small notebooks scattered around for those thoughts and ideas. When I fill a page, I hole punch it and file it away in my binder. For example, when I finished reading Consider This, I had several pages of notes that I filed under CM musings. I pause your Real Aloud podcast all the time and jot stuff down. I have a tab for “building our family culture around books” : ) On a side note, one of my favorite things to say to my kids when they ask what I’m writing is “I’m doing my copywork.”
Doing your copywork! Yes! I love that. :)
My moleskine bullet journal sounds a great deal like your commonplace, where I brain dump, plan, and mind map. My commonplace is composition notebook where I keep quotes from literature and essays.
At this moment I am going away to do my breakfast, once having my breakfast coming yet
again to read additional news.
I’ve had a commonplace book for about ten years, but I’m not very consistent with it. My method so far has been to record things I love or do not want to forget, copying them down in my nicest handwriting in the order I come across them. What I love about it is that it shows my growth and interests over time. I’ve considered adding thoughts and notes, especially because I don’t generally write in my books, and, of course, there are library books and e-books, and I can’t write in those… I never do, though, because I’m scared of messing up my commonplace. I do sometimes copy short passages down in my bullet journal and add notes to those. I’m looking forward to learning Mr Kern’s method along with you. :)
I recently started bullet journaling. Previously, I kept a few different notebooks, now I just have one. I love that I keep an index in the front of it to be able to quickly find what I’m looking for. Google “bullet journaling” to see a video on it!
So intrigued by this. What form of commonplace are you leaning towards? I’ve always been a pen and paper gal, but Evernote certainly sounds like it has it’s advantages… Hmmmm. Keep more than one form? Looking forward to the webinar. Thanks for sharing your mentor with us.
I’m always jotting down quotes and taking notes in a spiral binder, and now I literally have stacks of them! I’ve usually dumped everything into one notebook at a time, but I love the idea of getting a nicer notebook for specifically what I’m learning and reading (and mind-mapping!). I’m already signed up for Thursday, and I’m positively giddy! :D
Also, I’ve so enjoyed tuning into the RAR Podcast. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to home educate my someday-children, and it’s been a delightful resource. Thank you, Sarah!
I’m so excited to hear what Andrew Kern has to say about this! I started keeping a commonplace book years ago, before I knew what it was. I wish there were some way to organize it, so I can find something easily if I want to meditate on it again, or if another thought comes to me about it I can add it in the same place. I like the idea of keeping random thoughts in there, too. But once again, I’d need a system so I can find them again!
How do you have your notebook divided? Very excited about about Thursday!
This is the notebook we all use for our commonplace books (we’re 14- 45). Beautiful paper, stitched binding, pages are numbered with an index at the front. It’s perfect :)
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32477&cat=1,46096,46132
That looks absolutely perfect. I think I’d better get one.
Whoops, forgot you were in the US. Here’s the link to the American site :)
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=32477&cat=1,46096,46132
Thanks. Just ordered. :)
This is lovely! I use a spiral notebook at this time but I’d love to have something prettier…..every time I try something prettier it doesn’t lay flat, which annoys me.
I’m happy your feed posts went back to full-length. Hope it wasn’t a fluke. : )
My posts weren’t going out full-length? Eeek. Would you let me know if you notice that happen again so I can fix it? I don’t mean to make you click over.
Will do. The last 3 or 4?? were truncated in Feedly. This one was normal.
I’m not sure when it changed, but for the past month (I think, maybe longer) all your feed posts have been truncated.
Replying to myself :)
I just got this post through my feed and it was full text. Whatever changed, changed back, apparently :)
Huh. I didn’t even know that what I was doing had an actual name. I’ve been using a blank page, hardcover journal for all of these things for years. I don’t know how people get on without them!
Sarah M
Sounds like a great webinar! I do keep a commonplace book but I restrict it to quotes only. In theory I like the idea of having everything together – the beautiful and the nitty-gritty – but my mind simply likes to have things separate. I have many different notebooks in addition to my commonplace: poetry; day-to-day life tidbits for our family photo album; my private journal; separate notebooks for each type of book I read: fiction, spiritual, motherhood, education. Then I have a binder where I write to-dos and projects and such. I haven’t found the perfect system yet but this is working well for now! :)
Can’t wait to watch (I’m at Panera and it might not be cool to just blast away Sarah at Amongst Lovely Things!). Tonight — at home, a date!
I jot stuff down all over — prayer journal, google drive, notes on my pad. No method at all.
I keep a reading notebook or it could be called a commonplace book. :) In fact, I just did a blog post about it today! I jot down quotes/statements that stand out to me when I’m reading, whether it be reading a book, an article, a blog post, etc. I don’t write down my thoughts in my reading notebook, it’s just quotes. But I’m thinking I might start another notebook where I jot down thoughts, summaries of what I’ve read, etc. It is really neat to go back through my reading notebook (commonplace book) and read through the various quotes I’ve written in there over the years.
Oh goody- I’ll go check out your post. :)
So blessed to have found you through MSM. You have opened my world and got me excited about learning!!
So nice to “meet” you, Nichole! Welcome. :)
Sarah, this could be revolutionary for me. I will try to wrap my brain around somethings at the most inopportune times and whatever it is truly bothers me and frustrates me until I solve it. This can go on for weeks.
So what you’re suggesting is a continual brain dump, I guess. I think I personally would do it in a composition book since I have a beautiful moleskine that I keep my tidier thoughts and quotes in, etc.