Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Wednesdays with Words: Commonplace Books... of sorts

From my youngest days, I've always been an avid reader. I can remember my mother telling me to put the book down and go outside. (And now I say the same thing to my own children.) I'm happiest when I can highlight & make notes in my own book. I've always & will always prefer a real, tangible book. Always. I've also enjoyed journaling, often quoting passages & writing down my own thoughts. The problem is, it was often not organized & I'd find (or loose) scraps of paper everywhere.

Several years ago, I learned that process of quoting passages was historically kept in a commonplace book. Recently, Sarah interviewed Andrew Kern on this subject. You can find that webinar here. It's $5 but listening to Andrew is definitely worth it (plus there's an added webinar with home educating mamas on how they keep their commonplace books)!

Sadly, my own personal consistent reading & writing had fallen by the wayside. GASP!!! Yes, a classically home educating mama just admitted that. But only because I've fallen back into my habit. ;) And oh, what joy it's been! If my children are going to value something, they need to see Eric and I value it. If I'm going to teach my children, I need to first teach me. But most importantly of all, one ways I glorify God is to think through ideas. Reading, copying passages & writing help me think. My book is a commonplace book of sorts because it goes beyond quotes- I share my thoughts, outline, write down goals & plans. It's helping all those little scrapes of paper to disappear. :) I have a second commonplace book (of sorts) for my photography where I keep notes on what I'm learning, ideas of what to shoot, people to stalk follow for inspiration, etc.

Does doing all this mean it takes me longer to read a book? Yep, though I won't always commonplace after reading. Am I copying too many passages? Yep but it helps me think. I need a lot of help these days. (9th pregnancy = fuzzy brain) Will life get busy & I have to quit again? I hope not- maybe I can just slow down how much I'm doing. But if I do quit, I can start again. And so can you.

And that's my encouragement to you all! Especially to you busy mamas. I know! You're BUSY! If all you can manage is reading your Bible & prayer, then be at peace. Rest in where God has you right now. But maybe you have time to read a tiny bit & write in a commonplace book. You won't regret it! And if you're a home educator, you'll especially be thankful!

Okay, so all of that is a long intro to share that on Wednesdays (Lord-willing... let's not bring up how bad I am at series of posts), I'm going to link to my fabulous friend's blog series: Wednesdays with Words. Dawn shares "What have you been reading and what has caught your mind? Wednesdays with Words is an opportunity to share your reading and words that have been meaningful to you in any way. Mostly participants share quotes from books they're reading, but any written material (articles, internet magazine, whatever) is great. Sometimes participants share a selection because of its beautiful phrasing, sometimes because of its intriguing ideas, sometimes because of its everyday encouragement. We'd love to have you share with us someone else's words." Be sure to click the link or button to see what Dawn & others have shared! And it would be wonderful if you shared what you're reading & learning! :)

I think I've been lengthy enough for one post, so I'll just end with what I'm reading right now:
Grain Brain by David Perlmutter
Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships by Duggar girls
The Liberal Arts Tradition: A Philosophy of Christian Classical Education by Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain
- The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs
- Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson

1 comment:

dawn said...

Yay! It will be wonderful to have you join us!