The Charlotte Mason Commonplace Book 

As an educational philosophy, the Charlotte Mason method places a strong emphasis on excellence, using the best quality sources for living ideas, ranging from literature, to artwork, to music, and even handicraft. We start off by exposing, then immersing ourselves, with the greatest minds. 

One way that Miss Mason encourages us to immerse (term mine) ourselves in these great ideas is through the practice of copywork. We copy hymns, poems, Scripture, passages from literature, history, biographies, geography. Nature study is even a form of copying nature. The premise is that as we copy these ideas, they become embedded in our being. 

Copywork starts in Form 1, usually with the parent assigning the passage to be copied. Increasingly, the responsibility is passed on to the student, until eventually, the student himself picks whichever passages catches his fancy and copies these for his copywork. 

Further down the line is the keeping of what we call the commonplace book. 

What is a Charlotte Mason Commonplace Book? 

A commonplace book is essentially a notebook where a student copies down anything and everything that strikes him particularly. Another term that Miss Mason uses for it is a book of mottoes: 

In the reading of the Bible, of poetry, of the best prose, the culling of mottoes is a delightful and most stimulating occupation, especially if a motto book be kept, perhaps under headings, perhaps not. It would not be a bad idea for children to make their own year-book, with a motto for every day of the year culled from their own reading. What an incentive to a good day it would be to read in the morning as a motto of our very own choice and selection, and not the voice of an outside mentor: ‘Keep ye the law; be swift in all obedience’!

Charlotte Mason School Education, page 135

Why Keep a Commonplace Book? 

A commonplace book is a great way to have a copy of anything—and everything—that we love in our daily readings. Personally, as a homeschooling mama, I’ve also enjoyed maintaining my own commonplace book. Some of my favorite passages come from poems, literature, and sometimes even from modern nonfiction books that I read along the way. 

Here are some benefits of keeping a commonplace book: 

• You have a record of all the wonderful ideas you’ve loved. 
• You can more easily search and find a quote you want to refer back to. 
• You can use these mottoes to encourage others. 
• It gives you a glimpse of the kind of ideas that resonate with you in a given season of life. 

How to Keep a Commonplace Book

Here are some of the basic steps to keeping a commonplace book: 

1. Remember the commonplace book is unique to you. 

This is most important: your student should not copy down passages that someone else picks for him. The goal of the commonplace book is for the owner to take hold of the ideas that stand out to him. This means the owner should have total freedom what he wants or does not want to include in it. 

2. Anytime you read something, make a note of what strikes you. 

If you’re not used to journaling or recording passages, this may not come naturally. 

If you’re reading in a hardcopy book, putting a bookmark on the page, highlighting the passage, making a small pencil mark, or folding the corner of the page (and all booklovers say, “God forbid!) are simple ways of reminding yourself where to find what it was that caught your attention. 

If you’re reading in an ebook, highlighting or putting an e-bookmark or note are ways you can easily come back to your chosen passages. 

3. Set aside regular time to make an entry in your commonplace book. 

Most of the time, you probably will not write in your commonplace book right at the time you find the passage. Honestly, doing that would require you to pause your reading altogether! Instead, setting aside a regular time—for example, first thing in the morning, or first thing after lunch—to jot down your entries is more effective. 

The key here is to do it regularly. It’s not about quantity, but consistency. Even if you copy just one or two sentences each time, if you do it, say, at least once a week, by the end of the year, your commonplace book would have at least fifty entries in it! 

4. Take time once in awhile to browse through your commonplace book. 

This is purely optional, but it helps in your appreciation of the commonplace book when you look back on your entries, perhaps months down the road. For me, personally, I love rereading the entries because they give me a glimpse of the things that I went through during that specific time in my life. 

Keeping a Charlotte Mason Commonplace Book 

Keeping a Charlotte Mason commonplace book is an enriching experience. It may be part of schoolwork, but we highly recommend even parents to keep their own commonplace books. 

Do you have a commonplace book? Share some of your favorite passages in the comments below!