Homeschool Commonplace Book Primary Edition

In this post we will discuss what a commonplace book is and how it is helpful for homeschooling. Then you will have the opportunity to download a free commonplace book (and find out how you can purchase one already printed and bound in the next few days).

The idea of writing down ideas, copying passages and quotes while adding illustrations, maps, etc. has been rolling around in the homeschool world for over 20 years. We have been calling it “notebooking.”

Essentially, notebooking requires a printed template which a child then fills in with some writing and some sort of graphic representation, either hand-drawn or printed out. These pages can either be elaborate or simple, depending on the age, the ability, or the enthusiasm of the learner.

Notebooking has been such a boon, especially to our family. We have taken this idea and expanded it to include mixed-media and 3d graphic representations. We have shelves dedicated to three-ring binders filled with these amazing creations done by our children on their learning journeys.

But there is a catch.

Sometimes, with all of the other moving parts a mom must track, notebooking pages can get literally lost in the shuffle. Instead of treating them as the masterpieces of thinking they truly are, they are disrespected. They are treated as piles of loose papers, often flitting to the floor to be stepped on or placed in the old “file 13.”

An alternative to this has been taking an actual notebook, such as a cheap composition book (often purchased during the school supplies sales in the summer) and creating what is termed as a “commonplace book.”

Commonplace books have been around a long, long time (they were actually commonplacing way back when they were writing in cuneiform on clay tablets). Erasmus, a scholar of the Renaissance, actually wrote a book of rules for those who wished to keep commonplace books.

Essentially, commonplacing is taking information that a person wants to keep for later reference and placing it in one “common” place.

I have written a bit about using composition books for homeschooling (including notebooking). There are so many benefits to this approach, and we have thoroughly enjoyed creating amazing commonplace books in this way.

However, there are some drawbacks. The main one being the limitations of most children, who are, by definition, not adults. This means they rarely have the organization skills needed to keep things straight. This means that Mom has another task on her list, namely, making sure her children are not diddling, dawdling, and creating an absolute distracted mess of a composition book instead of a work of art to be cherished for years.

What to do?

Well, what if there could be a middle ground? What if there could be an inexpensive book that was composed of structured pages, but not so structured that they didn’t allow for learning freedom?

This was my thought, and then this became my project.

Now, there is a series of books out there that follow this idea, and I hear they are terrific. If you have the money and are so inclined, you may want to check them out, they’re from a company called The Thinking Tree, and their website is Funschooling.com.

I have honestly thought about purchasing these books for my own children, but they were a bit put off by the design, and some were a little too specific in a non-challenging way for their liking.

So, I set out to create our own idea of homeschool commonplacing. It would include pages which were open-ended, and it would also include some original art (done by Yours Truly).

I also thought that eventually I could create a series of these books, and even include a huge book of lists and ideas for moms to refer to (sort of a commonplace book filled with ideas for commonplacing…).

Well, it was bigger than I thought it would be.

And it took a LOT longer than I thought it would take. I have created a lot of different books for homeschooling, but they were done completely digitally. Never before had I attempted to create a book filled with original art. As I found out, changing original, physical art into quality images which can be printed takes a bit of know-how, and some really good equipment and software.

Thankfully, we had some good equipment, but we weren’t using the best software. After lots of errors (and loads of wasted time), we finally came across the software that worked, and then things were pretty smooth sailing. By God’s grace (and with some valuable input by our dear children), we have been able to finally produce the first book ready for downloading (and soon to be ready for purchase!).

This first book was created on what we are calling the “primary” level. It would be suitable for those just ready to begin recording their learning.

Here are some sample pages from the book:

As of the writing of this post, I have submitted the book to be published on Amazon.com, but I must wait until they go through their process before it will actually be ready for purchase (which could take up to 10 business days).

When this book is available for purchase, I will be making an announcement in the Mom Delights community on YouTube. If you want to be notified, please make sure and subscribe to my channel and click the notifications bell.

UPDATE!

The Commonplace Book Primary is available for sale! Purchase it at this link (affiliate):

Commonplace Book Primary

Until then, since everyone has waited so long, I decided to make this book available as a free PDF download, which you can then print and bind yourself.

Click on the picture below and it will take you to the Google Drive pdf file:

For even more information on this book, listen or watch the podcast linked below:

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