My Journal

 

I have never been the type of journal-keeper that writes about how things make me feel or writes in my journal to work things out.  Rather, journals have been a way of recording my days and emptying my brain of so many details.  I have not always kept a journal, but I have for many years.  When my kids were small and I was learning about homeschooling, I read several books that were more or less records of the days of others.  The writers recorded what they did, what they saw, what people said, what the weather was like, books they read, etc. Somehow, this seeped into my brain and I began to record these things in the notebook I used to plan out our school days.  It was such fun to look back at what was going on in our lives on any given day.  My days are not quite as full of things as they were at that time, but I still find it enjoyable to read my journals and be reminded of what was going on at a certain time. 

The above picture is an example of what a page in my journal might look like. I start most days by recording the date and the forecasted weather.  I use my journal as a commonplace book as well as a place to record details about my day, lists and things I want to remember.  Some days I don't write anything.  Other days I use several pages.

Something that has made my journals much more useful is an index.  Each time I start a new journal, I number the pages.  Then, I designate the front cover pages and usually two more pages as my index.  Above is a picture of what this looks like.  I put the month at the top and then a title that will help me find what I am looking for, along with the page it is located on.  Sometimes I can recall what month I recorded something, so that is helpful in narrowing down where to look.  If I am writing quotes from a book I simply use the book's title.  Another part of my index system includes a monthly calendar.  I use a monthly/weekly planner to schedule my weeks, but the monthly calendar I include with my journal is a small pocket-sized monthly planner where I record important things that happened on the day they occurred.  For example, if someone in the family was sick, I would indicate that on monthly calendar and then record the specific details of the illness in my journal on that date. I have recorded things like vacation days, large purchases, parties, functions and visitors.  This is extremely helpful when trying to remember when someone visited or when a wedding occurred.  

Sometimes I add pictures from magazines to my journal.  I journaled in various types of notebooks in the past.  I have used inexpensive spiral notebooks, large spiral sketchbooks and different types of bound journals.  More recently, I have settled on a lined, bound journal measuring about 8 inches by 5 inches.  

Sometimes I add washi tape to separate entries.  I like to add parts of cards I receive.  Sometimes I add tickets stubs or programs from events I attend.  Most of the time I use black ink, but occasionally I will use a different color.  It all adds interest.  Most of the time my entries are logbook style, just a list of what I did or who I saw. 

My journal lives on my kitchen counter alongside my planner.  

Now it's your turn!  Do you keep a journal?  What kinds of things do you include?

Commonplace Book or Journal

 

I first heard the term "commonplace book" when I was reading the works of Charlotte M. Mason in preparation for homeschooling my children.  In Charlotte Mason's schools, her students kept commonplace books in high school.  Before that age, children did copywork.  That is, they copied passages from the books they were reading.  This began as a way to practice handwriting.  But it accomplished so much more.  The children internalized great writing, learned sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and grammar without even trying.  I used this method with my own children through all of their years of homeschooling.  I was amazed at the results.  They are both excellent writers.  Somewhere along the way I began to keep my own journal of quotes that I liked from books I was reading.  Sometimes I write notes about what I am reading.  I have also written quotes and notes from podcasts or videos or lectures.  My journals are not strictly commonplace books, but for this post I will concentrate on that aspect.  

From:  Formation of Character by Charlotte M. Mason

"It is very helpful to read with a commonplace book or reading-diary, in which to put down any striking thought in your author, or your own impression of the work, or any part of it; but not summaries of facts.  Such a diary, carefully kept through life, should be exceedingly interesting as containing the intellectual history of the writer; besides we never forget the book that we have made extracts from, and of which we have taken the trouble to write a short review."

Here is an example of what a page in my journal looks like.  While I am reading I use Post-it flags to mark passages that I like.  I usually wait until I have finished the book to copy the passages into my journal.  I don't like to disrupt the flow of my reading to stop and copy a passage.  Also, sometimes after I have finished the book and reread the marked passages, I decide not to copy something I had marked. 

Here are some more examples:

You can see in some of the pictures that there are other things in my journal as well.  I will cover that in another post.  

Susan Wise Bauer in The Well-Educated Mind includes some information on commonplace books:

"Occasionally, though, commonplace books took on a more personalized form.  The authors carried them around and jotted in them at odd moments during the day.  The commonplace books gathered reflections, scraps of original verse and other creative writing, summaries of books read, as well as the de rigeur bits of copied information.  They became artificial memories."

She calls the journals "self-education journals".

"The journal used for self-education should model itself after this expanded type of commonplace book."

"Rather, the journal is the place where the reader takes external information and records it (through the use of quotes, as in the commonplace book); appropriates it through a summary, written in the reader's own words; then evaluates it through reflection and personal thought."

Also from The Well-Educated Mind:

Things included in E.M. Forster's commonplace book:

    *Quotes from his readings

    *Evaluations of his readings

    *Happenings from his day

    *Personal reflections on a phrase or idea from his reading

    *His thoughts on readings

I do not copy passages from everything I read.  Sometimes I am just not in the mood.  Over the years I have found that this has developed my composition skills and punctuation comes easier.  The act of copying along with reading has helped me become a better writer.  I enjoy looking back at my journals and reading passages that I copied.  It helps me remember what I read.

Do you keep a commonplace journal?