Have you ever heard of the concept of rocks, pebbles, and sand? The idea is that everything we do in our day-to-day lives fits into one of the three categories. Rocks are the big important things, pebbles can be smaller tasks that can be more flexible, and sand is all the extra stuff like watching the next episode of your favorite show. You block out time to do the rocks first, then the pebbles, and finally, the sand. I think this is a great way to teach our kids to order their affections, or even a great way to help get back into routine when those life storms come by and make everything go all topsy-turvy.
I’ve been working overtime to get us back on track after February and March contained one of those storms. There’s nothing like walking my mom through a scary hospital stay, copious doctor appointments, and a several-week stay at a short-term physical therapy rehab to have rocks get displaced by pebbles, pebbles crumble to sand, sand get blown away in the wind, and before you know it—you’ve lost your marbles. Resetting takes a lot of time and intention; it takes a lot of grace, but it’s always necessary. It also helps to accept that this displacement just happens from time to time, especially if you’re a caretaker or a special needs momma, and that’s ok. My children learn more from watching me serve my mom (imperfectly and always with an anxiety that makes me even more awkward than I already am), from watching their grandma endure (who needs a copy of Fortitude hanging on the mantle when their grandma is “weary, yet ready” again and again), than they’d ever learn from their books. I will gladly count these months as part of their “books and things.”
But eventually the dust settles, and it’s time to face the rubble and build. When was the last time someone walked the dogs? Why is the mouthwash unopened if I bought it for you in January? We don’t pick up our rooms by shoving everything under our beds. What is that smell? When I ask you to help me put away laundry, you don’t respond by whining, “LAME.” You know? It’s a slippery slope, but habits give us traction to climb back up to something that resembles a “smooth and easy” day that’s good enough.
This reminds me of our first year homeschooling. We had work boxes (a colorful, rolling cart where each drawer held one subject for our school day), which was the popular way to organize your homeschool at the time. But I remember being in a pile of my own mush when my husband came home from work, bemoaning all my failures, because we didn’t get to the last box or two that day—many times. I lacked grace for myself and our circumstances, I dismissed our need for His grace, and it showed in the value I placed on the pieces of our days.
I roll my eyes at my past self, how I’d love to go back to those simple days, while also recognizing the growth I have experienced despite all my rock, pebble, and sad chaos. I’ll leave you with a poem I wrote this month. It seems part of the process for me that while I’m busy putting external things back into their proper places, I experience an internal putting back together, a deep calling to deep, which I am becoming rather fond of meeting when I lose my marbles.
Unsettled, I throw my head back like a
Red-winged blackbird ready to air her
“Conk-la-rees” to the wind.
Surprised, I choke on Your goodness
As a babe at their mother’s breast—
Nourished.
If I would only be still,
If I could only quit fussing long enough
To realize I’m held.
I lament,
Not for lack of Your presence,
But that I pervert justice with my restlessness.
The wind throws my sorrows
Back into my face:
I am with you.
I am for you.
Come to me, all who are weary.
I swallow in big gulps
The dayspring from on high
Until my own dust clouds clear.
The sun comes out, and
I put my face in it.
The wind presses into my cheek,
“You’re still hard-pressed.”
My grief, weightless and suspended by grace,
“You’re not crushed.”
I wonder how many times I’ll lose what I remember
—forgetting gets embarrassing.
I drop my cross to catch my breath,
It’s in Capable Hands,
And I experience the quiet of rest.
-Mariah
On The CPQ Blog
Behind the Scenes
Things: sent to copy editors for final look-throughs!
Truth: getting ready for layout
Laugh: articles will be turned in next month
Mansoul: editors are planning next year’s themes and articles!
Set your Feet
Set Your Feet is a retreat in Ohio for Charlotte Mason Educators. Established in 2018, Set Your Feet encourages and equips CM Educators by focusing on Mason's principles and philosophy, but doesn't shy away from the brass tacks of practicalities.
In 2025, we plan to meet at Grace Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, on July 11-12. Registration will open mid-April.
You can learn more on Instagram or Facebook.
You can also join our email list!
Our main speakers for 2025 include Anne White, Blossom Barden, Dawn Garrett, and Margaret Garrett. A Teen Track with sessions on Illuminated Manuscripts and Pixel Art Counted Cross Stitch are planned. We will also have breakout sessions for the adults, TBA.
Do you have a Charlotte Mason conference coming up? Send us the information at mariah@commonplacequarterly.com, and we will share it in our monthly newsletter!
Something Borrowed
This month, we want to inspire you towards the commonplace to go with all those books you’re reading. Click on the links below to learn everything from the basics to inspiration for getting creative!
That line, “Keep ye the law; be swift in all obedience” is from a Kipling poem. So the idea is that, as your student reads all of these great authors, he records any ideas that strike him in the words of that author. In this notebook, he can collect all of those great ideas in one place for quick reference and repeated instruction and inspiration.
We don’t want to have a consumer mentality about our reading. A practice of commonplacing forces us to slow down and think through what we’re reading so we can truly learn it rather than let it pass us by.
Last year, I decided to expand my pre-reading by keeping a commonplace, maps, a timeline, and a century chart alongside my kids. For me, this was a life-giving activity rather than a time-sucking one. I appreciated adding these tasks to my week because I felt like they made my pre-reading and planning sessions more pleasant.
Schole-ified them, if you will. ;)
This year, I was wanted to try something that meshed all of these worthy actions into one notebook that would also challenge me creatively. Because honestly, I need an excuse for creativity, especially during a newborn year. Something new and fun sounded like just the trick. And this notebook, which I am calling my Year 6 Reading Journal, has been working perfectly.
A Reminder of Changes here at CPQ
Back in December, we shared with our readership that we had to make some permanent changes in the near future, or we would have to raise our prices. One of the changes we made was the size of the magazine. It’s now…cuter. ; ) It will fit nicely on your book stack, with your commonplace notebook, and even slide nicely into your purse as you head out that door to chauffeur your teens around.
Another change we have made is that the Kids’ Gazettes are now available to download from your digital bookshelf in SimpleCirc (the same place you access digital copies of CPQ). If you have a subscription with us, log in to your account and download the four-page gazette full of interesting articles and puzzles for your kiddos. Keep your eyes peeled for all of the previous issues of the Kids’ Gazette to be available for download this month in the digital bookshelf, too!
Volume Four Sale!
Balance - Ordered Affections - Science of Nature - Art of Music
These four themes are on sale in the shop for 10% off now through April 5th!
No discount code needed, the code will appear in the cart.
April Recitation Printable
Get To Know The Editors
What’s Cara…
Reading: Symphony for the City of the Dead at night when I wake up and before I fall asleep. It’s Time to Talk to Your Kids About Porn. Every Home a Foundation.
Eating: out of food trucks at sports games.
Making: the most amazing high school memories with my teens
Drinking: just a whole bunch of water. and some more water.
Watching: Fall of Eagles and Young Sheldon
Listening to: Clair and Violet’s Party Emoji playlist
Learning: How to carry on.
What’s Mariah…
Reading: The Longing for Home: Recollections and Reflections by Frederick Buechner and The Wood Between the Worlds: A Poetic Theology of the Cross by Brian Zahnd
Listening to: a 90’s Mix playlist on Spotify
Eating: chicken fried rice
Making: plans to go plant shopping with a couple of friends
Drinking: coffee with heavy cream
Thinking about: how the only thing I *need* to buy for next year is a chemistry lab kit and artist prints and wondering what other things I can throw in there that might add value to our days/lessons.
Learning: how to wallpaper!