CPQ March Newsletter
It’s that time of year—when the siren call of fresh curriculum and book lists threaten to untether me from the work of the current school year. I have always been sidetracked easily. The actual squirrels in my backyard can attest to how often I break off mid-sentence and yell, “Look, a squirrel!” And during the spring I am distracted by all the new books I want to add to our shelves. But it’s more than that…I love a fresh start. And each new school year offers a fresh promise that I am eager to lay hold of. (Yes, I love Mondays too). I know I am not alone (well…except maybe about loving Mondays). I can’t help but be reminded of the work of the cross and the newness of life we experience as believers…which is fitting since Easter is in a couple of days.
Sometimes, I bemoan the ease with which I get sidetracked. I think it is a great character quality to finish what has been started with focus and determination. That is how Christ faced the cross. But, as I think about the promises of Easter, I realize it is also a great thing to watch expectantly, with hope, for what is coming. And that is why I love fresh starts. Not only has the past, with all its pain, mistakes, and shortcomings, been wiped away, but the future is full of new hope.
So, whether you are energetically determined to finish your school year or gasping your way toward summer break with homeschool catalogs in hand, I hope you are living with great expectation for what the Lord has ahead.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” (1 Peter 1:3-4 NLT)
-Sarah
On The CPQ Blog
Do you want to plant a garden?
The Upper Years: A Sneak Peak and Special Offer ←Don’t miss this!
Behind the Scenes
Upper Years getting finished in layout
Personhood getting ready for layout
Goodness articles are being written
Year SEVEN is being planned
Did you know you can be a part of CPQ? Visit our website to find out how to submit photography, writing, and content pieces from your kiddos.
CPQ on the Charlotte Mason Poetry podcast
Cara, Mariah, and Sarah had the opportunity to sit down with Art Middlekauff to discuss all things Common Place Quarterly and more!
Spring Break Sale
Grab a back issue (or two!) out of our shop for 15% off today through April 4th.
You can use discount code SPRING15 when you check out or use the link below.
*The discount will be applied at checkout when you use the link.
*Upper Years issue is not included in this sale
Do you have your eye on a sold-out back issue? With a digital or print subscription, you can digitally access all our back issues! We have quarterly and yearly options to fit every budget.
*already have a subscription? You have digital access! Email us at info@commonplacequarterly.com to get your direct link.
Blast from the Past
“It is natural to desire someone who speaks our unique, homeschool-mom language. It is such an uncomfortable and lonely feeling to mention this educational philosophy and get the deer in the headlights look. But this education has also equipped me—and you—with everything we need to turn around and love those same people with truth, goodness, and beauty despite them not knowing Mason’s name. Maybe Charlotte Mason community isn’t so much about what we build or what we join, but more about Whose we are and how we love.”
Phone Wallpaper Freebie
May your weekend be full of joy and expectation as you reflect on the resurrection.
He is risen.
He is risen indeed.
Get To Know The Editors
What’s Cara…
Reading: Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys, Belisarius, Sense and Sensibility, chasing after my oldest as she listens to it.
Listening to: good friends who are here on a visit to catch us up on their lives.
Eating: Chicken enchilada crockpot soup by Delish
Watching: Irish dance performances on repeat
Creating: board and batten hallway with hooks so we stop laying all our coats over chairs.
Drinking: my daughter’s special lady grey tea that she has recently learned how to brew
Thinking about: creating more intentional togetherness in the coming months, really utilizing our time off school with purpose.
What’s Mariah…
Reading: A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and Little Men on audio
Creating: a man cave in a corner of the basement adjacent to my mom den
Listening to: Johnny Cash
Eating: I made myself lunch with a parmesan-crusted bagel, cream cheese, avocado, fried egg topped with muenster cheese, turkey meat, and sprinkled with everything bagel seasoning. It was something special.
Watching: Still watching Yellowstone episodes with my husband
Learning: about hyperlexia and the struggles that can come with it
Drinking: Coffee
Thinking about: I haven’t stopped thinking about a note I wrote in my Bible last week from a commentary as we’ve been going through Nehemiah: “When the wider ministry is more exciting than the work at home, the enemy is at work.”
What’s Sarah…
Reading: Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard Von Bingen by Mary Sharratt
Listening to: The Jewish Road podcast about the cultural and religious implications surrounding Palm Sunday.
Creating: the Upper Years magazine! Almost done…
Thinking about: having three kids in high school next year and strategizing how to get their timetable as close as possible to a Mason school timetable. Is it possible?
Eating: Sushi - a request from my March birthday girl
Watching: Call of the Midwife
Drinking: homemade Italian cream sodas