If you are like the average person, you easily forget what you’ve just read. But not if you “commonplace”. Commonplacing is a practice of antiquity that was particularly popular in the Renaissance and the nineteenth century. And many classical schools are reviving the practice and reaping the benefits. Chris Browne, Humanities Instructor at the Ambrose School, explains how to record and categorize ideas, scripture and quotes in a commonplace book at school or at home. Special guests, high school students Kristen Stanciu and Rivers Nordquist, stop by to offer their experience and the value of commonplacing in their educational journey. The beauty is that anyone can – and should – commonplace!

An Idaho native, Chris Browne teaches Classical Humanities at the Ambrose School in Meridian, Idaho. He earned an M.A. in History with a Latin minor at Boise State University. He is deeply committed to classical Christian education as the cultivation of virtue and writes a blog exploring the cultivation of virtue in the lives of students. Chris loves all things related to Tolkien, Virgil, and Constantine the Great. _________________.When not teaching, he spends his summers working as a river guide on the majestic Hells Canyon portion of the Snake River in Idaho, tooling around on a vintage Ford Mustang, converting Tolkien stories into stage plays, and spending time in the mountains of Idaho with his beautiful wife, 2 daughters, and Rosie Cotton and Pius Aeneas, their family’s two Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. He encourages everyone to cultivate the habit of Commonplacing, especially parents and teachers – remember the student becomes like the master.