Posts by Well-Read Mom
AI, a Choice
Doesn’t it seem like the whole world is abuzz about the benefits (or detriments) of AI? I’ve been mulling over the AI situation because I am a teacher by trade. This is the Wild West of AI….there are no current restrictions, no studies or implications—only an invitation to a beautiful struggle.
Read MoreThe Things We Married: Challenges of Military Spouse Life and How We Overcame them with Literature
We moved books we’d bought for book clubs: souvenirs of conversations we’d had with friends we’d been immeasurably close to for short but intense seasons.
Read MoreBooks, Time, and a Christening Cap
By the time I left, I knew I’d found a wonderful group of literature lovers. I could belong with them. Then everything changed.
Read MoreThe Wisdom of Wonder, as Discovered in the Family Supplement
As women who consider ourselves—or who aspire to be—well-read, we can be too quick to dismiss the value of children’s literature for ourselves. But the Well-Read Mom team knows that children’s literature has much to offer—and not just to children.
Read MoreAn Armchair Revolution: Take Back Your Time
Approaching literature begins with leisure. Recovering leisure reading as a kind of spiritual discipline will help us move from interior boredom to an expanding inner life.
Read MoreThen and Now: The Impact of Rereading
Then and Now: The Impact of Rereading Written by Caitlin Bootsma “You’re definitely Meg,” my younger sister insisted. “You’re the oldest, and…well, I’m obviously Jo.” I did NOT want to be Meg; couldn’t we both be Jo? There was no question then that our next sister was Amy, and, in our teenage years, no one…
Read MoreWhy Shakespeare?
It didn’t take very long for me to find out that English Literature was their least favorite class. I could completely understand—math, science, music…these were all subjects that could be understood even with a language barrier. In fact, there was more than just a language barrier—I was stunned on an almost daily basis at small little cultural references that just didn’t translate. As the year went on, my fondness for my students grew—so it was with a little trepidation that I announced that we would be tackling a Shakespeare play next.
Read MoreA Happy Accident
A Happy Accident Written by Jamie Cailteux I accidentally joined Well-Read Mom before I even knew what it was. My fifth pregnancy was difficult. I was 36 and my body felt worn out. We were homeschooling for the first time. Stress and emotional roller coasters drove me to my knees, but my varicose leg veins…
Read MoreWe Have a Father
Our conversation continued, but through it, I recognized that I was changing. I like to think that part of this change comes about through reading great and worthy books—books that have been, as Flannery O’Connor put it, “written from a perspective in which the truth, as Christians know it, has been used as a light to see the world.” This light then shapes our heart, mind, and soul and educates our imagination to the reasonableness of faith.
Read MoreThe Evil Within
Each year, at least one of our reading selections for Well-Read Mom is so jarring that it strikes an emotional cord, reverberating through our very cores. This year, John Steinbeck’s novella The Pearl is that work. Agonizing in its subject matter—namely, the insidious encroachment of evil within the human heart—this tale haunts us long after we read the final words.
Read More