I‘ve had the pleasure of working as a subcontractor for Well-Read Mom for five years now, but it took me a few years to actually join them in reading and meeting every month. Why?
Are you feeling discouraged because reading is turning out to be harder than you thought it would be? Reading has changed for all of us.
By the end of that project, I felt called—not only to be in a Well-Read Mom group but to lead one. This was a big surprise to me. Although I’m a lifelong reader and a professional writer, I have never been in a book club.
If more students witnessed their parents reading at home, they’d be encouraged and more likely to engage in reading, too. That is why I think Well-Read Mom is the missing link.
As many of us parents, teachers, and students gear up for another school year (and a thousands of women gear up for another season with Well-Read Mom), it’s helpful to consider the loving witness of true educators and how it can fuel this upcoming chapter.
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.
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.
By the time I left, I knew I’d found a wonderful group of literature lovers. I could belong with them. Then everything changed.
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.
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.