The inspiration for the name comes, of course, from the poem by Strickland Gillilan. This poem also inspired me to become a Reading Mother. The aspiration was never in question, but the practicalities required a good bit of determination and diligence in my children's younger years — along with a bit of blood, sweat, and tears from all parties involved. (Blood — true story. As a mom of five boys, stitches were a regular occurrence in our house; I can remember at least one set that resulted from a fidgety five-year-old trying to stretch the boundaries of his seating assignment.)

My official "author" bio is here. But if you'd like to know a wee bit more, I am mostly discipula—disciple, student. And out of that, magistra—teacher. Both of these subordinate to marita—a happy-beyond-my-deserving wife of one, and mater—mother of six (plus three) and "grammy" to seven precious souls to date. But above and over and around and far beyond all of this, dilecta Dei—beloved of God, a truly unfathomable and undeserved grace only through the mercy of our Savior (Romans 1:7).

All of these callings inform what happens here. And The Reading Mother is, of course, inextricably connected with Cottage Press, my classical education curriculum business. But The Reading Mother is also a personal place of  reflection and exhortation for other reading mothers of all ages—maybe even reading future mothers. Of course, reading fathers and reading future fathers are welcome too!