The Great Conversation

For those of you who know me, I have been an avid reader since I was a little girl, watching my own mother read round the clock. I used to peruse just about anything I could get my hands on, but in the past few years I’ve put more thought into what I spend my time reading. After all, having a toddler who is now a pre-schooler to care for, my time is limited and my day much more structured. But more than that, I got to thinking: I am very particular about my daughter’s reading list. We like to read ‘living books’ in the words of Charlotte Mason. But what about myself? I realized that the short list of classics I have read in my lifetime was pitiful. How can I expect to provide a classical education for my children if I haven’t even skimmed the surface of the great classics myself?

So, after reading The Great Conversation by Robert Hutchins (the first volume of Great Books of the Western World, as an introduction and discourse on liberal education), I went on to read The Well Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. In this book, Bauer speaks to those who want both enjoyment and self-improvement from the time they spend reading. After all, I wanted to be part of ‘The Great Conversation’ myself! Next thing I know my husband, after reading King Solomon’s Mines, decides that he too, wants to dig into the classics. So now we are going through the Well Educated Mind book list together. :)