I don't know where the time goes!  It seems I am trying hard to keep up with everything, but before you know it, the month is half over already.  This is the time of year that everyone is knee-deep in school, sports, business, politics and other activites.  But it is good to pause a few minutes every now and then, and just thank the Lord for His blessings, and continue to beseech Him for strength and direction.

   I can hardly watch the news these days because it is so depressing.  We have to remember that everything is not always what it seems.  Lately it has been impressed on me that now is not the time to be complacent or to step out of the battle.  Sometimes busy-ness is a good distraction from seriously important issues.  We get so busy with day to day living that we don't pay attention to troubles looming or threats on the horizon because they don't seem to impact us where we are.  But we must be mindful that in this country where we enjoy the freedoms of homeschooling and worshipping God as we choose, and where we enjoy such prosperity and peace, we also have a responsibility.  We have the responsibility to pray without ceasing, to watch continuously, and to participate in the political process, if only by voting.  I am hoping that we in this country do not fall asleep because we are so sick of war, nuclear threats and the ugly, nasty side of politics that is always front-page news.  It is time to stand firm and stand our ground however quietly and unobtrusively.  And make no mistake, if you have a lot to be thankful for, you always have a proverbial dog in this fight. 

   "...For unto whom soever much is given, of him shall be much required..."

                                                                       ~Luke 12:48

Posted in Journal

   This afternoon the children and I went for a walk.  The weather was beautiful, and the children always like to get out and go on a "nature walk" when we can.  This is the first time I have taken baby Benjamin on a walk down our trails.  I think he enjoyed it.  He was definitely relaxed!

   Yesterday I collected a bouquet of wildflowers on my walk, and made an arrangement for the dining table.  One of my daughters said they looked so pretty that they almost looked fake!

   Last night there was a full moon.  I always like it when the moon is so bright.  Out here in the country, where there are no lights except for a neighbor's street light which is hidden from us behind trees, you can really see the moon and stars.  When all the lights in the house are off, and I walk outside, it looks almost like daylight when the moon is full.  If you have ever watched an old Andy Griffith show and there is a scene outside at night, that is what it looks like.  It feels like an old movie!

"He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting."

                                                                       Psalm 104:19

Posted in Journal

   As I sit down this evening to type, I nurse Benjamin who can't resist craning his head around from time to time to see what that tapping noise is.  He is sleepy and I know in a few minutes I can lay him down for the night.  These are such precious moments and I relish them.

   Today, just as we were finishing up seat work, Grandmama called (my mother-in-law) to see if she could come and get Amanda and Rachel, and have them spend the night at her house.  She has been teaching them how to sew their own dresses, and I am super-grateful that she is doing this!  I know how to sew a little, and have made a few pieces of clothing before, but it is not something, at this time in my life, that I feel I can make time for.  It is, however, something that I want my girls to know how to do, and so I really appreciate my mom-in-law being interested in doing this.  Another thing she wants to do is teach them how to quilt.  Hurray for that, too!  So this afternoon, away went our two "big girls" with Grandmama.  That left Joseph as the eldest one here (he's 11 going on 12 in a few weeks).  He got to be in charge of the others while I went walking on our property this afternoon.  Fortunately all was quiet in the house.  Of course I am always within earshot if anyone needs me, but it is always nice to be able to take an uneventful, uninterrupted walk!  The wildflowers are all in bloom around the pond, and the yellow daisies (black-eyed susans?) especially look so nice - like they were purposefully planted all around by someone.  I guess they were - by God!

   Now it is time to work on the cook book, before it gets any later!

   We have been experiencing some strange weather here in North Alabama.  It has been sunny, and I can't complain about that.  But one day it is chilly, and the next day it is hot.  Actually I think we had 2 or 3 cool days, then a warm day, and today it was back up to 90 degrees.  This has been the pattern for the last week or two.  As a result, most of my household has stuffy noses and scratchy throats.  It is amazing how the temperature swings can mess up one's thyroid gland (which regulates the body's temperature) and as a result leave one more vulnerable to illness.  I have been administering some homeopathic cold tablets with zinc to everyone, as in the past I have noticed that my children who take these get over a cold more quickly.  I will make sure they take their cod liver oil (for vit. A and D and omega 3 esential fatty acids ) as well.  We use Carlson's Cod Liver Oil with lemon, in the green bottle.  My children have gotten used to taking it in a little juice like Juicy Juice (sweetened with fruit juice concentrates instead of sugar or high fructose corn syrup), and you can't even taste it really, except for a little lemon.  I was reading recently that vitamin D is important in strengthening the immune system to ward off the flu.  It is important then to get some sunshine on the skin in the fall and winter months.  If you stop and think about it, we don't generally have our skin exposed at all to the sunshine in the winter time, because we always have our coats on, and of course there is less sunshine present during the shorter days.  This is when most flu and lung problems occur.  So I am going to keep this in mind as the cold weather and shorter days approach.  Of course I am not a doctor, but I was an R.N. before I got married and I worked on a pulmonary medicine floor in a large teaching hospital.  We had enough pneumonia cases for me to know I don't want myself or my family to experience it if we can just as well avoid it!  So I will be stocking up on my homeopathic and herbal remedies in order to be prepared, and have everything on hand that we need, just in case.  And we will make the effort to get out and play in the sunshine a little everyday as we can!

   I consider drinking coffee one of life's simple pleasures.  I guess I can blame my grandmother for that.  When I was a little girl, we would visit my grandparents in Illinois.  My grandparents were life-long farmers, and my grandmother lived until she was 96.  She was an amazing person, and one of the things we liked to do was have "coffee parties."  She always had an assortment of homemade cookies when we visited, and she and I would sit down in mid-afternoon at her kitchen table,  for our coffee party.  She would pour me some coffee and add some cream and sugar.  I would pretend to be Mrs. Jones from a neighboring farm down the road.  She would say, "Well, now, Mrs. Jones, how are things on your place?"  I loved that.  I think back on that and it holds a very sweet memory in my mind.  Maybe that is why I enjoy sipping coffee and maybe that is one reason why I so enjoy the country and farming.  Even though we are still working on getting a farm going (in addition to our chickens), I think that must be in my blood.

   This morning, Amanda and I sat on our front porch sipping our coffee.  It is a lovely day today;  cool, breezy and sunny.  Perfect weather.  My husband left earlier this morning to go deep-sea fishing in Florida for two days with his uncle.  So Amanda and I were thinking about all the things we need to do around here.  I always have a list of things I want to get done before Bryan gets back.  Maybe this is from when he used to go on Army TDY trips, and I would decide to paint a piece of furniture, or wallpaper a wall or clean out a closet or some other intensive job and then say to him when he got back, "Look what I did while you were gone!"  Perhaps this time we will be doing good if we can just give the house a good cleaning.  It definitely needs it!

Posted in Journal

   I have been trying for some time to "get around to" writing on this blog.  My children are all into blogging, and it is just the kind of thing I want to do,  except for the time factor!  It is as my father-in-law said after he spent a few days at our house babysitting the children when I had baby David (4 years ago):  "Just when I got the breakfast dishes cleaned up, it was time for lunch!"  Isn't that the way it is?  No matter how organized I try to be, and how quickly I try to work, there is always something else begging for my attention.  Pretty soon the day is approaching midnight, and I mumble, "man, I didn't even get on the computer today."

   One of the things I love about homeschooling is the constant learning that goes on, and the constant interaction with the children.  It is good to get the seatwork done and out of the way, but the most fun is when we all learn informally.  I love reading aloud, and so do my children. (They like to listen, that is.)  Currently my husband reads aloud most every night out of the book "Unlocking The Mysteries of Creation."  That is one fascinating book that I would recommend to everyone.  It will whet your appetite for Creation Science big time, and make you thirsty to study real science (as opposed to evolutionary theory).  I have been reading aloud The Story of The World series to the children and the Little House on the Prairie to Abby and Mary.  It is amazing what they learn just from listening to reading aloud.  And how easy it is!  All of my children who can read are reading their own books, and sometimes just go down to our "library" in the school room and pick something out.  By the way, sometimes we "do school" in the school room, but many times, the children will sit at the table in the dining area and work while I am working in the kitchen.  I am close by enough to answer questions and help, but still able to make bread or clean up or start yet another meal.  Speaking of kitchen work, I have some I must get to now.  Hopefully it won't be six months before I log in here again!  Let's see, after lunch clean up, I will need to nurse baby Ben, put Beth down for a nap, then I need to get into the garden and plant those collard greens and cabbage and lettuce, then go for a walk, then do supper, get little ones ready for bed, have family devotions, probably do some clean up (and get the children to do their chores)  THEN work on my cookbook, hopefully.  All of this, The Lord willing.  I love the Lord.  I praise Him continually for His mercies and grace.  Our God is an Awsome God.

We are the Read family from Ohatchee, Alabama, and have been homeschooling for 12 years now.  We have 7 children, ranging in age from 16 to 20 months, and are expecting #8 in June.  We praise God and give Him thanks and glory for all He has given us.

     We like to refer to our homeschool as "A Place to Read" because we all enjoy books so much.  Over the years I have been a "curriculum junkie", researching every kind of curriculum and philosophy of education.  The philosophy of education at A Place to Read is best described as a combination of the Charlotte Mason approach, the Classical approach, and the Relaxed/Lifestyle of learning approach.

     We do lots of reading aloud, journal writing and notebooks as well as use some workbooks and text books.  Our oldest daughter has been using Cornerstone Curriculum's World Views of the Western World and has benefitted tremendously from this wonderful highschool curriculum. 

Busy A Place to Read students

The younger children have used or are using Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Saxon Math, the Sonlight Curriculum, Christian Liberty Press phonics, Modern Curriculum Press Mathematics and The Story of the World series and Language Lessons for Young Children by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.

Rachel (12) reading aloud "Black Beauty" to her younger siblings

     Last year my husband retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel.  He spent years as a Russian Linguist and we have lived in Europe and Central Asia, as well as all over the United States (literally from sea to shining sea - Monterey, California to West Point, New York).  Our mission and prayer was to some day settle on a farm in the country and have a garden, fruit trees, chickens and other livestock and lots of space for our children to roam.  God graciously has provided a place with 22 acres, and pond, woods and streams and meadows, and a pool.  We are in the process of preparing our garden.  At the moment we have 10 chickens, 3 cats, 7 kittens, and 1 dog.  We call our little homestead "Fair Hills Farm".  Someone once asked what we raise on our farm, and then said, "Oh, you raise children!"  This is our primary calling at this time.

     My husband now works from home and one of his big visions is to build a Creation Science Museum here in the Southeast United States.  For years I had a dream for a school room in the basement, with built-in bookcases, a fireplace, a place for a computer and a place to watch videos and movies.  Being a military family, we moved often over the years, and lived in homes of all shapes and sizes.  We had to make due with what we had.  But I always had a vision that someday, if the Lord was willing, I wanted a basement level "school room".

     You can see that God has wonderfully provided.  We have a calendar in our school room (which is really more of a library), that says for the month of April:  "We're always learning wherever we are!"  This could really be our motto.  We do our learning all over the house, inside and outside, on the front porch and in the canoe.  But it is a wonderful blessing to have a spacious and wonderful room where we can work at the table or on the computer or the little ones can snuggle on the sofa and watch movie.  It is really and all purpose room, and we are really enjoying it.  Plus, it is a safe room to run to in case of a bad storm or tornado warning.

     We want to encourage everyone to give their dreams and visions to God and wait and watch Him work.  He truly is an awesome God!

Bryan and Chris Read currently have 7 children (L to R): David (3), Joseph (11), Rachel (12), Elizabeth (1), Abigail (9), Amanda (16) and Mary (6).

The subject explains it!  We will try to keep it more updated in the near future!  Anyway, hopefully the next entry will be our school room contest photos and everything!

GOD BLESS,

-The Read Family

   Hello everyone!  It has taken me a while to post anything, so I am finally getting around to it this evening.  I am sure folks are eagerly waiting to see what a 42 year old homeschooling mom of 7 children (soon to be 8) does on a "normal" day :).  Actually, there is no such thing as a normal day!  But today was a particularly nice day because here in Ohatchee, Alabama, the weather was positvely beautiful and I couldn't wait to get outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

   After breakfast this morning, which was homemade bread toasted with butter and jam (one of the simpler and easier breakfasts!), I spent the morning assisting the children with their "seatwork" and doing some morning chores.  Before I knew it is was lunch time, and at my house, lunch sort of runs like a cafeteria!  My husband, who works from home now since he retired from the military, came in from his office out in our detached garage, and he got the leftover chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, spinach and cranberry sauce with bread.

   Finally, about mid-afternoon, I got outside.  I just love being outside, especially since we moved here to our place in the country.  We are fortunate enough to have 22 acres of woods, hills, trails and a pond, and I just love walking around the property.  I started walking years ago for my exercise, but I really love being in the outdoors aways from roads and traffic.  It is simply soul-restoring to be able to experience the quiet while walking and praying!

   Anyway, what I needed to do was plant my peach and apple trees which I didn't get planted last month when we planted the other two apple trees.  Now, I know those things were supposed to get planted last Fall, but the trees did not arrive until almost mid- December, and we had an unseasonably cold December.  So between that and the holidays, the trees got put in the garage in a bucket of water.  Atleast the blueberry bushes got planted when they were supposed to be planted!

   I had a few helpers today, and we took a little while to decide where to put them, then the holes were dug, the soil put in, and the trees were in.  The peach already has some pink blooms on it, but I have to prune it, so the little branches will probably get put in a jar for a floral display!  The most fun this afternoon was choppping down a hawthorn tree that was really in the way of our "orchard."  I know my husband has a chain-saw, but why use that when you can chop it down with an ax?  So I started chopping.  Then I let my 11 year old son do some chopping, and my oldest daughter, and soon, down it came.  There is something gratifying about chopping down a tree, even if it isn't very big.  And don't worry, we have plenty of trees, and we just planted 4, to replace the 2 we chopped down so far.

   Time to sign off now!  It is getting late and there are still some little feet running around that should be in bed!

   Blessings to all,

   Chris

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