Back to School

When I started homeschooling Nadia in 2013, she was my only student. Starting in 2015 I had two children I was homeschooling, and from August 2017 to May 2026, I was writing lesson plans for three students. Nadia moved to Virginia last week and started her college classes on Monday. Ian worked at the kennel Monday morning and started his college classes that afternoon. Yesterday was the first day of school for Oliver and for Ian's homeschool classes.

Nadia is taking 18 credits this semester. Four of her credits will be completed within the first 8 weeks of the semester (History of Life and University Seminar), and three of her credits will be completed during the last eight weeks of the semester (Technology). The remaining three classes (11 credits) will last the entire semester - biology, chemistry, and probability and statistics. She doesn't have any classes on Wednesdays or Fridays. She only has labs on Mondays. She had originally registered to take the University Seminar at 8:00 on Mondays, but this past weekend she asked me to switch her to an online section. She also chose an online section for the technology class. The rest are in person.

Ian is taking two classes through Cedarville (5 credits) - a C++ programming class and a health class. On the way back home on Friday we stopped at York Barbell to buy 210 pounds of weights as Ian wants to do more weightlifting. We split the cost with him. Other goals I have for him are preparing to take two CLEP tests and the ACT in the spring. He's studying calculus in math this year and also taking piano and voice lessons. He plans to be in the spring musical (Newsies), continue working at the kennel, and get his learner's permit.

Both boys will be studying biology (doing the labs in co-op). It's been a LONG time since they had science together. For social studies they are studying geography together. They are also doing a Career Discovery class together (Dave Ramsey). They are both studying John for Bible quizzing. Ian has already memorized all of the first two chapters of John plus part of chapter three. Some parts of English they will have the same assignments (reading some of the same books and doing some of the same writing assignments). Ian got a head start in English this summer by reading Screwtape Letters and Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde as well as part of Joni. Both boys will also be taking art at MCS and participating in a chess club here.

Oliver is taking pre-algebra through Teaching Textbooks and working through Easy Grammar Plus and Wordly Wise 7. Both boys are using different books of Life of Fred. Oliver is also doing an Entrepreneurship class through Dave Ramsey. The first book I am having Oliver read for English is Five Children and It, which was one of my favorite books I read to the kids, but he was very young when I read it to them. He had his physical on Monday. He weighs 112 pounds (49th percentile) and is 5 ft. 8.75 inches tall (91st percentile) which puts his BMI in the 11th percentile (same as last year). In the past year he gained 17 pounds and grew 4.25 inches. He's 6.25 inches taller than Ian was when he turned fourteen, and he weighs 22 more pounds than Ian did at that age.

Maritime Provinces

I usually have my laptop with me on vacation, but I haven't been able to close my lid since it was broken in August 2025. So instead of writing a post for each day of our recent trip to Canada, I'm going to just summarize the whole trip in one post.

On this trip we went to many National Parks. Our pass had expired in May, so we purchased a new annual pass at the Vanderbilt Mansion. Our purchase paid for itself on the first day we had the pass because the tours at Vanderbilt and FDR's home cost money for those over the age of fifteen. No tickets were needed to tour Eleanor Roosevelt's home. The kids each earned seven Junior Ranger badges during the trip as we also visited Saint Croix Island International Historic Site in Maine on the way to New Brunswick as well as Salem Maritime, Saugus Iron Works, and JFK's birthplace in Massachusetts on the way home. I had included an eighth US National Park site in the itinerary (Frederick Law Olmstead), but we skipped it so we could get home a little earlier on Sunday night. We didn't need to buy an annual pass for the Canadian national parks because they are free for everyone from June 19- September 7. The only exception was we did pay for a guided tour at the Fortress of Louisbourg. While we were in Canada the kids also earned some Xplorers dog tags. This is the Canadian version of the Junior Ranger program. In 2018 the kids completed the Xplorers program at Fort George in Ontario. On this trip they earned one at Fundy National Park (New Brunswick), Alexander Graham Bell (Nova Scotia), Signal Hill (Newfoundland), and Green Gables Heritage (Prince Edward Island). We had to pay $4 each for the kids to do the one on PEI. There have been a few times over the years that we've had to pay for the kids to do one in the US. At several sites the Xplorers program has been eliminated in Canada so the kids were not able to earn a dog tag at the Citadel in Halifax, the Fortress of Louisbourg, or Gros Morne National Park. We didn't end up hiking at Terra Nova National Park or Cape Breton as planned, and we were at Cape Spear before the visitor center opened. Of all the National Park sites we visited, Gros Morne was my favorite. We went on several hikes there and also took a two-hour boat tour of the Western Brook Pond, which is a gorgeous site (reminded us of Alaska). On one of the hikes we were walking on the mantle. Just counting US National Park sites, our family has now been to 182 of them (out of 433 total). Nadia has earned 238 Junior Ranger badges, Ian has earned 237, and Oliver has earned 226. 

We also enjoyed some beautiful places that were not part of a National Park. We hiked to the Hopewell Rocks. Unfortunately, it was at high tide. I wish it had worked out to visit there at low tide like we did when I went with my family 25+ years ago. We walked on the rocks near the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, saw the sea arch and Spillars Cove in Bonavista, walked between Cavendish Beach and the Cliffs on PEI, and hiked the gorgeous Skerwink Tral in Port Rexton. That hike was one of my most favorite experiences of the vacation. In terms of animals, the highlights were seeing many puffins, seagulls, and cormorants near the shore of Newfoundland and also kayaking near a harbor seal colony off the coast of Nova Scotia. Paul has the most diverse interests of anyone in our family, so I think he enjoyed almost all of the activities. Some of his favorite historical sites were the Maritime Museum in Halifax, Halifax Citadel, Fortress of Louisbourg, Signal Hill, and Saugus Iron Works. 

We were gone for twelve nights. Two of those were spent on an overnight ferry going between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Seven nights we stayed at a hotel, and five of those mornings we enjoyed a free breakfast. Two of us could have had a free breakfast at The Guv'nor in St. John's, but since it was only for two people and the restaurant didn't open until 8:00 am, none of us had breakfast there. Three nights we stayed at an Airbnb. The mattress that Paul and I found to be the most comfortable was the one in Rocky Harbour, NL. At two of the hotels, I was able to book a room that had three queen beds, which was nice as typically Nadia sleeps on a couch. One Airbnb I booked had three bedrooms, so Nadia got her own bedroom that night, and Oliver slept on a couch so downstairs so that he and Ian didn't need to share a bed. On Cape Breton I had to book two separate rooms, so Nadia got her own bed that night as well. Ian slept well on the ferry going in both directions, but most of us got more sleep on the ferry back to Nova Scotia. I definitely got more sleep on the ferry than I do on a red-eye flight. I was able to do two loads of laundry at the Airbnb in Bonavista on the evening of our 25th wedding anniversary. 

Not counting the two ferry rides, we had three other outings that involved being on the water. The first was a four-hour kayaking trip off of Nova Scotia. The second was the boat tour of the Western Brook Pond that was almost cancelled due to fog. I'm very glad it actually took place. The third was what Oliver chose since we were on vacation on his 14th birthday. We took a two-hour tidal bore rapids tour that included mud sliding. I wish I had photos of the kids covered in mud. I was especially surprised that Ian changed his mind and participated in that part of the outing because since he was a toddler he has never liked getting dirty/messy. The tides change more dramatically in the Bay of Fundy than anywhere on the planet. Thankfully the titanium in the sand keeps the water nice and warm. 

Since we were traveling in our own vehicle, we were able to bring along more food from home. In general, we tried to save money when it came to food expenses. Some highlights included the soft ice cream that we had near the entrance to Fundy National Park, eating a donair in Halifax (I was the only one who tried one), getting sandwiches from a grocery store multiple times, getting breakfast sandwiches and/or donuts at Tim Hortons and Robin's Donuts multiple times. eating pizza twice (Paul's favorite) and eating a meal at Market Family Cafe in St. John's. The food there was amazing and reasonably priced. Four of us thought we had our best meal on the trip at that restaurant. The boys really enjoyed eating at A&W one time as they loved the root beer served in a chilled glass mug. The most frustrating evening for eating was on August 10 because a crow damaged a transformer and caused a power outage that lasted 44 hours. The restaurants were all closed, and everyone was buying the food at the gas station and pharmacy so there wasn't much available. 

In general, my least two favorite aspects of a vacation are #1 not getting much sleep due to all different mattresses and #2 how exhausting and unpleasant it is to spend many hours in an airplane, ferry, or van. Not counting the nights on the ferry, I think the night we had the hardest time sleeping was the Airbnb we stayed in on August 7 because it was way too hot inside. I slept on the couch because I couldn't sleep upstairs due to the heat. As far as time spent traveling, we drove a little over 4K miles in 13 days. Eek! Then when we came home, we were home for less than 48 hours before we drove to Yvonne's house in Maryland and then on to Virginia to take Nadia to college. That round trip was a little shy of 1K miles, so we drove a little over 5K miles in 17 days. Our odometer turned over to 100,000 miles near the end of our trip home from Maryland this morning. We've had the vehicle for 5 years. I'm hoping to do VERY little driving in the coming months. I had finished the license plate game at the end of July, but Oliver wanted us to start again. So far in the month of August, we saw license plates for all ten provinces of Canada. Nine of the provinces we saw multiple license plantes, but we only spotted Saskatchewan one time. By the end of our vacation, we had seen plates from 40 of the 50 states (plus we saw DC). By the time we came home from taking Nadia to college, we had seen 46 of them. The ones we are still looking for are Arkansas, Kansas, North Dakota, and New Mexico. Paul and I shared the driving. As was the case in Europe, we encountered a lot more roundabouts than we do here in the US. We were in three different time zones. Atlantic is one hour ahead of Eastern, and Newfoundland is 1/2 an hour ahead of Atlantic. During the drives Nadia read many books (some on her Kindle as well as some physical books that she brought). Ian, Oliver, Paul, and I listened to all of Priest and part of Warrior by Jared Dodd. Ian played a LOT of chess on his phone. Both boys also played with the Nintendo Switch. Thanks to a free trial of SiriusXM, we also listened to some music although it was challenging to get a signal on Newfoundland. 

I have now been to 8 of Canada's 10 provinces as I went to 7 of them with my parents. Paul and the kids have now been to 5 of the provinces as they've spent time in Ontario on more than one occasion. If all goes as planned, we will travel to British Columbia and Alberta next summer with Nadia after she finishes her internship. Our next vacation will probably be to Utah (with a little time in NV, CA, and ID) without Nadia in the spring. We're planning to fly for both of those trips, so I hope those trips involve a lot less than 4K miles of driving, but I'm glad I finally made it to Newfoundland for the first time. It's my favorite province of the five that the kids have visited. 

Fifty Nifty

 

In July 2017, I started keeping track of license plates I saw to see if I could spot one from every state. Some years I have achieved the goal. Some years I found 47-49 of them. I usually start over at the beginning of each new year. Last year I didn't find my last one (Wyoming) until the end of December, when we were driving in Illinois to celebrate Christmas with my extended family. Because our vacation in May was in Europe, I had decided in January to take the year off. Then in the spring I saw a Hawaii license plate when I was parking for the boys' orthodontist appointment. Hawaii is typically one of the hardest ones for me to find (not counting last year when we traveled there). I thought maybe I should play the game this year after all, but then again didn't actually start making a list. Over the next couple of months I continued to spot some of the hardest ones (North Dakota and Wyoming), so at that point I felt I must play the game again this year. Even though I didn't start until late in the spring, I was down to only needing eight more states by early June. The last seven were Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Montana, and South Dakota. I figured the hardest one would be South Dakota, and that was my 48th one to spot. Ironically, I saw that one in our church parking lot when I was picking up Nadia after she attended a camp at Messiah University with our youth group in July. I knew at that point it would not be hard to see all fifty this year because I've never had trouble finding Arkansas or Alabama before. I spotted the last one (Alabama) on our drive down to Maryland on July 31, so this was by far the quickest I finished the game, considering I didn't even start in January as I usually have. On the way home from Maryland on August 2, Oliver decided to start playing the game again. Time will tell if we really do try to see them all again over the next five months. It's funny how something so simple can bring me such joy, but spotting those last few really puts a big smile on my face. 

It's been almost four weeks since I wrote a gratitude list, and I won't have a laptop while we're on vacation in Canada, so I will write one today. 

1. The boys enjoyed their free slurpees at 7-Eleven on July 11. I also enjoyed a lunch date at Panera with Ian that day before he played D&D at the library with some friends from church. 

2. My favorite ice cream is chocolate/peanut butter twist (soft serve). I never had any in 2025. I was thrilled to discover in July that a place in Lewisburg was selling it. I had it twice last month after not having any for two years. Yum! One of the visits was with Ian, and the other visit was with both boys. Oliver's top choice is a peanut butter milkshake. Ian's favorite is a peanut butter cup "blizzard" (every place has a different name for that type of treat). 

3. I enjoyed teaching from Zechariah 5-10 in our Sunday School class on July 12 and 19. 

4. Everything went pretty smoothly when we watched Cooper for about a week in July. 

5. Paul only had to spend one day at the courthouse for jury duty since he wasn't one of the 14 chosen for the jury. Cheri helped out with bringing Paul home when we only had one car due to Nadia having the Subaru at camp. 

6. The boys enjoyed doing Stronghold camp for the fourth year in a row. They'd like to join a club. We shall see if Ian actually has time for that or not.

7. The boys and I were able to go Christmas caroling in July at a nursing home. I was the pianist. 

8. Ian has been enjoying his voice lessons. I enjoy hearing him practice at home. He's had five lessons so far. He wants to continue taking lessons during the school year. We haven't worked out what day/time those will take place yet. 

9. Nadia enjoyed spending time with Faith and Abby at Generate Camp. We paid for 50% of the cost. Nadia was supposed to cover the other 50%, but someone else paid for her portion of the cost.

10. Paul took the boys bowling on July 22. 

11. Dad and Karen got married on July 18, and they had a lovely honeymoon in North Carolina. Paul, Oliver, Milo, and I met Karen at Yvonne's house on August 1.

12. Yvonne gave birth to Trevor James (her 8th son) on July 16. We met Trevor on July 31.

13. Ian had fun at Toby's grandparents' river house from July 31 - August 2. Joel and Nathan were also there in addition to some of Toby's siblings and friends. 

14. Nadia worked at Camp Susque for six weeks this summer. She came home on August 1 while the rest of us were in Maryland. She served as substitute head cook for a day a few times and did well at the job, so they asked her if she'd be willing to serve as head cook in the future. The head cook is paid more than the other support staff. She said she would be willing to be head cook for the winter camp Ian plans to attend in December, and if she ends up working at Camp Susque next summer, she is willing to be the head cook then. She's not sure at this point if she'll have an internship next summer or work at Camp Susque one last summer. She received a free hat as that is the gift they give staff who have worked there three years. A different gift is given to those who work there for five years, but I doubt she'll work there five years in a row. 

15. Our van barely passed the annual inspection this summer because the tires were very close to the minimum tread depth. I had seen that Bastian would periodically have a special where if you buy three tires, you get one free. I was hoping to take advantage of that deal, but I also knew we needed to get new tires before our trip to Canada, as we'll be driving thousands of miles. Thankfully, they issued the deal last Tuesday, and I was one of the first 25 customers to claim it. We got our four new tires yesterday and only paid for three of them (which meant we saved a little over $200). Paul took the van to the appointment because I had a committee meeting at MCS yesterday morning.