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.

College for a Weekend

Once Nadia decided she wanted to major in Zoology, this greatly narrowed down the list of possible colleges for her to attend. Fewer than 40 colleges offer that major in the US. Liberty University offers two different tracks, and one of theirs is for those who do not want to become veterinarians. This past weekend we attended College for a Weekend at Liberty University. On Thursday morning we left our home around 10:00, dropped Milo off at the Seibert's home and then drove to Maryland. We spent around an hour with the Towfighis before Nadia, Paul, and I continued driving to Lynchburg. We stopped at a Wendy's to get dinner. We didn't arrive at Liberty until around 7:15pm. Stopping in Maryland added two hours of driving time, but Ian and Oliver were able to spend three days with the Towfighis. Micah turned ten on Friday. I think it was the first time the boys were with him on his birthday. After we parked in a parking garage, we walked to the Student Union to check-in to the event. Nadia then joined her friend Rory for games and ice skating while Paul and I went to my dad's house. Paul came back to pick her up a couple of hours later.

Friday morning, Nadia and I left bright and early so that we could park and walk to a biology classroom for an 8:15 class. I returned to my dad's house after we found the classroom. Nadia attended a second biology class at 9:20. Paul and I met her for convocation. The Vines Center seats about 9,500, but that wasn't room for everyone at 10:30 on Friday because of the extra people on campus for Parent's Weekend and CFAW. They use the basketball arena, which seats 4,000, for overflow when needed. We ended up in the overflow because Paul and I had to park much farther away when we returned. In addition to a time of singing, we heard from Cole Hocker, who won the 1,500 at the Paris Olympics this summer. Convocation is mandatory for those living on campus and is held twice a week. About 6,000 students also voluntarily attend a chapel service on Wednesday evenings. Although we went to church with my dad at Heritage Baptist on Sunday morning, Nadia will most likely attend Thomas Road Baptist (on campus) on Sundays while she attends Liberty. Our church isn't small, but our church is about 25% of the size of TRBC. After convocation we went to the dining hall for lunch. The amount of food choices available was impressive. After lunch we visited two different dorms, went on a "Surviving your first year" tour, and bought a sweatshirt at the bookstore before Nadia attended a digital photography class. While she was in class, I submitted her application, paid the enrollment deposit, and picked up the "free" t-shirt and blanket offered for those who applied and paid their deposit. The application fee was waived because we were there for CFAW. After her class was over, we visited one more dorm before we drove back to my dad's house. The four of us went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. My dad said he hadn't had a steak in at least 20 months. Later that night Paul dropped Nadia off for late night games on campus and picked her up two hours later. 

Saturday morning all three of us left bright and early for a tour that started at 8:00. Parking was no trouble at that time on a Saturday! After the "academic" tour, we went to the Snowflex Centre where Nadia tried their ski slope and also did a little tubing. We paid $10 for a two-hour pass, but she only stayed for 30 minutes. She prefers skiing in Pennsylvania. After having lunch in the dining hall, we took a third student-led tour before meeting my dad to see a performance of Anastasia. After Anastasia we ate dinner at the dining hall. In hindsight, it would have been better if we had eaten dinner on campus on Friday night and eaten at Logan's Roadhouse on Saturday night because they had very limited options on Saturday in the dining hall because there was a football game at 6:00. That evening we played games with my dad at his house and Nadia worked on her online college classes. 

On Sunday morning we attended the 9:00 worship service at my dad's church, and then we drove to Maryland to pick up the boys. We left his church around 10:30 and arrived home about nine hours later. Our stop at the Towfighis was much briefer than it was on Thursday, but we made brief stops for lunch, dinner, picking up Milo, and buying a few groceries at Aldi. If we drive from our home to Liberty, it takes about 6 hours including a stop for gas and/or food. There are usually other students from our church attending Liberty each year, so I don't think we'll need to drive down and back every time Nadia has a break during the school year. Rory is taking dual enrollment classes now just like Nadia, and both girls plan to start at LU in the fall of 2026. Rory's brother is currently attending Liberty. Although this was Nadia's first and we presume last official college visit, she has visited (and taken tours on some) other colleges including IWU, Houghton, SWU, OKWU, and Messiah. Ian isn't sure where he'd like to go to college so we might be visiting more than one with him. I think Cairn will be the first on our list to visit with Ian. Considering that Paul and I are in our 50's, it doesn't seem abnormal to have a child who is getting close to graduating from high school, but on the other hand it feels like the past sixteen years have just flown by. Liberty is certainly bigger than all of the colleges I attended or taught at. Praying for the continued growth emotionally, spiritually, physically, socially, and academically for all three of our kids! 

The last two pictures were taken from the top of the tallest building on campus.