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.

100 years old

The amusement park that I have lived the closest to for the past 30 years is Knoebels. It's a unique amusement park in that they don't charge for parking (it costs $35 to park at HersheyPark), and they also don't charge for admission. The only other amusement park I've been to like that is Delgrosso's, and I've been to a lot of amusement parks. Knoebels opened on July 4, 1926, so the park is celebrating 100 years this summer. The carousel (still in operation today) was built in 1923. Some of the rides were purchased from West View Park, which had been owned by my dad's grandmother. The park has been owned and operated by the same family since the day it opened. I think that's impressive, especially considering the park had to weather things like the Great Depression. When the kids were younger, we used to go to Knoebels multiple times a year; we've been taking them there since 2010. 

Lately we've only been going on WVIA Day, which is usually the first weekend of May. We used to use all six free handstamps for family members (Paul's parents, niece, or nephew would be the ones to use any extras that we had). The last several years we've been letting the kids invite some friends to join them. Typically, they'd invite two friends, but last year I brought six kids to Knoebels. If the weather forecast looks good, then we also bring Milo. Many people bring their dogs with them to Knoebels. That's another way this park is different from most amusement parks. Once we realized that we'd have three nephews and one niece with us, we paid for another WVIA membership so that we'd have 10 wristbands for Knoebels and 6 lift tickets/ski rentals for Elk Mountain next January (compared to 6 wristbands and 4 ski packages that we've had for many years). Since the cousins that Nadia usually hangs out with were going to be in Ohio for Andrew's graduation, I encouraged her to invite 1-3 friends. She only invited Faith. If I had to do it over again, I'd have offered two wristbands to any of our friends if they had just met us there at the park. Usually, Paul and I would ride some rides, but because I was busy taking pictures and we had Milo and the kids no longer ride many of the rides we used to ride with them, Paul and I didn't end up riding a single ride. It was chillier than normal, which meant no one wanted to ride either of the two rides that involve water. However, there wasn't any rain in the forecast, which meant there were more people at the park on WVIA Day than there had been the last few years. The lines weren't ridiculous, but they were definitely longer. About ten rides weren't running, which also didn't help with the lines. Thankfully, all of the rollercoasters were running. The kids rode three of them multiple times - Twister, Impulse, and Phoenix. That morning we went to the first service at church, came home to change clothes, get Milo, and make sandwiches for lunch, and then we drove to Knoebels. We arrived a little after the park opened at noon. In the afternoon we bought a snack or a drink for anyone who wanted one, and shortly before the park closed at 6:00 we bought three large pizzas for the ten us of us to share. While we were at the park Yvonne and her family were driving back from Ohio. They arrived after 10pm. Jenna and Toby drove back home that night as they only live 90 minutes from us. Nine of the Towfighis left our home the next morning. 

The last time I wrote a gratitude list was April 15. Here are some things I've been thankful for over the last few weeks:

1. I love being outside in the spring. I enjoy seeing more birds, flowers, blossoms, green grass, etc. 

2. We got the piano tuned on April 20. Last year he replaced some strings, and those strings didn't stay in tune for long. I enjoy listening to Ian play the piano more now that it's all back in tune. Ian is currently practicing Flight of the Bumblebee, Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin), and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Bach).

3. To celebrate my 54th birthday I had lunch with Cheri at Panera, breakfast with Tab at Dolly's Diner, and got some ice cream for the family from Old Mill Creamery. 

4. Ian was offered two jobs for the summer. He accepted the offer from Joyful Petcare and will start his training on May 28. 

5. Despite Ian being whacked in the face at the first performance and Nadia's face being burned by a curling iron the night of the second performance, all went well with the three performances of The Little Mermaid. Ian was hysterical as Chef Louis, and Nadia did a great job getting into her part as the sarcastic Mersister, Aquata. Eight Towfighis joined me in attending the first performance. Cheri joined Paul and I on Friday night. Paul's dad, Jenna, and Toby joined us on Saturday afternoon. The kids received various treats in their bags at each performance (candy, flowers, etc.). 

6. There was a brief break in the rain on April 25 which enabled me to take pictures of seven kids who went to the prom together. I was very thankful that Ian decided to go this year since it was Nadia's last prom. Ian borrowed Paul's shoes and dress shirt. I need to buy Ian a long sleeve white dress shirt as Paul's was too big for him around the neck. He wore his own black pants along with the green vest, tie, and suit jacket that he wore in the Wizard of Oz last year. They just barely fit him, but it was nice to be able to use them one more time. 

7. The boys and Paul enjoyed seeing the Super Mario Galaxy movie on April 26 while Nadia was at work. They ate my free birthday popcorn during the movie.

8. Seven of us enjoyed seeing Joshua at Sight and Sound on April 28, which was my 50th spiritual birthday. We also enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden including a free birthday dessert for me (black tie mousse cake).

9. Andrew has graduated from Cedarville, moved into his first apartment (in Ohio), and has started his first FT job. He's planning to stay in Ohio for about 18 months until his girlfriend graduates from college. My kids have never attended a graduation before. They were quite shocked at how boring these ceremonies are (I showed them part of the livestream so they could watch Andrew when he was on stage), and Ian was surprised to find out that Andrew is his middle name, ha ha! We enjoyed having four of his younger siblings with us for a few days. We spent time at the playground on Friday and Saturday and at Knoebels on Sunday. 

10. Yesterday I went for a walk with Ian's piano teacher for about 75 minutes. I always appreciate getting some exercise, but I also enjoy being able to talk with a friend, especially one I don't get to talk to at length very often. Similarly, I'm meeting another friend at Panera today. I see her even more infrequently. There are many weeks that the only people I talk to are those who live in my house (aside from pleasant greetings at the grocery store or church), so I always appreciate opportunities for lengthier conversations with my sisters and female friends. 

11. Ian's college classes came to an end on April 30. Despite a few missteps on his part (ex. not realizing an assignment was due by 11:59 pm and trying to submit it after midnight, forgetting to take a picture when we entered Sight and Sound for his humanities assignment, etc.), he earned an A in Humanities and a B+ in Old Testament this semester, which puts his cumulative GPA at Cedarville University at 3.675 (he's earned 12 credits total so far). Today I registered Ian for his fall classes at Cedarville - Introduction to Programming with C++ and a Physical Activity course (5 credits total). Next year I want him to begin taking some CLEP tests in addition to the dual enrollment classes.  

12. Nadia and Oliver are done for the school year. Nadia's Introduction to Research class doesn't technically end until May 15, but she submitted the final assignments and took her last test early due to our trip to Europe. Ian will hopefully finish English (King Lear) and Physics by May 8. He has the incentive of spending time with a friend on Saturday if he accomplishes those goals. He'll have until the end of June to finish Precalculus (he's currently finished 3/4 of the class through ASU). Normally I'm excited about the end of a school year although I know by August, I'll be itching to start the new year, but this year it's bittersweet since it means Nadia has graduated from high school. I look forward to seeing her soar at Liberty next year. 

13. I'm thankful that Aer Lingus was willing to change our flight to Manchester since they cancelled our flight to Liverpool and that it wasn't hard to change our rental car reservation. I'm also hoping the War in Iran is truly over because there was a significant risk of the airlines in Europe not having fuel by the time we'd be trying to fly home from Dublin on May 26. I wasn't in favor of the war from the start so naturally I've been praying for it to end ASAP. I think our country's track record after WWII has been pretty much a total disaster when it comes to our involvement in wars (Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc.), which is why I wasn't at all keen on the idea of starting a war with Iran. Sadly, I'm not sure anything good came out of it, but I'm grateful it's hopefully over. I had hoped that Trump wouldn't start any wars just like he didn't during his first term, but unfortunately, that hasn't been the case this time around. Thankfully, I know the Lord is ultimately in control, which is very reassuring when I'm not liking the actions/words of our current President. 

14. I recently read a book that I really, really, really enjoyed called Theo of Golden. I hope Allen Levi writes more books in the future!

15. I've been elected to the school board at Meadowbrook Christian School. Praying that I can be a blessing to them over the next few years. I'm also hoping to begin leading a small group on Isaiah on Wednesday nights starting in September. So far three other couples (in addition to Paul and I) have said they'll join the group. Praying we get a few more people to join us between now and then. Another woman requested we do an OT prophecy book (because we're in the NT in Sunday School), and Paul asked for Isaiah in particular. I'm grateful for opportunities to serve. 

Almost done

Our school year is very close to being done. Oliver only needs to finish his final vocabulary lesson, and he'll be done with seventh grade. He finished physical science and math today. Yesterday we finished economics, which was a subject all three kids were doing together although only Ian and Nadia were taking the quizzes and tests. If I could go back in time, I would have bought the curriculum from Notgrass instead of Boundary Stone. Nadia finished 12th grade English last week, and she gave up on physics months ago. She isn't sure if she's going to attempt to pass the College Algebra CLEP test this summer. The kids will have two more art classes at MCS next week. Aside from those art classes, all Nadia really has left is to finish her Introduction to Research class. She wrote her final paper on quantitative research. She just has to complete a presentation and take the final exam. The course officially ends on May 15, but she's planning to complete it by May 8 since we're leaving for Europe on May 10. I will submit the paperwork for her to receive a Commonwealth Secondary School Diploma from the Department of Education in June. She has to be at least eighteen years old before we can submit the college transcripts for her HS diploma. Ian needs to finish reading King Lear by May 8, take one test and one semester exam in physics by May 8, and finish precalculus by June 30. He finished his Humanities course through Cedarville today. I want Oliver to keep reading every day. All three need to keep studying 1 and 2 Corinthians. Ian will keep practicing the piano every day. We'll keep watching World Watch News every day (M-F). Nadia needs to take her technology assessment for Liberty. I've already finished her high school transcript. Her cumulative unweighted GPA is 3.85. Speaking of "lasts," last night was Nadia's last night of going to youth group on a Wednesday night. She will be able to attend Bible quizzing practice on a Wednesday night three more times between now and the national competition in New York that starts on her birthday in June.

 On Tuesday seven of us traveled to Lancaster to see Sight & Sound's production of Joshua. Their special effects have come a long way over the last 14 years. I can't recall the first time I saw one of their productions, but it was definitely in the late 90's. The first time we went as a family was to see Jonah in 2012 to celebrate Nadia's fourth birthday. When Nadia was three, Jonah was definitely her favorite Bible story. I was pregnant with Oliver. Thankfully, the doctor allowed me to be discharged from the hospital and attend the show as long as I went by wheelchair. We've taken out kids there thirteen times altogether, but they've seen the same production twice (Noah in 2013 and 2025 and Moses in 2014 and 2023) so they've seen eleven shows there so far. Today they announced that next year they'll be doing Jonah again. Since I was pregnant with Oliver, Ian was 2.5 years old, and Nadia had just turned 4 when we saw Jonah in 2012, we're planning on seeing the show again next year. We'll make sure to go at a time of year when Nadia can join us. After the show, we all had a meal at Olive Garden. It turns out Paul's dad had never been to an Olive Garden before. I was pleasantly surprised that our bill (before tip) was less than $90 for seven people especially considering we purchased two additional take home meals (for Paul's dad and for Nadia) and they gave me a free dessert (black tie mousse cake) because we were there for my birthday. I figured it was close enough to my birthday (7 days later). We were too busy last week to go out to celebrate my birthday, and Tuesday was actually my 50th spiritual birthday. Ian and Oliver ordered from the kids' menu, and Cheri and I both got the soup, salad, and breadsticks option (which is cheaper than an entree), but still to spend only a little over $100 including the tip for a sit-down restaurant for 7 people (especially considering we also bought two chilled entrees). Nadia has eaten her leftovers and take-home entree the past two days, and she hasn't finished it yet. 

I've been working on next year's lesson plans and objectives. Sometime in May I need to go to the school district to get Ian's work permit, and I'm hoping to submit next year's objectives and unsworn declaration as well as the evaluations from our supervisor at the same time (if I have received them). Next year I'm planning on having both Ian and Oliver study biology and geography. It feels so strange not to be doing any lesson planning for Nadia.

I'm also almost done planning our vacation, which is good because we leave in ten days. My heart got a workout this morning after I read an email saying that our flight from Dublin to Liverpool had been cancelled. They had rescheduled us for a flight eight hours earlier in the day, which would basically mean we'd miss doing most of the activities we had planned to do in Dublin on May 11. The flight they switched us to is currently the only flight that day from Dublin to Liverpool on any airline. Thankfully, I came up with another solution. I called Aer Lingus, and they switched our flight to one that was leaving at the time I had originally chosen but is going to Manchester instead. I was able to change our rental car reservation so that we could pick it up in Manchester instead of Liverpool without any difficulty because I had booked it through credit card points. I looked into switching our first night of lodging from Liverpool to Manchester, but the reservation I had made using Alaskan Airlines miles was nonrefundable. So, we'll have a little more time on the road in the evening on May 11 (driving from the airport in Manchester to our apartment in Liverpool), but other than that the flight cancellation hasn't interfered with our plans. I'm hoping the rest of our flights will take place as scheduled. The kids are happy because I ended up booking a vehicle that is larger than the one that I had booked in November. 

She's registered!

Nadia and her friend, Maddie from when they attended a Josiah Queen concert together

 I have gotten in the habit of putting it in my calendar when I need to make a reservation for something. Sometimes I only am aware of the earliest date I can make a reservation, but other times I am also aware of the specific time I need to be online if I want to have a chance to get the tickets. I knew that the tickets for the Ford Island bus tour at Pearl Harbor and also the Big Ben tour tickets would disappear within an extremely short period of time. Unfortunately, I didn't figure out what precise time I needed to get the tickets for the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully, I was still able to get ones to the second floor, but the summit was sold out. I knew that the Kilmainham Gaol tickets were released 28 days in advance, so I attempted to get some on Monday for May 11. Sadly, I hadn't realized that the tickets are released at midnight (Dublin time). It would have been easy for me to get them on Sunday night at 7:00 pm, but I had no idea they sell out extremely quickly every day. Since we're only spending one day in Dublin, it was easy for me to pick something else to do instead. I've known for a while that Nadia's class registration for the Fall 2026 semester would open on April 15, but I only found out yesterday the exact time it would open - 12:01 am. They don't have morning people in mind with that schedule! I asked Paul to wake me up a little before midnight so I could register Nadia for her classes. I finished the task around 12:45, and then it took me until 2:00 am to fall back asleep. By next month she will have earned 50 college credits (20 through Grand Canyon University and 30 through Liberty University). Over the next three years she's hoping to earn a BS in Zoology and Wildlife Biology and minors in Psychology and Photography.  I signed her up for Chemistry, Biology, History of Life, Probability and Statistics, and a one credit university seminar that new students must take. Altogether those add up to fifteen credits, which will be the most she's ever taken in one semester, but of course the last three years she's been taking both high school AND college classes, whereas she'll only be taking college classes next year. 

Here are some things I'm thankful for today:

1. I love the warmer temps (although I don't need it to be in the 80's in April), and I love seeing all the beautiful flowers, green grass, and blossoms on the trees. Gorgeous! 

2. The kids and I packed food at Experience Missions on April 8. We started doing this in the fall of 2020, and given Nadia is about to go to college, this was probably her last time helping at this ministry. The project manager (Paul) says that we should cross over the line of packing the one millionth meal this fall (taken six years to accomplish that feat). We are experts at putting vitamins, dried vegetables, rice, and lentils in a bag. :) While we were there that day, Paul gave me a large container of coins to separate, count, and roll. I deposited the rolled coins into Experience Missions' bank account on Monday morning. As proof that I counted a LOT of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters - the total came to $541.32. I did keep the foreign coins I spotted separate, and I also kept a 1941 silver dime separate as it's worth more than ten cents. I'll give those back to Paul the next time I see him. 

3. On the last day of co-op, I received gifts from two students. One family gave us a board game which was about the National Parks! What a great idea they had! We played it for the first time on Friday night. Another student gave us some candy, a candle, brownie mix, and a dish towel. We appreciate their thoughtfulness! 

4. Paul enjoyed attending a men's prayer breakfast at church on April 11. It was his first time attending one of those, but he plans to attend more of them in the future. 

5. Ian was offered a job to be a SIT at Camp Susque this summer. He turned down that job offer because he decided he'd rather work at the kennel. Nadia's boss will be interviewing Ian in the near future. 

6. Paul and I haven't taken any ballroom dancing lessons for the last five months, but this week we decided to sign up for two classes that will take place in June and July. In one class we'll do eight weeks of intermediate rumba, and in the other class we'll do four weeks of beginning shag and four weeks of beginning bachata. We've done the rumba before, but the other two will be first time experiences. 

7. We got a new window above the kitchen sink and a new sliding glass door on Monday. They both look SO much better than the ones that were removed. I finished painting in the family room, but we haven't finished painting in the kitchen yet. 

8. Nadia earned A's in the first two college classes that she took this semester (Earth Science and Theology). Her research class doesn't end for another month. Ian's Old Testament class ends this week. I don't know what grade he'll earn, but I am very grateful that he'll be done with one class so that will hopefully give him more time to work on Precalculus through ASU and also for studying I Corinthians for Bible quizzing. 

9. Ian played the piano for youth worship last Wednesday, and he received positive feedback from both of the adults who were leading the youth worship that night. Even though we don't often sing hymns at church, his piano teacher has been teaching him how to improvise when playing hymns. This week he's been working on Victory in Jesus along with songs by Bach and Gershwin. 

10. Nadia continues to enjoy her friendship with Maddie. They do a variety of things together - go shopping, go for a walk, do a Bible study together at a coffee shop, get frozen yogurt, etc. Last week they made a run to Wendy's on a day they were giving customers a free frosty and a free small fry. Both girls will be attending Liberty in the fall. 

11. The directors revealed last Saturday that next year's musical will be Newsies. They had given the kids a "bracket" that contained I think 16 different musicals and gradually had eliminated ones from the competition. Nadia from the beginning had correctly predicted it would be Newsies. Oliver's first choice from the list was Frozen, and Ian's first choice was Matilda, but Ian is fine with Newsies. Lydia (from our co-op who is also in the musicals at MCS) was hoping for Frozen or Newsies so I'm certain she's also happy with the outcome.  I hope Nadia is able to see Ian in Newsies next year! I am planning on signing Ian up for some voice lessons now that I know he enjoys having a solo in a musical.

The last first day of homeschool for Nadia!

 This is my thirteenth year of homeschooling, and it's my last one in which I have three students. I've had a tradition of taking a picture of the kids at the start of each school year. Below you'll find a picture of Nadia from each of the past years of school. I also have the kids draw a self-portrait every year and write goals for the year. Last year we began the tradition of getting ice cream at Becky's after taking our first day of school pictures. We indented to continue that tradition yesterday, but it started raining a little before we had dinner. Oliver, Paul, and I were walking (in Oliver's case rollerblading) home when we got caught in the rain. Due to the rain last night, we took our annual pictures this evening and got our ice cream afterwards. In this post you'll also find the video I made about our trip to Hawaii (above), and Oliver's 13th birthday video (at the end of the post). I usually make 5-6 videos a year. I've made four so far this year, and I'm planning on making one in the near future that commemorates our trips to all fifty states and then one more in December for Ian's 16th birthday.

Our local school district went back to school last week. The Christian school at our church had their first day of school today. Due to just coming back from Hawaii, I didn't want to start at the same time as our school district although we've done that many times in the past. Many years we've had school on Labor Day, but I decided to ease us back into the school year by having two four-day school weeks the first two weeks of school. So, I decided we'd start on Tuesday this week and take Labor Day off next week. The first two days of school went fairly smoothly. Oliver was overwhelmed by the jump in difficulty from the elementary level science textbook which he used in 6th grade to the Physical Science textbook he's using this year. Yesterday I decided to return an audiobook I had purchased with a credit that we hadn't listened to yet with Audible and instead used the credit to get an audiobook of his textbook so that he could listen to it while he reads it simultaneously. I have to say he did a nice job in the science notebook yesterday and today. Math didn't go smoothly for Ian yesterday. I'm attempting to have him switch to Saxon. He did well with Beast Academy through 5th grade, and then he's been using Teaching Textbooks which I feel is too easy for him, and he thought AOP was too challenging last year when I attempted to have him use that for geometry. Hopefully it will work for him to use this Advanced Mathematics book by Saxon this year. Oliver is using Teaching Textbooks, and Nadia is taking College Algebra through ASU. I'll also do Life of Fred with all three kids, but we haven't started Life of Fred yet this year.

Nadia in August 2013 (Kindergarten)

Nadia at the start of first grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

7th grade

8th grade

9th grade

New school year

 In Pennsylvania, the school year for homeschooling is from July 1- June 30. Looking back at the last school year, we listened to 87 audiobooks together (some of those I read aloud).  During the first few days of July, we finished our first two audiobooks for the 2025-26 school year - Lines of Courage by Jennifer Nielsen and Urchin of the Riding Stars by M.I. McAllister. During sixth grade Oliver read 25 books and listened to 4 audiobooks independently. During eleventh grade Nadia read 12 books and listened to 3 audiobooks independently. Ian read 9 books during ninth grade. We went on 38 field trips. The vast majority of those were during our vacations. The number of Junior Ranger badges earned varied by child, but the maximum anyone earned this past school year was 13. During this current school year I think almost all of our field trips will be during our vacations in Hawaii and Europe and also in conjunction with our trip to South Carolina for Bible quizzing next summer. I think the kids could each earn 11 more Junior Ranger badges during this school year. 

Nadia is beginning her 13th year of homeschooling. She'll only be earning three high school credits with me this year. She's registered to take two theology classes, Developmental Psychology, Astronomy, and Earth Science through Liberty University (13 credits total). I'm planning to register her to take College Algebra through Arizona State University. She plans to learn to parallel park and get her driver's license in September. Nadia is employed by Warrior Run Petcare as well as Camp Susque. She works at the kennel year-round but primarily works at the camp in the summer although she does plan to work there some weekends in October and December. 

I submitted the form to register Ian to take his first college classes this fall. If all goes as planned, he'll be taking Speech and a Bible class this fall, and I plan to have him take Old Testament and a Humanities class in the spring through Cedarville (12 credits total). He takes a 45-minute piano lesson each week and is working on playing Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# by memory at the next recital. Ian will take the PSAT for the first time this fall.

Math - Math 7 (Teaching Textbooks) for Oliver, Advanced Mathematics (Saxon) for Ian, and College Algebra (ASU) for Nadia, Life of Fred: Trigonometry for Nadia and Ian, and Pre-Algebra 0 with Physics for Oliver (Life of Fred)

Science - Physics for Ian and Nadia (experiments will be done during our co-op on Tuesdays) and Physical Science for Oliver

Art - all three are taking an art class that meets twice a week at Meadowbrook

Drama - Nadia and Ian plan to audition to be in The Little Mermaid. Oliver wants to work backstage. We will also be doing drama in our co-op this fall.

Social Studies - We've gone through a four-year history program that went from Creation to the present twice. Instead of studying history this year, we are doing one semester of government and another of economics. The kids will also finish the second half of Dave Ramsey's Personal Finance class on Tuesdays during co-op.

English - This is the first year that I won't have any kids using a spelling or handwriting curriculum. Most of the writing assignments this school year will be related to our study of government. Ian and Nadia will be reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. They will also complete a literature guide for one of our audiobooks (Born Again by Charles Colson). Nadia will also read Jane Eyre while Ian reads A Tale of Two Cities. Oliver is going to read six books from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum, and Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan. Oliver will be working through level 4 of Fix It Grammar.

Bible - All three will be memorizing verses from 1 and 2 Corinthians this year. Bible is the one subject I haven't finished as far as lesson plans.

New School Year!

I haven't finished writing about our trip to Alaska. I will get caught up on that eventually, but this is our first week of school. The schools in our area had been in session for about 8 days before we got started due to our trip. We started our school year on Labor Day as that isn't really a holiday we celebrate. To celebrate our new school year, I told the kids we'd go to Becky's, which is an ice cream place not that far from us. On Tuesdays from 6:00 to closing, they offer dogs a free small dish of vanilla soft serve, and we had never taken advantage of that offer although we'd talked about doing it many times over the last few years. Today was the day! After we ate dinner, Nadia drove the kids and I to the park for our back-to-school pictures, and then she drove us a few more minutes to Becky's for ice cream. Milo didn't finish his treat. It was too much for a little dog. He loved it, but he was shivering like crazy after he stopped eating. He's never had something that cold before to eat! I said it was also an early birthday treat for him as he turns four at the end of this month. 

Nadia will begin her classes with Liberty University on September 16, and the co-op at our home will begin on September 24. Two other kids might be joining our co-op later this year. Nadia had her first voice lesson today, and Ian will continue to have piano lessons on Mondays with Lyn DeVito. Nadia has been faithfully practicing the piano, and she's planning on auditioning for district chorus. She has set a goal of finishing two levels this year in piano. Tomorrow the kids will attend art and chorus for the first time this school year at MCS. It will be Oliver's first time ever taking any classes there. All three plan on auditioning to be in the spring musical. We've been told they'll either be doing Willy Wonka, the Wizard of Oz, or Barnum. Bible quizzing and youth group also resume tomorrow, which again are firsts for Oliver. Our first field trip (not counting the ones we took in July/August) will be to the PSU Nuclear Reactor on September 17, and their first homeschool party is at the roller-skating rink on September 18. Here are some things the kids will be studying this year:

1. Ian and Nadia are studying chemistry (Life of Fred and Apologia). Oliver is completing an elementary level chemistry/physics and also an elementary level botany science textbook. Paul is doing a chemistry lab during the co-op.
2. In math the kids are doing Pre-Calculus (Nadia), Geometry (Ian), and 6th grade math (Oliver). We use Life of Fred plus Teaching Textbooks. Ian will also be using Art of Problem Solving. 
3. In history we are studying from 1708 to the present. 
4. Oliver is working on his typing skills, level 7 of spelling, and level 3 of Fix it Grammar. 
5. Nadia and Ian are completing a University Ready Writing course through IEW. 
6. Nadia is learning French through Duolingo, and Ian is studying Spanish.
7. Nadia is learning how to drive, and she wants to get a job so she can have enough money to pay for her car insurance once she gets her license. She has applied for a job at Lingle's (grocery store) but is hoping to get a job at a horse farm or Warrior Run Petcare. 
8. We are working on memorizing verses (or in the case of Ian and Nadia chapters) from the book of Luke. 
9. I'm giving more specific assignments for literature for Nadia and Ian. This week they both started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and soon they will also be starting The Two Towers, as that is a book many of the kids will be discussing at co-op this fall. Sometimes I will choose what Oliver needs to read on school days, but other times it will be his choice. Right now he's reading books from the Dead Sea Squirrels series, but he'll be reading Sign of the Beaver for co-op later this month.
10. We've started our fifth year of watching World Watch News five days a week all year long. 
11. We continue to listen to audiobooks together as a family. Currently we're listening to The Night War by Kimberly Bradley and Stellarlune by Shannon Messenger. 
12. In our fall session of the co-op we'll be doing chemistry lab, art, book groups, debates, and geography. In the spring session we'll be doing book groups, personal finance, drama, and chemistry lab.

I'm very grateful to be starting my twelfth year as a homeschool mom! Praying for the kids to grow physically, academically, spiritually, and emotionally over the coming year! 

Piano Recital

Ian's first recital was a duet recital in November. His first solo piano recital took place this afternoon. His teacher currently has 53 students, and the majority of these participated in one of her two recitals today. Ian was in the 2:00 pm recital. He played a Mario song called "Castle Background." The kids are allowed to pick what they want to play for this recital. In between the two recitals she hosts a reception. Everyone is asked to bring some finger food. After attending both services at our church, we did something we don't usually do, we ate pizza at a restaurant. Usually, we get pizza as carry-out, but we didn't think we had the time to go home as Ian was supposed to be there early to run through his piece before the recital began. Pop Pop drove from his church and met us at the restaurant. Paul and Oliver used Pop Pop's car to run home to let the dogs out. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten into the garbage like they did on Friday night while the kids and I were at the living history fair and Paul was at work. We knew a lot of the kids who performed in the recital today. I'm very thankful for the time Ian puts into practicing the piano every week! I hope that he will keep developing his skills with Mrs. DeVito for four more years. 

As for the living history fair, I think next year will be the last time Nadia will participate, and the boys will be at least taking a break. There were two kids who chose to do Elizabeth 1 this year. The other girl was much younger than Nadia. Another girl did Elizabeth 2. There was more than one Washington and more than one Thomas Edison. As the adults went around and asked the kids questions, Ian said a lot of people told him they didn't know anything about Robert Boyle. Next year I'll let the kids pick people from the 1700's to the present. Ian had a demonstration using a syringe and marshmallows to illustrate Boyle's law. 

Almost done

According to my log, we reached our 180th day of school on April 30. In Pennsylvania, homeschoolers are required to log at least 180 days, but there is no guidance given as to what constitutes a day so truly, I think the 180-day requirement is meaningless. For me, a day is one in which either we do all our usual subjects at home OR a day in which we spend multiple hours at museums, zoos, National Parks, or the like. Tomorrow will be our 183rd day. We're taking Thursday and Friday off because Nadia and Ian will be doing an Outdoor Adventure Skills class at Camp Susque that will include sleeping in tents, hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, etc. I have invited one of Oliver's friends from church to spend about 26 hours at our home during the time Nadia and Ian are camping. May 8th will be our 184th and final day of the 2022-23 school year although we have other educational field trips planned for the month of May. Nadia will spend about 50 hours in drama rehearsals/performances the week of May 15. Ian and Oliver will continue to do math lessons for at least part of the month of May. I expect all three kids to read almost every day. Oliver will also continue to work on his missed word spelling list which is currently extremely long. Nadia and Ian will hopefully put more time into preparing for the Bible quizzing competition, and I'm hoping Ian will practice the piano more. Between now and May 8th Nadia needs to dissect a frog, finish her 1,500-word research paper on sharks, take two Biology tests, and finish her literature unit on Pilgrim's Progress. 

As of July 1, my kids will be in grades 5, 8, and 10. We are planning to start a new homeschool co-op. I gave my kids the choice of also taking classes next year at the co-op we've been at the last two years OR attending some classes at Meadowbrook Christian, and they have chosen Meadowbrook. I'm not sure yet what courses they'll take there, but at the minimum Nadia and Ian will take chorus which means they can participate in the school's spring musical. We're hoping to visit Ecuador and also go on a short-term mission trip to Guatemala in 2024 so hopefully, we will make good progress in Spanish over the coming eight months. All three kids will have Renaissance History, Bible, Spanish, and English.

• Nadia will also take Marine Biology and Algebra 2. She will also be taking 12-15 credits of college classes through either Boyce College, Grand Canyon University, or Bluefield University. The plan is that she will take 15 credits online through Liberty during her junior year of high school and then 3 credits (Calculus) through Liberty when she's a high school senior. She will hopefully enter college having already earned 30-33 credits, which should enable her to finish college in three years. Yvonne had this idea and has already implemented it with her son, Andrew, who will be starting at Cedarville this fall. College is expensive and reducing the time spent there by a year seems like a wise course of action! I'm planning to do the same with Ian. The reason I have Nadia completing more credits during her sophomore and junior years is so that she can attend Meadowbrook Christian School during her senior year of high school if she would like. 
• Ian will finish his Python text, finish General Science, and take Algebra 2.
• Oliver will finish the Land Animals book and 4th-grade math and study Anatomy & Physiology and 5th-grade math.

In like a lion

Although we've had some really cold spells this winter where the temperatures have been close to zero degrees, in general this winter has been very mild. Considering I'm not a fan of cold weather, I've been thankful that the temperatures have often been a little warmer than usual. We also haven't had much snow this winter. Yesterday morning I awoke to discover a winter wonderland outside. I typically walk five miles every day, and I've been enjoying seeing and hearing more birds lately during my walks. During my first walk yesterday, the sun was still coming up, and the sky was incredibly gorgeous. The evergreen trees weren't completely covered in snow, but every other tree and plant was completely coated in snow. It was so incredibly beautiful! I wish I had used my camera to take some photos at the start of my walk, but at least I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone in the middle of my walk after the sky had turned blue. 

Our school district had a two-hour delay yesterday, but we didn't have a delay in our home because I had invited nine other children to come to our home to play board games from 1-4pm. Another mom hosted a game day for eight children on February 24. That time the kids played Azul, Ticket to Ride, Sequence, and Chess. I liked the idea so much that I decided to do the same. She had divided the kids into two groups of four. I opted to divide the kids into two groups of six. I put some games on each table that six people could play, and I also put one game for two people (Mastermind and Hnefatafl) and one for four people at each table if the groups wanted to split into smaller groups. I also had all twelve kids play Guesstures together (similar to charades). One mom sent a bag of chips and a bag of homemade cookies. Despite the fact that all the kids had eaten lunch prior to game day, they consumed those plus the two bags of pretzels that I provided. At the game day last month Nadia was the only girl; yesterday there were four girls and eight boys in attendance ranging in age from nine (Isaiah) to fifteen (Ben). One mom stayed during game day, and we were able to chat a little bit. Two of the moms mentioned that they will host a game day at their home in the near future. 

We began our fourth quarter of school last week. Ian is studying Python (coding) instead of science this quarter. Last week we finished the fourth and final Life of Fred grammar book. Tomorrow Ian and Nadia will finish the Life of Fred Beginning Algebra book. Because Nadia had almost reached the goal that I had set for her for the school year in Spanish on Duolingo, she has switched to working on French every day. She is trying to get to the same point in the French course that she is in Spanish. In Biology Nadia will be doing her first dissection this week - an earthworm. We're currently listening to Henry V during the time we usually study history. Speaking of Shakespeare, we have tickets to see a performance of Julius Caesar on Sunday night. 

On March 3, two men installed a new range in our kitchen. We had to hire a contractor for the task because they needed to cut the countertop and cabinets some to make room for the oven. I was not at all impressed with the quality of their work. I don't ever plan to hire them again, but all of the burners work on my new oven, which wasn't the case with my old one for the past nine months or so. I wasn't able to get a white one so it doesn't exactly "match" the dishwasher, microwave, and refrigerator, but it has some features my 24-year-old oven didn't have such as a griddle that can be put on the range, the oven can be split into two different ovens which I anticipate using when I need to bake/cook things at two different temperatures at the same time, the oven can be used as an air fryer (something I've never used before), the oven can be controlled by an app on a phone (I can turn the oven on to start cooking something while I'm at church on a Sunday morning), etc. We also got an estimate on replacing our sliding glass door in the kitchen, but that's not going to happen because it was for a little over $6K! I would never have dreamt one door could cost that much! We'll just keep using the one we have. I'm thankful that we were able to replace the oven because it was definitely challenging at times to cook when I only had one large burner I could use. My new range has five burners, and they all work!