Mrs. Barb Anderson and her husband Paul have been married for 38 years and live in Clarence.  They have six children, who have all been homeschooled.  They began homeschooling in 1987, before IHIPs and regulations were in place. Five of their children have completed Bachelor's degrees, and the youngest is currently attending UB.  They have nine grandchildren, six of whom are being homeschooled. Barb is a Sunday school teacher and loves being around children.  She considers it a privilege and answer to prayer to be a part of the Rivendell Study Center.

Mrs. Eileen Arnold was one of the four founders of RSC and is happy to be back at Rivendell teaching Grammar Latin.  Her family enjoyed being one of the original families to attend Rivendell in 2008 while Eileen taught Latin that year to a class of 5th-12th graders!  She has three children, all of whom attended Rivendell and who are now all in college.  In addition to tutoring Latin at Rivendell, she also teaches Latin, Writing, Literature, and Music at another homeschooling center.  She also does private tutoring as well as piano and voice lessons.  She is thrilled to be able to continue her homeschooling journey. She would like to thank the wonderful families who are sharing their children with us and trusting us to instruct their precious gifts. Eileen was a communications major at Buffalo State College.

Mrs. Kathy Bader joined the Rivendell team in 2012. She and her husband, Bob, are the parents of five children.  Kathy received her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.  Her passion to teach young children is being fulfilled as she currently tutors Literature, Latin, History, and Language Arts for Lower Grammar, as well as Science and Bible. Rivendell has been a great blessing to the Baders.  They are thankful for the love, passion, and encouragement they experience as part of the Rivendell family.  Kathy's ambition is to grow and improve her tutoring each year so your children will benefit.  Most importantly, it is Kathy's desire to enjoy and glorify God in everything and to help your children do the same.

Mr. John Carey is a NY state certified Secondary History teacher. He received his Masters in Education from Niagara University in 2001.  He has taught for well over ten years and has tutored at Rivendell since its inception. His teaching focus at Rivendell is studying historical questions in relation to their impact on the Christian faith. Critical thinking skills are emphasized in the process.  John recently retired as a Battalion Chief for the Niagara Falls Fire Department. Along with his wife Beth he is a veteran of the United States Air Force.  They have five adult children who were all homeschooled.  Their youngest attended Rivendell for two years and is now mom to their marvelous grandson!

Mrs. Rose Hershnov teaches Formal Logic to Dialectic students.  She completed her PhD in philosophy at the University at Buffalo in 2005 and teaches in the Philosophy Department at Niagara University. She is also a fellow at the University at Buffalo’s Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine. Her area of research is the metaphysics of personal identity, especially as applied to early human embryology. She lives in Kenmore with her husband and frequent co-author, David, and their 4 children. They were delighted to discover Rivendell just as their oldest daughter came of school age, and she entered Lower Grammar in 2012. All of their children now attend Rivendell, The Hershenovs are Associates at St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy in Buffalo, NY, and members of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Kenmore, NY.

Mrs. Monica Lyszewski has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering, and a M.A. in Engineering and Management, both from SUNY Buffalo. For many years she worked at Delphi Automotive Systems as an International Project Manager but left to focus on her family and kids. She has a deep passion for math, and because of this, teaches a variety of maths and sciences at Rivendell Study Center, and formerly at Christian Central Academy. She immigrated from Peru when she was 16 years old and considers the USA her true home since it is here where she was born again and became a daughter of our Almighty God. Monica and her husband Ben have two daughters, Sammi and Sophie, whom we have chosen to homeschool.

Mr. Eric Napoli teaches Dialectic History and Rhetoric History and Writing. He graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1995 with majors in English and history and minors in education (with NY certification) and political science. In 2012, he completed a Master of Divinity degree from Liberty University. He taught in the public school system for about three years, then at Finney High School in Buffalo for four years. Eric began working as a youth worker in 1991, became full-time in 2001, and is presently a pastor at Amherst Baptist Church, ministering to young families, youth, children, and college students. A major part of his life is instigating mission-mindedness within the church and using mission trips to deepen relationships between the body of Christ and Christ Himself. Since 1996, he has regularly traveled to Holland, Uganda, Dominican Republic, and various other countries. He also sees missions as an essential component of everyday life, so a major part of his life and the life of his family is to serve locally and in many of the states and provinces around us.  Eric has been blessed to be able to travel with his beautiful wife, Kathryn, early in their marriage, and more now with his oldest daughter, Olivia. He and Kathryn have eight children. The Napolis began homeschooling in 2009. They love it and see it as a wonderful way for them to be together and minister as a family as much as possible. He has also really enjoyed the time spent this year at Rivendell and continues to enjoy the students with whom he is privileged to work alongside.

Mrs. Kathryn Napoli serves as a Dialectic Literature tutor. Kathryn is wife to Eric and mom to 8 wonderful children. Kathryn has been homeschooling her children since 2009, and Rivendell has been a part of her family's homeschooling journey, providing excellent partnership in her children's educations. Kathryn studied Secondary English Education as Buffalo State, and she loves exploring the depths of great literature in new and meaningful ways with her students.

Mrs. Tricia Prieto teaches Grammar and Writing to the Grammar level students who attend Rivendell. Her priorities are God first, Gregg (husband), their four children (Jesse, Samuel, Micah and Julia), church, and community. She began homeschooling in 2000 and continues to find the experience richly rewarding. She was invited to join the Rivendell team in September of 2010. Tricia enjoys the energy and the uniquely fresh perspectives of her young students.  Tricia holds dual permanent certification in both special and elementary education. She completed her MS in Education at Buffalo State College. She has been teaching since 1985. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, she taught in a remote village in Liberia, West Africa. After traveling around the world, she returned to Western New York to teach students with special needs in both the public and private sectors.  Through Tricia’s life-changing experiences living overseas, God has cultivated within her a heart for the nations. She is involved in mission work in Asia and Africa. She is passionate about helping the church increase cross-cultural sensitivity in how the message of Christ is presented. Tricia is an ordained minister and co-directs women’s ministry at her church.

Mrs. Cathy Reitz joined Rivendell as an upper level math tutor in 2014, one year after retiring from 25 years of full-time teaching in the Buffalo Public School System. She taught 7th and 8th grade math for the first 12 years, and then high school math (Algebra, Geometry, Algebra II and Trigonometry) for the next 13 years. She received her Bachelor's and Master's in Mathematics and Education from Buffalo State College. She was a product of the Buffalo School system and always knew that was where she was meant to teach.  She has been married to John for nearly 28 years, and they have two married daughters and five grandkids. Hobbies include doing whatever the grandkids want do, cooking, crocheting, gardening, and bike riding. They do the Ride for Roswell every year, in honor of and in memory of many family and friends.  Cathy is a member of St. Bartholomew's Church, and also a part-time secretary there.

Nicole enjoys tutoring Algebra at Rivendell and is just weird enough to think math is fun. She is a homeschooling mom of 3 and has been engrossed in this calling since their early days. Nicole and her husband Steve have been married for over 20 years and are very involved at Open Arms Community

Church where Nicole leads the Worship Team. Prior to having children, Nicole earned her B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Roberts Wesleyan College and her Ed.M. in Secondary Science Education from SUNY Buffalo, obtained a permanent New York State teacher’s certification and taught varying math and science classes at Christian Central Academy, the North Tonawanda School District, and then at ITT Technical Institute.

Mrs. Darcy Roger's father was the oldest son of a Pennsylvania coal miner and a one-room schoolhouse teacher. Her mother, the first-born of an electrician/farmer and his wife, was the best cook in western Pennsylvania. Darcy was their fourth daughter of five, and some of her earliest memories were of sitting in her dad’s lap with another sister while his deep voice with its Pennsylvania twang brought to life the words of a story. Then, her mother would take them almost weekly to the town hall, housed in a 19th century building, where they would descend creaking wooden stairs to the library with the privilege of being able to borrow six books for the week – what a delight that was to a youngster just learning to unlock the mystery of words and ideas! And always looked forward to were visits to her grandmother, the former teacher, and the dust-covered shelves of books up in the expansive attic where, after conquering fears about a scare-crow that descended through a hole in the attic ceiling (older cousins had kindly warned her of his existence), she first discovered Nancy Drew. Her appreciation for a wide variety of literature was further developed when a few of her older sisters laughed at her announcement, at ten years of age, that she planned on attending Harvard University when she grew up. One sister remarked, with a sneer (can you believe it?!) that if that was the plan Darcy had better expand her reading beyond fairy tales. The sting of that teasing caused her to resolve to read all one hundred of the classic books her dad had purchased along with a set of World Book Encyclopedias that year. She did achieve her goal, even though she probably understood only half of what she read. All of these experiences comprise the first, and though informal, perhaps the best part of her education.  She went on to acquire a B.S. in Education with a minor in Humanities during her last year of undergraduate school, studying philosophy and art in Denmark. She has completed part of her graduate studies in Counseling Psychology. Her teaching experiences include pre-school classes, private tutoring, teaching art at a private school, private music instruction, and teaching literature classes at Rivendell. She is the mother of four boys – all of whom were home-schooled, most of whom love reading to this day.

Mrs. Anne Marie Sheldon, her husband Jeromie and their six children have been serving in the Air Force for over 20 years. They relocated to Grand Island July 2019. Jeromie was honored to accept the position as the Operational Group Commander at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve station. Anne Marie holds a BSc Hon Kinesiology (the study of human movement) and a Physical Therapy degree from Dalhousie & McMaster University respectively. She began working in the US in 1999 under the NFTA agreement and  became an American citizen in 2011. She has worked in pediatrics, chronic pain management and eventually specialized in manual therapy/orthopedics. Since 2008, she has been homeschooling full time to provide stability and discipleship to her children during several military moves across nine states and living overseas in Belgium. She values people and loves to see her children and other students operate in their gifting. Subsequently, she enjoys teaching writing in a local homeschool group and has recently had the honor of helping coach  the Rivendell robotics team. Anne Marie is truly thankful to God for all of the adventures, opportunities and people she has met through their journeys. Rivendell has definitely been a place along the way that her family has felt welcome, educated and loved!

Dr. Jeff Spencer and his beautiful wife, Michelle, have been blessed to have the youngest three of their five children experience Christian classical education at Rivendell. They have seen their children be challenged and mature spiritually, intellectually, and socially. The opportunities to develop clear thinking skills, writing ability, and public speaking proficiency at this high level, together with a deep understanding of history, culture, and literature, would be difficult to find at any other local educational institution.  Jeff enjoys reading, writing, apologetics, tennis, and camping, including mountain climbing and wilderness canoe trips in the Adirondacks each summer. He recently retired from the New York State Court System where he served as a Court Attorney/Referee and Hearing Officer. He holds a Juris Doctorate degree in Law and a Master's degree in Public Administration. Jeff has taught a variety of courses at different local colleges, wrote a monthly column for Bar Association newspaper, and has been a guest lecturer at various legal organizations. He is excited to be part of the Rivendell tutor team.

Mrs. Elizabeth Zaepfel tutors Rhetoric Chemistry and Physics. Daughters Anna, Clara, and Rose attend Rivendell as well.  Elizabeth has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's Degree in Public Health with a focus on Epidemiology from the University at Buffalo. Before staying home to care for her children, she worked for the Erie County Health Department for several years in the Vector and Pest Control Laboratory (mosquito testing, rabies program) and as an Epidemiologist in Communicable Disease Control. She loves the sciences and is delighted to tutor students with the Apologia series. Studying science gives us a glimpse of God’s signature on the natural world and provides students with a firm foundation for evidence-based creationism.