MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL CO-OP FACILITATORS
Our facilitators

Kimberly Collins

Biology
Marine Biology 

Kimberly grew up in Georgia and spent the previous half of her life in Colorado. She relocated to Florida five years ago. Kimberly has three daughters and a son. Her son is a teacher in Colorado, and her oldest daughter is a homeschool graduate at college in South Carolina. Kimberly’s younger two daughters attend classes at LAF. Kimberly has a major in History and a minor in Biology. She was just shy of getting her secondary teaching license. Kimberly truly enjoys teaching the high school age group. She looks forward to bringing Biology and God’s Creation alive in the classroom.

Natalia Drumm 

High School Bible
Middle School Civics
Natalia is a secondary English education teacher turned homeschool mother of three boys. She and her husband of 17 years have a heart for discipleship and growing God’s church, so when homeschooling became the call of God for their family in 2020, they jumped in, though perhaps a little hesitantly. Coming from a background in education and having a heart for teaching about God’s creation and His Word, Natalia will be teaching middle school Civics at Learning and Families Co-Op for the 2021-22 school year and is excited to serve and learn alongside these classes.
 

ELLE CROOKS

American History
World History

Elle is a graduate from Iona College in New Rochelle, NY.  She has her MS in Education.  She comes to LAF with 21 years experience.  She has 6 children.  3 of them are home school graduates! 3 are still homeschooling currently. The oldest has a Bachelor’s degree and a nursing degree. The next is a master Porsche technician.  The 3rd is in his last year at New College in Sarasota. She looks forward to a long future of involvement with LAF.

MELISSA ENGLAND

Middle School Apologetics

Melissa England is a Sarasota native.  She has been married for 13 years and has a 10-year-old daughter.  She is currently a court reporter and has been for 17 years.  Two years ago she received the book Mama Bear Apologetics for Christmas and it opened her eyes to the world of apologetics… the intellectual defense of the truth of Christianity.  She’s jumped in with both feet, having a new appreciation for loving God with her mind.  She is currently working towards a Certificate in Apologetics at Biola University.

Allison Flagg

Yearbook (second semester)

Allison has been involved with Learning and Families for the past 6 years. She is the mother of two daughters ages 10 and 13 and has been homeschooling both since they were in Kindergarten. When Allison isn’t busy homeschooling, she and her husband enjoy remodeling houses together, all while running their own Home Improvement company in Sarasota.

 
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Rebeca Gingerich 

Middle School Spanish
Growing up in a bilingual missionary family in Central and South America instilled in me a deep love for God, people, language, travel, and the intricacies of culture, which I hope to share with my students. Having also had the experience of studying French and trying to learn Haitian Kreyol, I understand the challenge, hard work, and fun of putting together the puzzle of a new language and culture. I hope this class can encourage students to broaden their horizons and not be afraid of trying something new.
 

Summer Gordon

Literature 7
Literature 8
Summer is a mom of three treasured children and has been a member of LAF since 2017. She loves homeschooling and the quality of life and freedom that it brings. Summer and her husband are the recently published authors of Hope Remains: Seeing the Goodness of God in the Shadow of Suffering, which was written after the tragic death of their youngest son. Summer loves teaching literature at LAF and strives to make each class engaging while facilitating a comfortable, positive classroom environment.

Cari Gibson

Middle School Writing
Middle School Geography

Cari earned her English literature degree from UCF with a minor in history in 2009. She completed teaching classes and student teaching at Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. After having her second child, however, she decided to stay home with her children instead of further pursuing her career.

She has experience teaching at multiple co-ops, co-directing a co-op, and being a coordinator of American Heritage Girls. If her kids are participating in a group, then she wants to be involved too.

Homeschooling is the best decision she ever made for her children, and she loves learning with them every day.  Her ultimate homeschooling goal is to have her children pursue a life filled with Christ and learn to think for themselves.

 

Nick Gutsche 

Pre-Algebra
Algebra 1
Algebra 2
Geometry
Intro to Computing and Robotics
Middle School Chemistry/Physics 
Middle School Physical Science
High School Chemistry
Nick grew up in Sarasota and was homeschooled from 3rd to 12th grade. He dual-enrolled at Manatee Community College (now SCF), and after graduation, Nick attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, graduating in 2013 with an engineering degree. Nick served three and half years in the Navy. This is his fourth year teaching at Learning and Families, where he enjoys sharing a love of mathematics and science with his students! In his spare time, Nick enjoys running, playing the cello, and flying his drone.
 
 
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Heather Kelley

Literature 6

Heather Kelley is originally from Canton, OH (Pro Football HOF City) where she grew up with great memories of being active in various extracurricular activities such as Youth Group, Cheerleading, Girl Scouts, Choir, Twirling Baton, and Drama. After high school graduation, she moved to East Tennessee where she double majored in Social Work and Youth Ministry at Milligan College. Heather met and married her amazing husband Mike through church in Tennessee. They moved to Indiana and lived there for 17 years.  Mike’s current job as a Lead Scientist in Research and Development at Catalent Pharmaceutical in St. Petersburg brought them to Florida in the fall of 2020. Heather and Mike have two awesome boys named Noah, age 14 and Isaiah, age 9. 

Heather has educated the boys at home since the very beginning. They enjoy reading lots of quality literature, spending time with friends and family, and swimming at the pool and in the gulf. When asked what she will do when her kids grow up, Heather often answers that she would enjoy working at a library. She’s looking forward to facilitating the Literature class and enjoying great books with the students!

 

Mariel Marconi

Advanced Composition and Creative Writing
Speech and Public Speaking
Shakespeare

Mariel is a passionate reader with a Master’s degree in English Literature from University of South Florida. Her time teaching first-year composition at the university allows her to teach with an eye on preparing students for college and/or professional work. She is married, living in North Port near family, and in her free time enjoys music, film, gardening, theater, and building her home library.

Alaina Pompa

High School Art 1
High School Art 2
Alaina has a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree in graphic communications. She is a 10 year homeschool veteran with three kids. She currently works as a high school art teacher at LAF, freelance graphic designer, and artist specializing in drawing and printmaking. Alaina is an avid reader and nature lover. She is passionate about the arts, history, philosophy, poetry, slow living, and helping people experience the beauty of God in their everyday lives
 

Chrissy Roberts

General Science
Middle School History
Chrissy Roberts, a native Floridian and mom of five kids, has been homeschooling since ‘the beginning’ with all of her children. She has a degree in English Literature from USF. Her husband, Richard, is a Lt. Firemedic with Charlotte County Fire and EMS. They have been married for twenty-one years, and live on a little hobby farm in Venice, where they are heavily involved in 4H and raise steers with their kiddos. Chrissy was a member of one of the very first homeschooled families in Sarasota county. Her parents started in 1983, and it was so unusual that the local news interviewed them. She is very grateful that it’s not unusual now!
 
 

Sam Stahlmann

 

MUSIC THEORY: AURAL MUSIC THEORY/CHOIR

Sam Stahlmann is a college sophomore and LAF graduate who joined Learning and Families in 2008 when he was in Pre-K. Sam is the only member of his graduating class who can say he graduated from LAF twice, although the first was kindergarten graduation. Sam is an accomplished musician, teacher, performer, and director who has worked with Manatee Performing Arts, Sarasota Opera, and Bee Ridge Presbyterian. He is currently a faculty member at the Music Compound where he teaches voice and piano and music directs their theatre programs, and more! Sam founded the Learning and Families Theatre Troupe when he was 14 with the goal of creating an opportunity for his community to be able to collaborate and bring glory to God through theatre. This past year, he taught an aural theory and choral studies course and is excited to be returning to LAF in 2022/2023 as a facilitator in the Junior Co-op and in the Performing Arts department.

Email Sam

Myrna Stoltzfus 

Middle School Writing
Myrna married her hubs of twenty-nine years one year before she graduated from USF with an English Education degree. They have five children and usually a bonus child due to foster care. Myrna has taught on and off in the community for many years and has been homeschooling her own children for the past 14. She loves the Lord and aims to worship Him through her teaching.
 

Kim Thomson

American Literature

British Literature

 
Kim has been married for 42 years. They homeschooled their eight children through 12th grade — for about 30 years total. Kim and her family have lived in Sarasota since 1992. In college, she majored in New Testament with an English minor. Kim has always enjoyed reading and the study of literature. This is her fourth year teaching a literature class at Learning and Families. Kim is thankful for the opportunity to stay involved with the homeschooling community and to continue to share her love of literature with students.
 
 

Andrea Stanford

Government

Andrea Stanford is a Christian, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a patriot. She attended University of Arizona, Tucson and has since had a number of jobs, including civil and mechanical work planner and field engineer in the nuclear power construction and maintenance field and campaign strategist and coordinator for Candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Andrea is a member of American Agri-Women, Inc., where she served as White House Liaison, a member of Florida Agri-Women, Inc., where she serves as secretary/treasurer, a member of Women for Trump Florida, Inc., where she serves as vice president and secretary, a member of Member Manatee Patriots, where she serves on the Education Committee, a member of the Republican Party of Florida, a member of the Republican Party of Manatee Republican Executive Committee, where she serves as LDD Event Reception Chair, a member of Lakewood Ranch Republican Club, and a member of Protect Our Children Project, Inc., where she serves as director for Manatee County.

Annie White

Middle School Art

Annie has loved her full life with her best friend for the past 20 years and as a mom to five unique homeschoolers for the past 14 years. As a family involved in cross-cultural business ventures, the home/world-school lessons that have been lived together have built character and fueled daily faith in God’s grace, goodness, and sovereignty. Annie grew up in Idaho appreciating farm life and nature, indoor and outdoor sports, and travel adventures beyond her small-town world. She enjoys beach time with her family, coffee with conversation, gardening, cooking, trying ethnic foods, reading, making useful things, and learning as she goes. She is thankful for the opportunity to share her love for art and creativity with middle school students.