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
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.
Summer Gordon
Literature 7
Literature 8
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
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
Chrissy Roberts
General Science
Middle School History
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.
Myrna Stoltzfus
Middle School Writing
Kim Thomson
American Literature
British Literature
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.