Tutorial Leadership and Tutors

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School Counselor

Zoe Life, Bible and PE/Health

 Renee is a pastor's wife and homeschooling mother of two boys. Her boys are two of her greatest treasures. Renee established a support group for moms of children with special needs. She founded Zoe Life, a Bible based social communications group for children with special needs. She leads the women's ministry at her church. Her missionary adventures began 20 years ago. She has seen God do so many amazing things in Baltimore city, Ireland, Nicaragua, Cambodia, and India. Renee loves people and has a passion for sharing God’s word in an easy to understand way. Her deep desire is to help those with learning differences gain confidence and a “can do” attitude. Her greatest joy is to see children who love Jesus and want to tell the world about Him. 


 

Tutorial Coordinator and Elementary Principal

Reading, Educational Therapy, Executive Function Class

Sarah Donegan has been a home school mom for the past 17 years, 13 years of homeschooling a student with extreme learning struggles.  She has been a private piano teacher for the past 13 years.  Teaching kids has been a life long adventure from Sunday School, Children’s Church, camp speaker, and Vacation Bible school.  She has a BA from Pensacola Christian College in Youth Ministry, with a minor in Speech.  Masters in Special Education and is a certified as an Orton-Gillingham, dyslexia reading specialist, and a NILD certified therapy (PCET). 

She is lifelong crafter, addicted to Chocolate, loves old movies, and enjoys reading missionary biographies.

Her favorite Bible verse is Jude 1:22 "And of some have compassion, making a difference".

Middle School and High School Principal

Reading, Math, and Spanish

Heather is a teacher who truly cares about her students and their  families.  She has worked with people of all ages for over twenty  years.  Heather has a BA in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Music  and a Masters Equivilant in Education.  She is a certified Special  Education teacher who has worked in public and private school. Heather  is enjoying homeschooling her own children.  Her daughter is in 10th  grade and her son, who has autism and adhd, is in 7th grade.  She also  has taught private voice lessons and is a part of her church's worship  team.  Serving others, whether it's as a small group leader, Sunday  school teacher, or life course instructor, brings Heather joy,  especially if chocolate is involved.  She and her husband returned to  Maryland and settled in Pasadena in 2005,  after traveling the west  coast wtih the U.S. Marine Corp.  Jesus and good books kept her company  while her husband was fighting in Iraq and she hopes to inspire her  students to love reading and Jesus, as well.  

Farm Coordinator

Reading, Educational Therapy, and After School Theater

Kelly is thrilled to be teaching at Learning With Grace!  She has a passion for excellence (not perfection), a drive to do better than yesterday and a desire to learn more.  If you can’t find Mrs. Blackman in the classroom; then she’s probably out on the farm working on writing a new play or script.  She has a Masters in Teaching, BA in Behavioral Science, and she is a certified Educational Therapist through the National Institute for Learning Development (https://www.nild.org/families/how-can-nild-help-my-child/).

Nature

Estera has years of experience teaching students in a vast area of avenues, from church, homeschooling, tutorials, and private school.  She has a student that has special needs and uses his testimony to what God can do.  She has a strong belief that every child is able to learn, you just need to find the right key.  Mrs. Contreras is German and also taught at the German School in Washington.    

Middle School & High School English and Math

My love for learning became a part of me in second grade when the teacher encouraged me to think deeper about my ideas. I continued to dive deeper while studying creative writing in high school, English for my BA at Washington College, and Curriculum and Instruction for my MS from McDaniel College.  I have enjoyed encouraging my students to learn and grow throughout 22 years of teaching in both public and private schools. I learn so much from teaching them and absolutely love being a part of their self-discovery learning journey. God has made each of them with strengths and weaknesses, preferences, learning styles, and purposes - and it is exciting to help them learn to navigate life in their God-given way.   I am certified for English Language Arts and Special Education. I hope to spur the same love of learning in my students here at Learning With Grace. 

History 

Thelma James is a wife and mother of three who has been in Christian Education for over 20 years.  She is quite excited at the prospect of teaching history to your children in the following school year.  Thelma enjoyed homeschooling for some years until she went back to work in Christian schools. Her last twelve years of teaching was at Rockbridge Academy in Millersville from which all her children graduated; the youngest of whom just completed his sophomore year in college.  Thelma has always enjoyed teaching and considers her work a ministry; thus, after she retired from full time teaching two years ago, she continued to teach at Rockbridge as a substitute teacher and now also tutors in history at her church tutorial.  Thelma has a degree in Education and in Educational guidance and counseling.  She and her family live in Hanover, Maryland.    

Science 3/4 and Elementary Math Gretchen is a homeschool mom of five exceptional children, most of  which have at least one learning difference including ADHD, Autism, High  Intelligence, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Dyscalulia. She holds a BS in  Elementary Education from Towson University, and has taught in both PG  and Anne Arundel counties. She has worked as a classroom teacher, and a  mentor teacher for new teachers, but her favorite position was working  as a Math Resource Teacher. This provided her the opportunity to help  children who struggled in Math classes, like she had as a kid, so they  could learn the material while also building their confidence.  Gretchen's teaching style stems from her two favorite quotes; "All good  things are wild and free," and "If I can't learn how you teach, then teach how I learn." She joined LWG in the fall of 2023 while looking for  the best homeschool placement for two of her children that have Dyslexia. She began teaching there for only a few classes and is now a full convert!  

K5 Math, First Grade Math, 

PE/Health K5-1

My name is Katie Kinch and I am a wife, a mother to four amazing children,  and a child of the King. Our family moved to Maryland four years ago, making this our 12th home! My husband, who retired from the military one year ago, and I loved Maryland so much that we decided to make Maryland our permanent home. My love for teaching began when the Lord called me to homeschool our eldest son, 12 years ago and we continued with our other children. I so enjoyed teaching and watching our children grow in  their love and curiosity for learning while fostering their little hearts to love our Lord. Over the years, I taught science, math, Bible and preschool across several tutorials. I strongly believe that the love and curiosity of learning is fostered at a young age. My desire as a teacher is to grow my students'  excitement for learning while building confidence in who God says  they are. In my classes, we have fun while we learn, incorporate lots of hands-on learning, inspire growth in our friendships, and pray with one  another. Psalms 127:3 says "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are  a reward from him" and I believe this strongly about my students - they are a gift! 

Preschool 

I received a love of learning from my Dad who fostered the joy of reading and trying new things. Beginning in 2011, I  worked as a research assistant for the University of Maryland studying bilingual elementary school students. God provided a job opening working with a special needs student in 2012 and I went on to finish my career at Germantown Elementary with nearly five years in pre-kindergarten.  For the past three years the Lord led me to teach the pre- k class at my church, Faith Community Church, once a month. I have one daughter, who also attends LWG. I began homeschooling her at the age of two and she has really taken off since attending LWG. 

My teaching philosophy is to love every child who is made uniquely special by God.  And to meet that child where he or she is at, to learn while having fun and to maintain that love of learning!  When I'm not teaching, I enjoy history books,  gardening, blogging, family time, traveling and gourmet rice Krispy  treats. One of my favorite Bible verses is: While we were yet sinners,  Christ died for us. ROMANS 5:8 

NILD Education TherapistGinger has been homeschooling her three daughters since 1999. She’s  taught a variety of homeschool classes including dissection, writing,  public speaking. She also had a year-long stint as a Classical  Conversations Challenge III director. She is a licensed physical  therapist and an educational therapist working with students with  various learning disabilities from her home office.