Instructor Bios

Kendall Allen
Kendall Allen is from Kentucky and earned her B.A. in International Relations and Spanish at Centre College. Currently, she is pursuing her M.A. at Old Dominion University in the Graduate Program in International Studies with a concentration in Conflict and Cooperation (Security Studies). Kendall loves working with students of all ages. Not only does she work for ODU as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Housing and Residence Life but she also serves as the Assistant Director of Scholars for the Kentucky Governor's Scholars Program during the summers. Kendall loves learning about other cultures of the world, especially through language, food, and dance.

Rosemary Ayres
Rosemary Ayres holds a bachelor’s in Language Arts from Christopher Newport University. In addition to teaching her own two children at home for over seven years, Rosemary has taught various classes including Science and World Cultures at several homeschool co-ops. She has also taught Religious Education for over 4 years at the Unitarian Church of Norfolk. She and her husband have lived in Chesapeake since 1991.

Sharon M. Barnes
I have studied oriental dance for 9 years under the tutelage of Sonia Monson at Norfolk’s Lakewood Dance and Music Center, and continue to expand my dance experience by regularly attending professional workshops. Currently, I am an instructor and choreographer with the City of Norfolk, teaching at Lakewood Dance and Music Center, the Norfolk Fitness and Wellness Center, and Fairlawn Recreation Center. I also instruct for the City of Chesapeake. I dance with The Desert Jewels, Norfolk’s premier fusion belly dance troupe and I perform solo at local events.

Deva Brockett
While earning her B.S. in Business from the University of California at Berkeley, Deva volunteered with Junior Achievement working with both middle and high school grades. Deva worked as operations manager for a Fortune 500 company for several years before deciding to be a stay at home mother. Deva home schools her two young children, and can be often seen knitting in her Norfolk back yard.

Lisa DeAngelis
Lisa has been homeschooling her two children, Lydia and John Warren, for the last 10 years. She holds a B.F.A. in Art/Interior Design in addition to a teaching certification from the University of Georgia, where she was first introduced to Tai Chi. She has been actively studying Tai Chi for the last 3 years. Lisa and her family are Navy transplants to the Tidewater area, which they have been loving for 20 years.

Ryall Dobrota
Mrs. Dobrota has a B.F.A. in Art Education from Virginia Commonwealth University and is certified to teach k-12 grades in VA. She has taught all grade levels and adults, however middle and high school are where she really thrives. Teaching traditional black and white photography alongside computer graphics for 5 years was her dream job, until the job title Mom came along. She is the mother to Thomas and Anne both preschoolers. She was born in Norfolk and grew up in Richmond. She loves to travel and has done a teacher exchange with Gateway College in Leicester, England. She has worked with several area photographers as an assistant and as a consultant, this has allowed her the opportunity to learn about the business side of the photography world. She believes that lives can be changed by a photograph and the story it tells, and wants that change to be for the better.

Tina Essert
Tina is a native of the Tidewater area, holds a BA in Creative Writing from ODU, is a certified Equine Massage Therapist, an armchair anthropologist and is putting the finishing touches on a Doctorate in Parenting. She has 5 children. The eldest is a college graduate and the youngest will be entering second grade in Fall of 2009. Tina lives on a small farm where she raises and markets grass-fed lamb as well as growing an organic garden and a flock of laying hens for her family's consumption. She is not locked into any particular educational framework but has a growing love for Waldorf-inspired homeschooling which fits nicely with her actual life. Tina likes to cook, write, nature journal and hang out with her kids, all of whom still speak to her despite imperfect lives. She lives just south of the border in North Carolina.

Mary Fien
Mary Fien is a native of Rochester, New York and has resided in Hampton Roads with her husband and son since 1994. She first studied Traditional Irish dancing and competed as a child in the early 1970’s under the tutelage of Desmond Penrose, A.D.C.R.G of the Penrose School of Irish dance Rochester, NY. Mr. Penrose was a native of Dublin, Ireland. In 1996, she joined An Cor Rud school of Irish dance, located in Virginia Beach, Virginia USA, and has been studying under the tutelage Heather Mailey-Esposito, TCRG, a native of Derry, Ireland. Mary also a long time assistant to the director of An Cor Rud, carries out a variety of business related duties in additon to teaching and assisting with classes. During her competitive years as an adult, she has won many first-place awards in solo and Ceili team dancing. She also had the privilege to be a member of an award-winning choreography and participated successfully in the Southern Region Adult Ceili Championship. In 2003, Mary performed with her school’s original team , a 12-hand choreography piece for the Virginia International Military Tattoo. Mary continues dance education via her teacher and participation through commission authorized Irish dance workshops.

Jennifer Greeley
Jennifer Greeley is a mother of four whose past life included military service, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University, singing with the BU choir at Carnegie Hall and in a rock band for a couple years and the National Anthem more times than she can count, a love of Physics, teaching swimming lessons, playing French horn in symphonic bands and a quintet, playing ice hockey, performing in school and community theatre musicals, teaching first aid and CPR, dancing, downhill snow-skiing, SCUBA diving in the Gulf of Mexico, flying a Cessna 152, giving lots of presentations and public speaking in the Air Force, and repairing and restoring vintage VW Beetles. She coached two of her daughters and their teammates to Division I Odyssey of the Mind in 2010 for the Classics long term problem. She now spends her time and energy nurturing her children’s love of learning all things, both academic and non-academic.

Ginny Harvey
I am a former physical therapist, former sailor, relatively new Norfolk resident, current Girl Scout leader, an instigator of HSoBX, and a long time homeschooling mom of 2 daughters. My subjects of choice are math and science, followed by history, which is a lot more interesting now than it was when I was in school.

Susan Hemingway
Susan is a longtime teacher. Her teaching experience ranges from the CA public schools, to church Sunday Schools, to several levels of Girl Scouting, to homechooling co-ops and her own homeschool for the past 11 years.

Sara Houston
Sara Houston earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech while focusing her undergraduate research on Microbiology. Although microorganisms were her first "love," she settled into a career of quality assurance for the eye and tissue transplant industry. She realized after a few years, however, that she was missing way too much with her children and their lives. She took the plunge a year ago to stay home and homeschool her children. She has always been a naturalist at heart and is looking forward to this new opportunity to share her love of science not only with her own children, but with other children as well.

Jessica Jones
Jessica Jones a northern Maine native and graduate of the University of Maine with a B.A. in International Studies – French and an Honors College graduate. She’s currently a PhD student at Old Dominion University in the Graduate Program of International Studies with a Modeling and Simulation concentration. She’s enjoyed tutoring students from middle school through college as well as spending summers as a camp counselor. Jessica lives in Norfolk with her husband and loves being outside in Virginia’s beautiful weather.

Carla Lindquist
I am Carla, a small-town Montana girl, wife of a retired Navy veteran, former Executive Assistant, stay-at-home mom, and tamer of the laundry pile. I am a lover of books, traveling, gardening, antiques, museums, and spending time with my family. I am mom to two daughters, Ashley (14) and Emily (11), who I have been homeschooling for three years. I am also mom to Sushi, a rescued Lab/German Shepherd, Sassy, a rescued Schnauzer mix, and Harley, a rescued cat with an attitude problem. I can proudly say I have traversed the country from coast to coast on several occasions with kudos to the Navy for allowing us to see our beautiful country. I have been to every state but Maine, Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. During our 20-year naval career, we moved 11 times and enjoyed each of our new adventures immensely. It was during one of those adventures that I graduated from college with a Business Administration Degree in Albany, NY.

Amy Moler
Amy Moler holds a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Hood College and a Masters degree in chemistry from Old Dominion University. In addition to having taught college chemistry for twelve years, she has also taught middle school science and High school chemistry. She has two children and has been part of the homeschool community for 6 years.

Lydia Netzer
Lydia Netzer is a homeschooling mother who lives in Norfolk. She holds a master's degree in English Literature from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has taught expository writing, literature, and fiction writing workshops to college freshmen and sophomores at the University of Illinois and Tidewater Community College. She plays the piano, guitar, violin, and the handkerchief.

Patricia Richman
Patricia is a home schooling and teaching veteran. She was taught at home in Pennsylvania for grades 5-12. She went on to graduate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s HonorsCollege with a Bachelor of Science in Education. Her teaching certificate is in Special Education, and she’s taught in classrooms for Kindergarten through 12th grade. Patricia now learns with her four children in their Norfolk home. Their ages range from 9-1 and the adventures never end! Patricia plays the piano, teaches piano, knits, relishes the garden her husband grows and hangs clothes on the line all year long.

Whittney Speed
Whittney Speed lives in Virginia Beach with her 3 children and husband. She Graduated from ODU in 2006 with a BS in Psychology with a self designed focus on development, and a minor in special education. She has been teaching her children since birth, although she let the school system help with one of them for a while. Whittney has always had a fascination with sign language and begun her relationship with the language when she was 14 while volunteering in the deaf preschool program in a VBCPS school. She has group taught in various volunteer positions, including a special education conference, religious education, and substitution. Whittney loves everything to do with babies, cloth diapering, baby wearing and good nourishment. She lets her creative side out on people's hair, but spends most of her time learning from her children.

Jennifer Taylor
Jennifer holds a master’s degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from Old Dominion University. She has worked in several settings including early intervention, pre-school, private office, skilled nursing facility, but most enjoyed the elementary school setting. She is a certified member of the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) as well as the Speech and Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV). Jenn is homeschooling one of her sons, while the other is in public high school in Norfolk. She has enjoyed homeschooling for the last 4 years. Jenn is also a religious education teacher for St. Pius X Church in Norfolk. She is the ombudsman for her husband’s squadron and has coached basketball and soccer for many years. She enjoys karate, jiu jitsu, hockey, spending time with family, watching her boys play sports (they are REALLY good) and cooking (but not cleaning up after!). She lives in Norfolk with her husband, boys and numerous pets!

April Taylor-Martin
I am a local artist and art educator, teaching drawing, printmaking, art history and art education courses, as Adjunct Professor at ODU. With experience teaching at all grade levels and levels of experience, I am also state certified to teach art K-12. I completed my MFA in visual studies from the joint program of NSU and ODU in 2006. In the past few years I have worked for the Chrysler Museum of Art running after school programs and writing curriculum, and I work periodically for The Governor’s School for the Arts gifted program. I also actively exhibit my work locally and beyond.

Melina Winterton
Melina lives in Suffolk in an earthship eco-home. She holds a Master of Public Health from Eastern Virginia Medical School. She teaches environmental stewardship, health awareness, yoga, research methods, and human sexuality to students of all ages. Melina has been homeschooling her two children for nine years. Melina is a co-founder of HSoBX and a former board member.