Mission Statement
Our mission is to serve homeschooling families through a Christ-centered hybrid model of education. Our goals are to offer support for home education, to provide a Charlotte mason-inspired classroom experience, to promote God-honoring friendships, and to nurture a genuine love for learning in our students.
Our Approach
We are a Christian hybrid program inspired by the methods of Charlotte Mason and classical education. Our focus is to come along side homeschooling families and partner with them by providing two days of tutor-led, on-site learning and optional lesson plans for your days at home. Our program meets at our security-staffed facility in Saylorsburg on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9am-3pm. On-site days consist of shorter, age-appropriate class times with a push for educating the whole child through rich literature, character building, and multiple opportunities for outdoor play and learning. We offer multiple subject areas including Bible, math, language arts/phonics, history, science/nature study, artist/composer study, art and more during our days here on site. We would love to team up with you and support you on your homeschooling journey.
Meet Our Staff
Jillian Ripley
Co-Founder - CEO
Jillian was born and raised in the East Stroudsburg area of Pennsylvania. She is a wife and mother of three and has seven years of homeschooling experience. Jillian has her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education and seven years of teaching experience at a private school. Opening and running a school has always been a dream of hers. She has a passion for home education and she wants to share it with you.
Lindsay Medina
Co-Founder - COO
Lindsay was born and raised near the shores of South Jersey. She is a wife and mother of six with a passion for honoring God, loving children, and serving families. She has been homeschooling for ten years after spending five years working with children as a pediatric nurse. She is excited to have opportunity to offer support and encouragement to the homeschooling community.
Jen Smoke
Director
Jen was born and raised in Pennsylvania and currently resides in Mount Bethel with her three daughters. She is excited to be in her sixth year homeschooling! She serves her church in several ministries, including an archery club held at Mount Eaton Church. A voracious reader of homeschooling and Charlotte Mason books, she loves to share homeschool resources and to encourage new homeschooling parents. She and her family also love hiking, camping, and all forms of wilderness adventures.
Debra Stettler
Administrative Assistant
Debra was born and raised in New Jersey and later moved to Pennsylvania. She is a wife of 39 years and counting! She has raised four children and is blessed with seven grandchildren. She loves the Lord and enjoys sharing that love with all of our students and families.
Cindy Witten
Kindergarten/1st Grade Instructor
Bio Coming Soon.
Alyssa Shetler
1st-2nd Grade Instructor
Bio Coming Soon.
Maggie Miller
3rd/4th Grade Instructor
Bio Coming Soon.
Erin Hummel
Middle School Instructor's Aide
Erin is rooted in an imperfect, life-long relationship with Jesus Christ. She is a devoted wife of 14 years and a feisty, adventurous mama of five. Born and raised in Bucks County, PA, she attended non-denominational, Bible-teaching churches and Christian schools. Erin worked as a BSN, RN for 17 years while raising her family and serving through church ministry. Most recently, Erin resigned from her career and moved to Albrightsville, PA where she is now home full-time with her family. Her background in nursing along with her late mother's love of life-long learning and encouragement of home education has spurred her on to dive into homeschooling the past four years. Erin tries to foster an awareness of the need of God’s grace, His gift of a Redeeming Savior through Jesus, the leadership of Jesus's life and teaching form God's word on a daily basis. Erin loves photography, all things holistic health, soaking-in nature, and finds joy in exploring new places through daily adventures.
Paul James
5th-8th Grade Instructor
Paul James was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, joined the Navy after graduating high school and served for 21 years. He is a devout Christian, a father of 3 daughters and 1 son and has 3 grandchildren. In addition, he is the West Easton Borough Council President, sits on the Easton Area Joint Sewer Authority, and serves as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Borough of West Easton.
Paul brings a plethora of life experiences, being in the Navy and traveling the world, as well as working for a number of different manufacturing facilities as a Technical Training Specialist. He is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with a bachelor’s degree in education. In addition, was an educator in the Navy, Teacher at PPL, and a Manager of Training at JBS Foods. The beauty of all these experiences is dealing with all the challenges posed at all these different locations with documented success.
Paul loves his church where he is part of the Men’s ministry and a sound board engineer for Sunday services. He loves creating projects from wood, riding his motorcycle, and spending time with his family, who live in Bangor, Detroit and Chicago. He has found great joy in working at Grace, helping the next generation understand God and their responsibilities as young adults in our society. His hope is that he has done his very best to prepare them for what lies ahead.
Lisa Ruhnke
Nature Study & Art Appreciation Instructor
Bio Coming Soon.
BriAnna Belanger
Elementary School Instructor's Aide
Bio Coming Soon.
Next Step...
Still have questions? Need more info? Contact us now!