STAC Teachers 2023-2024
Misty Holm
mebholm@yahoo.com
Misty holds both BA and MTS degrees from Emory University, with majors in Interdisciplinary Studies, Religion, and Social Sciences. After eight years working in International Education, serving most recently as Assistant Director of Study Abroad Programs at Georgia State University, she left work to focus on her children. Before resigning, she was very fortunate to be able to study and/or work in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Since leaving the working world, she’s had the privilege of earning several teaching certifications, including Atlanta Audubon Master Birder, Georgia Master Naturalist, Our Whole Lives sexuality education facilitator, and Listening Circle small group facilitator. In addition to eight years of homeschooling two children, she has taught/facilitated various groups from elementary school through college, including five years of teaching at a local homeschool co-op. The leap from helping lead a university Study Abroad Programs office to being a full-time mom, homeschooler, and teacher was a natural one: it’s all about getting up out of the classroom and venturing out into the real world!
Libby Mathis
libbyanne76@gmail.com
Libby Mathis has been homeschooling her three children, ages 16, 13, and 9, since her oldest was unhappy with the worksheets in preschool. She believes that learning should spark joy in young children and that later is better in regards to academics.
In her life before children, she attended Ohio University where she earned a BS in Chemistry and did graduate studies in Biochemistry. She has also worked at the The Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases (CTEGD) of the University of Georgia. Then her life turned into a frenzy of having her first child then moving from Georgia to Pennsylvania to North Carolina all before baby’s first birthday. Since then, it has been a busy joyful blur of hosting messy art days at her house, exploring nature with her kids, learning so many exciting things she never learned in public school, and rediscovering her artistic side.
Libby was a member of the founding STAC Board of Directors and she has been the co-coordinator of Play Create Learn (formerly CHAOS) since September 2017.
Mel Williams
melwilliams0608@gmail.com
Mel Williams is the mother of 6 children, spanning ages 9 to 21. All have been homeschooled since the beginning and the oldest two are currently in college. She was a member of the founding board of STAC, and has now returned to the board. She has been on the board of several non profits over the years.
When not participating in STAC she and her family spend a lot of time doing Society for Creative Anachronism activities like archery, fencing, heavy combat, cooking, and various other pre-16th century skills.
Jenn Casey
kcjenn@gmail.com
Jenn Casey is a homeschooling mom of three kids and a CrossFit and kettlebell trainer. She has a Master's in Business Administration from Kennesaw State University, with special concentrations in Economics and Operations Management. Jenn has taught many classes with different homeschool groups since 2013, including Self-Organized Learning Environments (SOLE), Economics, Personal Finance, several fitness classes, and is a facilitator for teams playing the Stock Market Game (tm). Jenn served on the founding Board of Directors of STAC as Vice President. When she isn't nerding out over some economic idea, you can find her at CrossFit Kennesaw swinging a kettlebell.
Morgan Casey
morgancasey55@gmail.com
Morgan Casey is a STAC Alumna. She has been a homeschool student for her whole life, and a music enthusiast for just as long. She is a composer, classically trained soprano, music director, songwriter, guitarist, and of course, music teacher, and much more! She has done musical theater, both on and offstage, since she was 7 years old, and is so happy to be spreading her love of music here at STAC!
Michelle Salas
salas.michelle@gmail.com
I’m Michelle Salas, homeschooling mom to 3 boys, ages 11, 9 and 4 years old, and a Spanish and science teacher at STAC. I was born in Mexico and lived in and near Mexico City for 25 years. I moved to the US in 2007, and I’ve lived in Ca, NY, NV and Tx. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Dentistry from “Universidad Tecnológica de México”, and I practiced dentistry until moving to the US. I’ve also worked as a volunteer paramedic for the Red Cross, and after moving to GA in 2013, I opened a custom cake studio, where I learned about social media marketing and management skills. As a family we enjoy hiking, walk around the neighborhood on nice evenings, read aloud time and ice cream.
Parenthood has been an incredible journey full of self-discovery and evolution. I’ve been involved in a beautiful volunteer project, named “Days for Girls,” (daysforgirls.org) for the past several years. This organization provides reusable cloth pads and hygiene kits to girls in need around the world. Every year, I, with some friends, sew and assemble sanitary kits for girls in Uganda, Africa.
Kathy Balman
ecoexplorersatl@gmail.com
Kathy quit her full time job in July 2011 to become a stay at home/unschool mother to her two children. On November 7, 2022 tragedy struck and Kathy, Gwyn and Rowyn were in a car accident that took the lives of Gwyn (age 16) and Rowyn (age 15). Kathy's saving grace is that she was able to spend every day, for the last 11 years, beside her children and watch them learn, explore, and grow into amazing teens who accomplished a lot in their short lives, and made a lasting impact on everyone they met. Kathy is still very passionate about supporting the homeschool community. She is especially passionate about getting children outdoors and immersed in nature, which she has been doing with her own children since they were just a few days old. Kathy has been teaching, organizing fieldtrips, and supporting the homeschool community since 2012 through her groups Southeast Homeschool Fieldtrips and Southwest Homeschool Fieldtrips. Kathy is an AZ Certified Environmental Educator, USNPN Certified Phenology Leader, NAI Certified Interpretive Guide, Outdoor Wildlife Leader, Conservation Leader, Master Naturalist (in GA and AZ), GA Master Birder, National Geographic Certified Educator, Audubon Volunteer, Keep Nature Wild Ambassador and Treekeeper with Trees Atlanta. She is certified in Project Wet, Project Wild, Project Learning Tree, Aquatic Wild, wilderness first aid certified, and CPR certified. She has completed over 1,700 hrs of professional development training in the subjects of science, nature journaling, and outdoor/environmental education. Kathy was awarded the Outstanding Environmental Education Program award in 2021 by AAEE & the Educator of the Year award in 2022 by AZGFD. When she is not teaching, and running her businesses, Educating Children Outdoors and USA Homeschool Fieldtrips, she enjoys volunteering, birding, blogging, hiking, geocaching, creating art, traveling, and watching movies. She is also a public speaker and has presented at conferences and webinars about homeschooling and environmental education.
Diane Overton
firstratemath@gmail.com
Diane is a Mom to 2 daughters, ages 16 and 18. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a concentration in Computer Science Engineering. She worked as a Computer Programmer and Project Manager for many years, with a long hiatus in the middle to focus on raising her children. She later earned a Master's in Secondary Math Education from Kennesaw State University and taught 7th grade Math at Campbell Middle School in Smyrna. Diane has a passion for teaching students of all ages and abilities and connecting with her students about topics that they love. Over the years, she has coached the King Springs Elementary Science Olympiad team, taught 2nd graders in a Saturday school program in East Point through Hands on Atlanta, and tutored high school math students. She loves working with students to meet them where they are with their math skills, providing lots of encouragement and positive feedback along the way. She especially enjoys creating hands-on math experiences and real-world math tasks for students to explore and learn.
