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Maureen Mueller

Maureen Mueller began her teaching career when she received her California Single-Subject (English) Credential in 1983. After marrying Mark in December of that year, the new couple's plan was for Maureen to teach while Mark attended Westminster Seminary in Escondido, CA. The Lord soon surprised Mark and Maureen with a very healthy change of plans. Bethany was born, then Jonathan came along two years later, and Mark's seminary days were stretched out a bit. Kathryn was born during Mark's internship in Garden Grove and that is where the Muellers met and joined up with some wonderful homeschool families. Maureen started coaching students from the homeschool community who wanted to participate in speech meets, and those students met with great success.

In 1992 the Mueller family moved to Oxnard where Mark had received a call to pastor Covenant of Grace, OPC. Their 4th child, Laura was born a year later, and soon she was joining her siblings at the Sanchez home where the Oxnard KONOS began.
Throughout her years in Oxnard, Maureen has taught speech, dramatic reading, and creative writing courses to many junior high and high school students, while teaching her own children at home. The Muellers have homeschooled their children straight through except for the 1999-2000 school year, during which the children were enrolled in local Christian schools and Maureen taught the 4th grade. That year went well scholastically, but there was a painful lack of family time, and the Muellers decided to resume education at home.

A family of voracious readers, the Muellers learn history through reading whole books, and delight in discussing the subjects with maps and pictures spread out before them. They may use text books for grammar, spelling, and math, but the rest of their curriculum has a classical bent. The oldest child, Bethany, graduated from Concordia University in 2008 with a Liberal Arts Degree and a California Teaching Credential. Jonathan will be transferring to the Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in the fall of 2008. Kathryn, the 3rd Mueller to graduate from El Shaddai Academy, will continue to take classes at Ventura College for at least one more year, and Laura will be entering her second year of high school.

The Muellers have found direction for the family in God's Word. The scriptures teach parents to bring their children along in the faith, "trusting the Lord to be God to us and to our children." Part of discipling our children means that each academic discipline gives opportunity to behold the manifold glory of God. Mark and Maureen rely upon God's gracious promises of the covenant and have seen the Lord's faithfulness through the years and look forward to that which is to come. FEES: $25/hr – First Meeting = 2 hours

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Diane Sands

Diane Sands is first and foremost a daughter of the Lord and a full-time, stay-at-homeschooling mom. Her life is filled with the blessings of her husband and two growing children. She began homeschooling in 2001. Her style of homeschooling is one of organization, love, and custom design. Her children are completely different in their learning styles and this has allowed her to devise a tailored-made style of learning which allows both of her children to thrive in their learning process. Trusting in the Lord is what guides her journey each and every day!

Diane grew –up in Southern California and enjoys family time, camping, and the beach. She worked in Mortgage Banking for 10 years as a supervisor in the Real Estate Loan Auditing Division at Great Western Bank, now Washington Mutual (which is where she learned to be highly organized). She is actively involved with her church. She works with Women’s Ministries, and sits on the Children’s Ministry Team, where she is in charge of running Special Events including; Christmas Eve Children’s Worship Service, Happy Birthday Jesus Party, and Vacation Bible School. She has also sat on the board of a local homeschooling support group. Ministering to new homeschool moms is a passion she holds dear in her heart. Recently, she has become a co-founder of www.HSsegue.com, a company formed to help homeschooling families find the resources necessary to school their children in a values-based environment.

Diane looks forward to offering support to families who have made the choice to homeschool. Whether you are new to homeschooling or a veteran that just needs a little lift or encouragement, she prays that her helpful insights, practical ideas and tips, encouragement, motivation, and inspiration will be a blessing to everyone she mentors. FEES: $15/hr – First Meeting = 2 hours

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Sandra Yip

Sandra holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Shippensburg State University and a current California multiple subject K-12 credential as well as a CLAD certificate. For ten years she taught first and second grades in public and private schools. She and her husband, Sherwin, first heard about homeschooling while listening to Dr. Raymond Moore speak on Focus on the Family radio broadcast the summer she was pregnant with their first child. Quickly reading everything they could find on this new idea of teaching one's children at home, they decided that homeschooling was the way to go.

Sandra homeschooled both of their children from K through 12 using an eclectic curriculum, consisting of traditional texts, unit studies, and teacher written materials. In the areas that she and Sherwin felt inadequate to teach at home, they utilized courses offered by Ventura College and Oxnard College such as lab sciences, higher math, foreign languages, speech, and electives. Both children went directly to four-year colleges after graduating from their homeschool. Jonathan received his BA from Lake Forest College and is currently working on his MA/Phd at the University of Notre Dame; Julie has just completed her bachelor of music in cello performance at San Francisco State University.

For six years Sandra along with Nancy Isbell administered an ISP out of Community Christian School in Oxnard. Now that both children are in college or grad school, Sandra teaches writing classes for homeschooling students throughout the county using the Institute for Excellence in Writing materials. FEES: $40/hr or SAT TESTING: $30/day x 3 days

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