HIS Teachers

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Tammy Bell was raised as a missionary kid in Quezon City, Philippines. She has a dual major BS degree in Elementary Education and Physical Education with a minor in Math (University of Texas at Arlington), and a dual major MA degree in Education Counseling and Remedial Reading (Houston Baptist University). She has taught in both public and private schools. She served as a missionary in the Philippines for two years with International Teams. She and her husband Phil have been married for 20 years. They have four children. They have been home schooling for eight years. They attend Tomball Bible Church and are involved in the children’s and missions’ ministries. While home schooling her own children, Tammy has grown in her love for World History and Science. They are her favorite subjects to teach. 18710 Quail Lane, Tomball, TX 77377 Contact: txbellfam [at] att [dot] net or 281-516-3194.

Becky Celsor graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BS in Elementary Education. Over a seven-year period she taught 1st, 2nd, and 6th grade in the public schools, specializing in language arts. In 1984 Rebecca left the public schools to stay at home and home educate her children from K – 12th grade; all are now in college. Over the years she has home educated a total of eight children. For two years she served as president of Tomball Christian Home Schoolers and then served on the steering committee. She helped found the Tomball Christian Homeschoolers Co-op and taught Creative Writing. She has also lead a Smoothing the Way group, which assists new homeschoolers in their first year. She has created numerous children's programs and is well adept at working with children. Since 2001 she has taught structured writing at HIS Classes, while developing the curriculum for Sentence to Paragraph Writing, Paragraph Writing, and Essay Writing, now known as The Write Foundation. With a heart for students who do not fit the mold of traditional education, Becky enjoys helping all students develop writing skills, whether they struggle with writing or enjoy it. Make all checks payable to and mail all correspondence to Home Education, (in care of Debbie Gott) 9614 Dornoch Drive, Spring, TX 77379 Contact: bcelsor [at] sbcglobal [dot] net 281-356-3556

Rachel Celsor graduated from the Focus Leadership Institute in 2009 and will graduate soon from Thomas Edison State College with a B.A. in Communications. For the past several years, she has assisted with the writing and editing of the Basic Structured Writing curriculum and developed the website for Basic Structured Writing. Since 2002 she has tutored students in Latin, Biology and Philosophy. She has completed the curriculum Understanding the Times, The Truth Project, attended and spoken at Summit in Manitou Springs, Colorado, and spoken with the Worldview group Axis around the country. She is a National Latin Exam gold medalist, on the National Dean's List and part of the honor society Phi Theta Kappa. From 2003 to 2005, she was a parent trainer for Neurodevelopmentalist Jan Bedell. Rachel also tutored learning challenged students through the Little Giant Steps program. Her heart yearns to help those who are struggling or want to succeed. Make all checks payable to Rachel Celsor and mail to (in care of Debbie Gott) 9614 Dornoch Drive, Spring, TX 77379 Contact: coloratura [at] sbcglobal [dot] net 281-356-3556 or 281-635-4810

Natalie Champagne B.S. graduated magna cum laude from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a minor in Biology. She completed an alternative certification program for teachers at ACT Houston. The program included instruction on classroom management and lesson planning skills. She and her husband, Brandon, attend Founder’s Baptist Church. Contact: gnat_moorefield [at] yahoo [dot] com (832) 545-2741; 2954 Smokey Forest Lane, Spring, TX 77386

Barbara Dabney received her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering with a minor in math in 1975 from Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, Georgia, her home state. She worked at Commonwealth Edison in Chicago, and left to marry her husband. They are celebrating 31 years of marriage. After moving to Houston, she worked for Houston Lighting and Power for four years, but left when they started their family. They have 3 children and she homeschooled them for a total of nine years. She has also taught private piano lessons, since her children have left home, and led the Tuesday morning children's program for 3 years at Tomball Bible Church. She was also the pianist for Bellaire Episcopal church in Bellaire, TX for several years, and has taught Sunday School and been in the choir at Tomball Bible Church. She is looking forward to serving the Lord and her community in this capacity. For all classes, mail registration form to: 22618 Cardinal Ln., Tomball, TX 77377. Make checks payable to Barbara Dabney. Contact: 281-351-7933 or bdabney22 [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Constanza Fishel grew up with Spanish as her first language - She graduated with a BBA from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor. She received her degree in French at Universite Laval while living in Quebec, Canada. Constanza speaks English and Spanish fluently. Besides teaching private Spanish classes for home school co-ops for 5 years, she has tutored public high school students. Some of her students have tutored through the CLEP process for which they received college credit for first year college Spanish. One of her students is currently pursuing a Spanish minor at Sam Houston State University. Constanza's passion is to teach students so they can minister to others in Spanish. Her love for teaching high school students has lead her to teach other subjects like science. For the past year, she's had various students take Exploring Creation with Science and Physical Science. Constanza took several science classes in college before changing her major from nursing to business. She and her husband, Ray, have been married 15 years and have 3 children whom they have home schooled for 10 years and for the past three, God sent two high school student to be part of their home school experience. The Fishel family has attended Houston Northwest Baptist for 10½ years where Mrs. Fishel translates from English to Spanish for the Women's Ministry and for the church's mission trips to Honduras and Guatemala. Payments are to be made out to Constanza Fishel and mailed to Debbie Gott, 9614 Dornoch Drive, Spring, Texas 77379 Constanza Fishel 281-807-7451 whoaitsafish (at) hotmail (dot) com

Bobby Frazier received his bachelor’s degree from University of Central Oklahoma. Mr. Frazier then attended Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, where he received a Masters degree in Divinity. In addition to doing some youth work, he has served churches in Arkansas, Florida, and Texas as a pastor. From the earliest days of Mr. Frazier’s relationship with the Lord, knowing the Lord has been the driving force and motivation of his life. The extension of this motivation is his desire to communicate truth in such a way that lives are changed into the image of Christ for the glory of God. His dual roles of both pastor and teacher help fulfill this vision for his life. Mr. Frazier’s responsibilities within the home school community over the past 15 years have included being involved with Conroe Area Home Schoolers (CACHE) as a board member, being the master of ceremonies of CACHE’s graduation ceremonies and currently serving on the board of HIS. He has also served as master of ceremonies for the Tomball home school graduation on several occasions. The Fraziers have home educated all three of their children through high school graduation. One of his sons has graduated from Sam Houston University; his other son and daughter are currently enrolled in universities in Tennessee and Virginia. When he can get it, Mr. Frazier enjoys spending time with his wonderful family. His wife, Kim, keeps the checkbook for various home-school organizations in addition to helping Mr. Frazier with his classes. Mail registration and tuition to Bobby Frazier, 231 Corpus Drive, Magnolia, TX. 77354; Contact 281-685-5430 or 281-252-4673; frazierb1980 [at] sbcglobal [dot] net

John A. Garrett, BA, M.Ed earned his undergraduate degree in speech, theatre, and English from William Carey College in Hattiesburg, MS, and a graduate degree in English education from Auburn University in Alabama. A 36-year veteran teacher, Mr. Garrett retired in 2005 from teaching public school at Westfield High School in Spring ISD. He has taught all levels of English, below-level to advanced placement (AP), in grades eight through twelve, college-level concurrent credit courses at Westfield articulated with North Harris County College, and college speech communication and English as an adjunct instructor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College and with his alma mater, William Carey College. In addition to English, he taught speech and theatre courses at both the middle school and high school levels before being promoted to K-12 Language Arts Coordinator for the Pascagoula (MS) Municipal School District, a position he held for eight years. Trained as a writing instructor with the New Jersey Writing Project in Texas, Mr. Garrett taught an AP Rhetoric and Composition course designed to hone the writing skills of gifted and talented students for eight years before his retirement in December 2005. In 1991 Mr. Garrett was selected as the Westfield High School Teacher of the Year, Spring ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year, and Spring ISD K-12 Teacher of the Year, and was nominated for the Texas Region IV Teacher of the Year. He was named to “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” for three consecutive years, an honor he cherishes because each time he was nominated by former students who, themselves, had been chosen as a Who’s Who Among America’s High School Students honoree. He was also recognized in 2005 as a Spring ISD “Distinguished Educator,” an honor bestowed upon him by a former student who, as a graduate in the top 5% of his class, selected Mr. Garrett as the teacher who had the most influence on him during his K-12 educational experience. Teaching writing is Mr. Garrett’s passion. His students have won numerous writing awards over the years, notably gold and silver keys in the Houston-area and National Scholastic Writing Competition. In fact, two of his students in 2006 won gold awards in this most prestigious competition. Address: 26384 North Reids Prairie Road, Waller, TX 77484; Email: johngarrett [at] GarrettEdServices [dot] com; Home Phone: (936) 372-3761.

Susan Garrett received her Bachelor’s of Music Education from Delta State University. She taught public school music to grades 1-6 for four years. She then earned her Masters of Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi with a major in special education/learning disabilities; she taught in that field for ten years and served as district special education teacher consultant for two years. Susan loves to teach! The joy of watching students become excited about information that they might previously have found uninteresting is exhilarating to her. Since resigning from public school teaching, she has homeschooled her own children and helped others with their homeschooling. In addition to forming children and youth church choirs, she has taught music classes at homeschool co-ops for eight years and taught private piano and voice lessons. She has taught classes and privately tutored students who were experiencing academic problems in reading, spelling, and math, particularly those students with learning disabilities or dyslexia. Her new found love is secondary students, to whom she teaches social studies and math. Payments are to be made out to Susan Garrett. Registration and payments should be mailed to Debbie Gott, 9614 Dornoch Drive, Spring, Texas 77379. Contact: noteablelessons [at] hotmail [dot] com. (281) 844-1667

Jack Hightower – teacher, principal, and administrator for 25+ years in private Christian schools in the North Houston area. He has majored in teaching in the Language Arts area, concentrating on Rhetoric, Compositions, Essays, and American and British literature on the 7-12 grade levels. He has also written curriculum, taught same to his students in Language Arts, Social Studies, and the Bible on the 7-12 grade levels. He is experienced in teaching Latin I and II, with an Introduction to Greek on the 7-12 grade levels. Jack, while administrator of Sweetwater Christian School of North Houston, developed and implemented one of first “Umbrella” programs for home-schooled students to be able to take academic courses and participate in competition sports on the Sweetwater campus. He has attended several Summer Institutes at Rice and the University of Houston for the purpose of becoming more proficient in the teaching of A.P. Composition and Literature. He contributed to the framework of accreditation standards adopted by the I.C.A.A. (International Christian Accreditation Association) division of O.R.U.E.F. (Oral Roberts University Educational Fellowship) located in Tulsa, OK. He has been happily married to his wife, Barbara for 45 years. Jack and Barbara are members of The Crossing Church in The Woodlands. Send registration and tuition checks, payable to Jack Hightower at 545 FM 1488 Apt. 2203, Conroe, TX. 77384 Contact Jack at jack_hghtwr[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Cindy Johnson has been married to her husband Gary for 29 years and is a mother of four. She has homeschooled her children for 19 years. She uses her artistic, teaching, and musical gifts in many areas. She has illustrated a cookbook and spent many years teaching Bible, art, music and nature study to young people in churches and various groups. She has produced artwork for missionaries, churches, theatre, and many other organizations. As a member of Crossroads Baptist Church, Cindy plays her flute in the church orchestra and sings in the choir. She has held numerous leadership positions, and has given many speaking engagements. She has also performed countless musical solos over the years. Cindy is a professional artist, both selling her artwork and teaching art and theatre classes. It is her desire to instill the beauty of God's creation and a love for our Maker in young peoples' hearts, give them an understanding of how art through the centuries reflects societies’ belief systems, equip them with the ability to discern worthy art from bad art, and give them skills to express themselves artistically. It is also her desire that people will find beauty and hope in her paintings. For more information, contact Cindy at 281-419-7963 or 281-734-3362 or crazymomma100 [at] yahoo [dot] com. Her address is 5 Catfeet Court, The Woodlands, TX 77381.

Teresa Johnson has had a lifelong passion for art, history, literature and nature. She has pursued these from her youth. A native of Chicago, she attended College of Lake County there for two years. At age 19, she moved to Arizona looking to fulfill her dreams, but not knowing she would come to the Lord there and move into His plan for her life. For the next three years she participated in an outreach program taking her to Portland, Oregon and then to Houston, Texas in 1980. Here she married her husband, Tim, in 1984 and the first of their three wonderful daughters was born in 1988. For the decade before her marriage, she worked in various ends of the printing industry, beginning with the college graphics department where she learned designing materials for printing and hand-lettering. In subsequent years she gained on-the-job training in computer typesetting, layout, paste-up, photographic and bindery skills. In 1981 she taught herself calligraphy and began putting it to use both for volunteer and professional projects. When she married, she began assisting her husband in their home business and since having children, she has been devoted to being a mom and homeschooling her girls. She and her husband have been active for years in area interdenominational churches ministering primarily in music, teaching, small groups, and hospitality. Throughout her homeschool years which began in 1993, Teresa has always been active in local support groups, co-leading ICARE in Spring for three years and continuing to serve on its overseeing board. Since 2000, she has assisted leading North Houston Charlotte Mason and been a guest speaker on the Charlotte Mason method at homeschool meetings and conferences. In 2005 she began coordinating the Homeschool Nature Study group. That same year, she began teaching calligraphy classes to homeschool students. Since 2007, she has been teaching calligraphy along with other art and history classes at Extraordinary Education. In 2009, she began teaching at HIS classes as well. She believes in teaching by a non-textbook approach and has developed her own art and history courses based on experience with tried and tested "living books" and other well-recommended materials from several resources. When time away from her busy schedule allows, she can spend hours in her personal artwork, Bible study, listening to music, watching birds, gardening, reading good books and perusing old maps and genealogies. One of her greatest goals is to help young minds come alive to our Father God as Lord over all time, Creator of our wonderful world, and the source of all wisdom, beauty, and great artistry. Contact: Teresa Johnson, 22915 Robin's Nest Lane, Spring, TX 77389 ascribe2tl (at) sbcglobal (dot) net - Home 281-528-7568, Cell 281-871-0397.

Marilyn Mathis has been an educator in the private, Christian sector for the past 19 years in Alaska and Texas. During this tenure, she has been a teacher, department head, and a home school administrator. She has attended numerous A.C.S.I. and O.R.U.E.F. conventions and was also a seminar instructor at A.C.S.I. and a standard's assessor for member school of I.C.A.A. While elementary/middle school department head, she assessed and reviewed policy prodedure, created and instigated a summer tutoring program, implemented a vertical teaching team with "flex" classes, developed and chaired several school clubs, and created a Junior High National Honor Society. She has taught in traditional classrooms for levels K-4, 3rd, and 5th through 8th. On middle school level she has taught the following: Math 4-8; History 7-8 and Language Arts 5-8. Her tutoring program mentored students in math, language, reading and spelling/vocabulary skills. She spent an additional year in the public school sector as the TASP chairman's associate. Registration form and tuition checks are to be made out to Marilyn Mathis and mailed to 25681 Magnolia Pines, Magnolia, TX 77355. Contact at james_mathis [at] att[dot] net (281)731-9808

Cinde Matocha graduated from Southwest Texas State University in 1984 with a BS in Home Economics. She sold fine art in Austin, TX, where she met and married her husband Gary. She studied art under Lee Hammond in Kansas City. Mrs. Hammond is best known for her art book series, as well as being the official NASCAR artist. Cinde has taught art classes for home-schooled students ranging from grades k-12, summer classes, and camps. She currently teaches at Covenant Academy of Houston. She served as leader of the Harvest Christian School Homeschool group for two years. She and her husband began home-schooling their two children in 2000. Daniel is now at Texas A&M and in the Corps of Cadets. Laina is at Klein Oak High School. The family now attends church at Creeks End. Contact: 713-703-1254 or cmatocha [at] sbcglobal [dot] net 6506 Glenhill, Spring, TX. 77389.

Robin McDonald left her writing career in 2001 to homeschool her children. She has been a technical writer since 1989, working for organizations such as NASA Johnson Space Center, Rockwell, Lockheed, McDonnell-Douglas, USWEST, and Microsoft. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Fine Arts from the University of Houston, with two science minors, and is completing graduate studies in Behavioral Science. While at NASA, she participated in the United States Air Force Academy's Basic Instructor Training and was certified in Accelerated Learning techniques. She teaches at HIS and Extraordinary Education, and works as a freelance writer. Payments should be made payable to Robin McDonald and mailed to Debbie Gott, 9614 Dornoch Dr, Spring, TX 77379. Contact Robin: 936-372-5456 or email robinmc2 (at) gmail (dot) com

Dawn Romaguera has been married to husband Mike for 25 years and they have 5 children. Their oldest will graduate from LSU in May and their youngest is in the 4^th grade. She has a B.S. in Accounting from LSU and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from UNO. Her experience ranges from teaching at a Vocational-Technical School for the State of Louisiana to the position of Associate Professor at Nunez. She also received the NISOD Excellent in Teaching Award as well as being named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers for two years. Mrs. Romaguera has been teaching with CE for 2 years and is fondly known as ‘Mrs. R’ by her students. Having taught several different college computer textbooks, she considers that the curriculum written for the CE program is concise and relevant. The course offerings are varied, which keeps the classes fun for her as well as the students year after year. Whether a child is a novice or an experienced computer user, each class starts at a beginning level, but quickly moves to more challenging topics. She has really enjoyed watching the little ones who are not sure how to work the mouse evolve to the child she can’t get to leave when the class is over. She equally enjoys teaching the older students and she can use her previous experience to enhance the curriculum and give them relevant tools they can use for their other studies and real-life situations. Contact Dawn at dawn (at) famlink (dot) net COMPUTER EXPLORERS is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in computer and technology education. For more details go to Computer Explorers or contact: Kay at 877-468-2823 or info (at) teched4all (dot ) com

Lisa Sherman After attending Texas A&M and Sam Houston State with a double major in Political Science and Business, Lisa landed in Houston, TX., at Tenneco Oil, eventually moving on to work with her husband in his construction business. Lisa has been actively involved and teaching in various children’s ministries for over 17 years. She has been home schooling her two children (one having graduated) and teaching other home schoolers since 1997. Before teaching with HIS classes and The Bridge, she was teacher at S.H.A.R.E co-op in Spring, serving as treasurer from 2000-2003. You may contact Lisa by email at marzakmom (at) hotmail (dot) com or call her at 936-232-5089. Tuition checks for Mrs. Sherman’s classes should be mailed to Lisa Sherman, 950 Doire, Conroe, TX 77301.

Dr. David Shormann has taught math and science at the elementary through college level since 1990. After receiving a B.S. from the University of Texas in Aerospace Engineering, a Masters Degree from the University of Texas in Marine Chemistry and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in Limnology, Dr. Shormann dedicated his life to serving the Lord by serving the homeschool community. Since then he has taught hands-on science labs and math classes to thousands of homeschoolers in the Houston area and won numerous nominations to Who’s Who In America’s High School Teachers. He has conducted Marine Science Camps and Alaska Adventure Camps designed especially for homeschool families. Dr. Shormann is President of DIVE, LLC, a math and science educational software company. In 2008 DIVE introduced CLEP Professor, exam preparation software for select math and science CLEP and AP exams. He is also the author of The Exchange of Truth: Liberating the World from the Lie of Evolution. He and his wife, Karen have been homeschooling their two children since 1994. Payment information and a special registration form are available online.

Leatha Veronie graduated from McNeese State University with a BS degree in Adult Education. She promptly began to teach children and has continued to do so until this day. She has taught classes in Biology and junior high level science. For the last two years she has taught writing classes on both a high school level and a developmental level. She has had experience tutoring those needing one-on-one instruction. Leatha has been married to Bill Veronie for 25 years and has home educated their four daughters for fifteen years. Her home address is 31114 Stella Lane, Tomball, TX 77375 Contact: lveronie (at) comcast (dot) net 713-206-4940.