ABOUT US
Here at Ignited Learning Home Education Resources LLC, there is a strong belief that at the end of the day, all parents are responsible for their own children’s education, whether they are enrolled in public/private school (online and brick and mortar) or learning at home. What is often in short supply, is the confidence needed to take that responsibility and help children find real learning opportunities.
A big, wide variety of world experiences informs my ideas of education. My first job was as a cashier at dog racing tracks when I was 18, followed by working at the local Texaco where I pumped gas and played the guitar during slow times. College waited until I was 23 and I ultimately graduated with a degree in Music Performance and way too many hours of German. I also worked in retail credit, grocery stores, and a summer program for kids in NW Denver. During my many years as a musician, I began homeschooling when our oldest child was 3. After our youngest child was born, we started a pizza restaurant for our children to grow up working in as they learned the invaluable lesson of service. They were often seen doing schoolwork at the tables in the front of the restaurant but also learned how to play poker from our customers and how to employ the nearly lost idea of the customer always being right.
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When our oldest child was in JH, we realized that she had a natural aptitude for discus throwing which led to a desire to attend the local public school. My response was to obtain the music teacher spot at said school as I acquired my Colorado teaching license through the Alternative Licensure program in Colorado and we all went to school. Our children were in and out of school as I held different teaching positions within 2 districts and obtained my Master’s Degree in Gifted Education from Regis University. My professional license has the following endorsements: Music K-12, Elementary Education K-6, and Gifted Education Specialist PreK-12. My many credit hours of German allow the designation of “highly qualified” to teach HS German but my German-born college German teacher would undoubtedly beg to differ. When employed in public schools, I also held the positions of Gifted Coordinator and RtI Coordinator where my homeschooling experience was invaluable. Often in public schools, it is hard to see a viable path forward for a child to succeed but my experience with homeschooling helped me always find ways, traditional or not. My teaching philosophy, at home or at school, is always:
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Cooperation over coercion and collaboration over cooperation.
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Ignited Learning Home Education Resources LLC comes out of these experiences. Our goal is to support families with solid information, advice born of experience, evaluations that accurately assess your child's educational progress, testing when it's appropriate. I try to nurture a strong sense of autonomy in parents so they feel confident and ready to design and implement their children's education in addition to a strong sense of autonomy in students so the parents can become facilitators. When a student comes to realize how they learn - what their individual, particular learning path is - then they can be the author of much of that education and learning becomes less of a chore and more of a path to where they want to be. I would love to help your family!
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