STAC Teachers 2024-2025
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 18, 15, and 11, 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!
Kelly Elmore
kellyelmore79@gmail.com
Kelly Elmore has been teaching most of her adult life, across age groups (from preschool to college/adults) and in many different subject areas (mindfulness, Latin, science, history, English, and writing -- even gymnastics). Her focus is on learning academic subject matter, while enjoying being together as a class and learning executive function skills and other life skills for adulthood. She homeschooled her daughter all the way through, and now she's enjoying her dogs, traveling with her husband, Aaron, cooking, and being outside.
Sean Casey
seancasey500@gmail.com
Sean Casey is a 16-year-old homeschool student from Kennesaw. He has been a student at STAC ever since it opened. Sean was very interested in geography from a very young age and has been researching and learning about it ever since. He has a collection of world flags that he will probably bring to the class. He developed this class as part of last year’s Build a Business class and is really looking forward to sharing his love of geography with our community.
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.
Dawn Bacak
dawnbac@gmail.com
Dawn Bacak is a homeschooling mom of two (ages 17 and 13) who loves both fact and fiction. An obsessive reader who really wishes there was a way to know everything, Dawn has a degree in English from Cornell University. She worked as a technical writer and a teacher in a small private school before taking on the job of educating her own children. Dawn was one of the founding Board of Directors of STAC.
Rachel Berning
mrsberning@gmail.com
Rachel Berning has been homeschooling her two children, ages 15 and 12, since the beginning. She attended The California School of Culinary Arts, Le Cordon Bleu and graduated with Diplôme de Pâtisserie. When she’s not homeschooling her children, she assists her husband with his LLC. She enjoys being outside, birdwatching, cross stitching, training with kettlebells, and is a lifelong learner. Rachel is also a former STAC board member.
Armelle Garner
armellejg@yahoo.com
Armelle is a native French speaker, originally from Paris, France. She has taught French at both the high school and collegiate levels before entering the corporate world. Her child has been attending STAC for the past 2 years. The loving and nurturing community of STAC has stirred her desire to give back to its students. This will be her first year teaching at STAC.
Julianne Robinson
juliannerobbins88@gmail.com
Julianne is a homeschooling mom for her 8 year old son. When she is not being “Mom,” she is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, NLP Practitioner, business co-owner with her husband, actor, and working on her first novel. Julianne received her BS in Chemistry and BA in Mathematics from Converse University, and her Master’s in Physical Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She also worked briefly at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). While she loved the world of science and mathematics, she soon discovered a life informal academia did not provide the freedom and lifestyle she and her family were desiring.
