My love for education began when I was in Kindergarten!  After I arrived home from school, I would set up my stuffed animals and my younger siblings in front of a chalkboard and teach all of them what I learned that day.  I remember asking my teacher if I could have the extra mimeographed worksheets from class to take home to my “classroom”. From that precocious beginning, I went on to tutor my peers during math classes, and then to teach trombone lessons when I was in high school.  

I attended St. Olaf College fully focused on pursuing a major in Music Education, but after volunteering to tutor floundering students in the Northfield Public Schools during my freshman year, I discovered that I had a gift for connecting with struggling students one-on-one or in small group settings.  There was such a need for this kind of work, and I felt it was my calling, so I took a deep breath and changed my major to Alternative Education.

I have spent the past 30 years as a teacher and tutor, with my focus on helping to reach students who are falling through the cracks of the educational systems. I have taught ESL and GED classes for adults, and was a high school English teacher in a special education classroom.  I tutored K-12 students at a tutoring company, where half of my clients were students needing help in Algebra 1.  I also have tutored writing through the college level, K-8 math, study skills, reading, spelling, and Spanish.  I have been an ESL tutor for both children and adults hailing from many different countries.  I have also taught trombone lessons and led a youth trombone choir.  In addition, I have spent the last 14 years teaching my own homeschooled children all of the K-12 academic subjects.  I continue to do some tutoring and trombone lessons in addition to administering the Woodcock Johnson Test and homeschooling my youngest child.

I homeschooled both of my kids from kindergarten through high school. (I have graduated one child, and have another in 11th grade.) During my homeschooling years, I first used the Peabody and then the Woodcock Johnson tests to fulfill the MN homeschooling test requirements for my own children, and I loved that the tests were oral, one-one-one, and non-bracketed.  We used the same test administrator during all of the years, and my children built a rapport with her and loved to take the test.  

I became a Woodcock Johnson Achievement Test administrator in 2023.  I love meeting all of the parents and children as I interact with them to set up and then take the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Test.