PHAA Evaluators Listing

 I have been teaching English, Reading and Writing for over 40 years.  I am a certified teacher in Secondary English (B.S.) and as a K-12 Reading Specialist (M. Ed.).  I teach at a private school for students with language-based learning differences such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and Executive Functions.  Over the years I have worked with several homeschooling families and we home-schooled one of our sons.

I am available as an evaluator and as a tutor.

Hello I am certified in Secondary Citizenship and History.

I am Private school certified in English and History.

Have worked in both public and private schools. As well as parochial schools.

My undergrad was in Applied History and instructional studies. I have my Masters Level of Equivalency from the state of Pa.

I have my Graduate Certification in Genocide & Holocaust Studies from Seton Hill University.

I am a certified Constitution Coach with Patriot Academy.

For nine year I taught at Joey Travoltas Film Camp for students with Autism. We taught the ins and outs of film making. I taught a little bit of everything there. 

I have been an actor all my life. I have also been a patron of the arts. I love theater and know what a transformative thing it can be. Would love to direct someday. 

Jennifer Wheeler is an avid book reader and lover of all things literature, writing, and music.  As an English Education Major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Jen added a love of teaching to her love of literature. After receiving a B.S. in English Education from IUP, Jen taught for several years in the Fairfax County Public School System where she instructed 10th and 11th grade students in English and Language Arts.  During that time, she also served as a curriculum developer and testing coordinator for her team.

Jen and her husband John married in 2006 and were blessed a year later with a beautiful daughter. They have been homeschooling their four children since their oldest, Katie, entered Kindergarten in 2011.

Jen is very interested in various homeschooling philosophies and methods.  She is a book and curriculum junkie, and in her “spare time,” she loves to read, knit, spin, make music, and go on adventures.  She plays piano and organ and loves to participate in local choirs.

In 2020 Jen took a position as Middle School English Teacher at an Ensign Peak Academy, which reignited her desire to teach and create solid instructional materials.  As a result, she pursued a Master's Degree in Technology for Online Education and Instructional Design at Slippery Rock University, graduating in December of 2021 with her M. Ed.  During the time she was completing her degree, Jen was promoted to Director of Elementary Education at Ensign Peak Academy.  A position which she held for two years, until family circumstances necessitated that she step back.  Jen currently holds a position as Classroom Director at A One-Room Schoolhouse in at the East Campus in Plum, PA

Jen truly finds joy in learning and adventuring wherever the life leads her.  Her primary goals as an evaluator and mentor are to encourage students to love learning and help parents find the support and resources they need to be successful.

Jen lives just east of Pittsburgh and is happy to do evaluations in her home or online.  If another location would be preferred, please make arrangements in advance. 

Elizabeth Bock - Poconos

I taught elementary school for 8 years in East Stroudsburg School District. I then spent 6 years at Agora Cyber Charter School teaching high school Special Ed.  I am currently employed back at East Stroudsburg working with their cyber program.  I and have a master's degree in Special Education. I can complete evaluations for elementary, secondary, and handicapped. I enjoy conducting home school evaluations to see the variety and creativity of programs that various families have used. I have competitive rates with sibling discounts. I am available to schedule thorough evaluations as they best fit with both of our schedules. I have been conducting home school evaluations for 12 years. I am located 5 minutes off Rt 80, Tannersville exit - easily accessible from all of Monroe county. Contact Beth at 484-274-1495 or webock22@hotmail.com

 Dr. Carolyn McKeon holds a Bachelor's of Science as a Teacher of the Speech and Hearing Handicapped, a Master’s of Science in Reading and Language Arts, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Education with an emphasis in K-12 Teaching and Learning. Dr. McKeon also holds a second M.S. Ed in Instructional Technology for Adult Learning-Higher Education as well as a second B.S. in Business Administration. She also holds an AS in Criminology and 2 post graduate certificates (Human Resources and Applied Behavior Analysis). 

She homeschooled 4 young men for 28 years. She has successfully graduated all 4 from high school and all 4 have attended college and graduated. She supports all types of homeschooling styles, but is most fond of self-directed learning (delight driven, unschooling). She has been an evaluator for the last 10 years.

As an evaluator, I do both in person and long distance evaluations. I offer the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Revised). I will travel up to 1 hour for an evaluation or somewhere in between. I will come to you at your convenience, meet in a public place, or you can come to my home (whatever works for you and your family). I do not have a set fee. The fee is determined by the individual family based on their own personal budget. I will even barter for services. While I have a large base of students (300+ evals a year), I am always willing to work with a new family. I have worked with several college entrance, military entrance, and athlete families. Most recently I have gone through the rigors of NCAA requirements for homeschooling athletes. I was an NCAA DIII coach.

On a professional level, she has more than 25 years of teaching and administrative experience in primary and secondary education, including 17 years of experience in higher education as an online instructor for 3 different colleges. Prior to working in higher education, she worked as a community based classroom instructor in various learning cooperatives and ran a successful private speech and reading tutor business. In 2009, she founded and ran Maranatha Mission Learning Community, a private, religious school in the Commonwealth of PA. The school remained open for six years. At its closing there were over 180 students enrolled. She also volunteers as a homeschool volleyball coach in her local community for co-ed athletes 9-18 years of age. She is entering her 12th year.

Dr. McKeon has successfully published her dissertation as well as “The 6 R’s of a positive facilitator” in the Journal of eLearning and Online Teaching. Other publications include articles in Growing Together, an alternative learning publication. She presented at the KU Village in 2009 and at a professional development conference in 2014 for Rasmussen College regarding Fostering Presence through Effective and Timely Feedback. 

Dr. McKeon’s professional memberships include the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  She spent 2 years as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in PA. She is also a member of HSLDA. She is a peer reviewer for both the Journal of eLearning and Online Teaching and Journal of Mixed Methods Research (JMMR). She is currently a full-time adjunct with Purdue University Global, and part-time adjunct at Rasmussen College and Northampton Community College.

Dr. Carolyn McKeon

570-916-1376

cmckeon3@yahoo.com 

 I love evaluating and encouraging all grades!  From full curriculum to unschooling, it is great to share in your kiddos' discoveries and learning experiences.  I homeschooled my three from birth through the first year of college credits.  All graduated PHAA.  You can meet me for an evaluation or I can visit you, as you wish.  I also teach speech and presentation classes to homeschool co-ops.  

I have been a homeschool evaluator for both elementary and secondary since 1996. My husband and I homeschooled our own children for 20 years, graduating all 3. For standardized testing, I administer the Woodcock-Johnson IV, which is given individually to children, not in groups, and is on the list of approved tests with the state. I am able to "approve" objectives for children with special needs. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on homeschooling children with special needs, and have experience with my own children. Be sure to visit my website at www.his-homeschool-center.com where you will see I also offer a service for helping students with their high school research papers.

Timothy Anger, M.S.

High school / Credits

Timothy has been a high school math and science teacher since graduating from Maranatha Baptist Bible College in 1984. He earned his Masters Degree at Bob Jones University and is currently the principal at Emmaus Baptist Academy. He has been a member of the PHAA board since 2016.

Timothy has been doing homeschool evaluations for PHAA since 1990 in the Lehigh Valley/Quakertown area. He can be reached by phone at 484-519-0109 or by email at tanger@lveval.org He does the evaluations at his office in Emmaus in May and June.

For more information visit his website: www.lveval.org

Hello! I will travel or meet in person Northeast PA.  I am PA teacher certified with Med education/administration and provide Home School Evaluations since mid 1980s through PHAA, ECHSDA and others.  I tutor preK to college in Reading, Writing and Math.  In addition, I can give testing CAT, IOWA, WRAT and more.  I look forward to working with your children and families.  Please contact me via email rofuji6@gmail.com or phone 6102484486

Roland, or Jake, is a PA Certified teacher of social studies (7-12) and ESL (K-12). He has been writing evaluations for over 20 years.  He and his wife, Stacie, have home-schooled their 7 children for over 30 years (all done now!). Jake enjoys meeting with parents and their children and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and yours. In addition to a rewarding and encouraging interview for both you and your successful child, you will receive a professional and well-written narrative regarding your child's educational progress and any of their other accomplishments from throughout the school year.  Jake conducts evaluations at either your home or his.  His flat rate fee is $50 for secondary, $35 for elementary. 

Contact: Roland (Jake) Jacobus, 610-264-4955 or email savannaroland@gmail.com

I have over 30 years of home school experience, mentoring, and teaching. I also have over a decade of evaluating 200+ students and helping with homeschool consultations. I offer evaluations for students K-12th grade along with home school consultations to meet any need of the families that I serve.  I also specialize in college planning & helping high school students to earn college credit in their high school years. Instead of just giving a standard evaluation form, I also offer personalized summaries for each student evaluated. This summary details highlights of the school year and celebrates the accomplishments of the student. Students and parents appreciate these two-page summaries, or I can simply provide the standard evaluation form, if desired.

I have six sons and have been home educating for over 28 years. I have graduated all six of our sons with PHAA (Pennsylvania Home School Accreditation Agency). I have many years of experience with home schooling and have been very active and involved in the home school community. My many years of teaching, along with my passion for helping other home schooling parents, allows me to serve home schooling parents in a variety of ways.

I am a graduate of West Chester University with a B.A. in Social Work and Psychology. Before starting a family, I worked with many school districts and various other social agencies including Children and Youth Services. In addition to home educating my own children, I have continued my own schooling. I have attended numerous conferences and workshops on teaching and education, and attended many curriculum fairs to remain current on the many different teaching tools available to the home school community.

Over the years, I have been involved in different home school groups and taught in these groups. I have taught numerous group classes with many home schoolers over the years. I continue to mentor many home schooling mothers and help to establish new parents in home schooling through personalized consultations. I am well acquainted with the home school law, so I have been able to guide parents so that they are fully compliant with the requirements of the law and understand how to work well with their own school districts.

I have always made up my own curriculum for our children, using a variety of resources that were adapted for their particular learning styles. As such, I am very familiar with many different types of curricula that home educators may use. One unique aspect of my own home education program with my children was incorporating distance learning in the high school years. This added a lot of challenges and additional responsibilities for my children, but it paid off tremendously. Our hard work in the high school years with distance learning, CLEP courses, Dante's courses, and taking classes at a local college allowed ALL of our sons to accelerate their college graduation up to a full year! That saved them thousands of dollars in tuition! Our sons have gone on to be very successful in their career pursuits. Our home education program laid a strong foundation for our sons to be successful in higher education. Based on my own work and success in this area, I also serve as an advisor to help families with career counseling for their high school students.

I have a passion for teaching and helping others to be successful in their educational pursuits and equipping students with a solid education. As an evaluator and consultant, my years of experience are a valuable asset to other home schooling parents. Feel free to check out my Facebook page: Diana Jensen – Home School Consultant and Evaluator.

Diana Jensen

520 Jared Way, New Holland, PA 17557

Reach me via texting or calling my cell: 484-459-2670

Email: ericndiana6boys@msn.com

 email address:  therenzis@comcast.net

My journey in education began when as a teenager I served on a mission team in the Philippines, and taught English to some Bible school students there! Returning to the States, I obtained my Bachelor's degree and then, while teaching middle school Language Arts at a Christian school in Lancaster, obtained my master's degree in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (focusing on English as a Second Language).

A detour led me into the world of home education when a teacher friend suggested I evaluate students after my first child was born and I quit full-time teaching. That was in 2000, and since then I've found a lot of joy and fulfillment in meeting with students and their parents, and encouraging them in their journey, offering advice and direction when needed. Since 2001, I have also taught writing, literature, and speech classes to middle and high school students once a week in my home and/or a co-op setting. Most importantly, I am thrilled to be able to teach my own three children (my oldest graduated in 2018, and in the 2020-21 school year, I have a high school senior and sophomore).

I am certified to teach and evaluate grades 7-12 and would like to assist homeschool parents in providing the best possible education for their children by offering a thorough yet relaxed evaluation in my home. The evaluation consists of an interview, about one hour in length, during which I look through the portfolio with the student, discuss it, and type a detailed report with the student's biographical data, my own credentials, a general overview of the student's activities, and a specific outline of the material covered in each class during that year, highlighting the student's strengths. The parent is welcome to sit with the student and me during the interview. Please contact me with any questions you have!

Renita Gerlach

 I am located in Hanover, Pa.  I have a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniels and am currently teaching at Freedom Christian Schools in Gettysburg.  You can contact me at karentrout79@gmail.com.

I  homeschooled 5 children preschool through high school. The older 4 all attended college with scholarships, received advanced degrees, and achieved well in areas of academics and leadership. Our 5th chose a service-related route with firefighting, emergency vehicle transport, and EMT training. I have been evaluating for over 30 years in elementary and high school, and can accept credits for PHAA. The evaluations are conducted in my home in Washington. Each child receives a personalized letter with details of his/her program, emphasizing the strengths and uniqueness of the child and program.I  offer curriculum suggestions and help planning homeschool programs. I have evaluated for families in Washington, Greene, Allegheny, and Beaver Counties.

Robin McCloskey 724-986-8206 (C)  724-222-4996 (H)

 Genevieve Peterson is currently serving as President and Education Director for A One-Room Schoolhouse a hybrid homeschool group in southwest Pennsylvania. She leads the board of directors in program development, goal setting, evaluation, and fundraising efforts.  As A PHAA evaluator, Genevieve brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team as an educational professional for over 20 years. She holds degrees and credentials in elementary education, math education, and special education along with national certification as a school psychologist. Outside of her homeschool life, she has spent time working on humanitarian efforts in Nepal, teaching Sunday school, and volunteering with her church youth group. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and four children exploring the great outdoors, running long-distance races, and eating her husband’s culinary creations.

I have served as a homeschool evaluator in Pennsylvania since the very first season of the homeschool law, back in spring of 1989! I love meeting with families and learning about their year of active learning. I do travel for evaluations, although not to every region of the state-- I schedule a May trip to the Harrisburg, Lebanon, and Lancaster and to Eastern Pennsylvania (north of Philly up to Allentown area). Families in Western Pennsylvania generally come to my home outside of Kittanning PA for evaluations. Since COVID 19, I've also very successfully been able to offer ZOOM virtual evaluation meetings to families-- and some have continued with this option, as it's simply more convenient and 'no travel time' needed.

I have been involved as a PHAA member evaluator since the very beginning, and have served continually on the PHAA Board. I was a regular workshop leader at the PHAA High School at Home Conference, at our in-person conferences and for our online conferences, and now am helping with our live monthly PHAA Webinars-- I love this chance to meet so many PHAA parents, students, and evaluators. 

I love to see the many, many ways that families can tailor the PHAA guidelines to bring out the best in their own students, and I love to see these young people grow up into responsible good people, with strong communication skills and real goals for their lives-- and the tools to get there. I treasure the warm friendships I've made with so many PHAA families that I've served as their evaluator.

I also teach AP United States History with Pennsylvania Homeschoolers AP Online , and am the overall AP Coordinator for the whole program, working with wonderful homeschoolers from all over the nation (and even internationally). Many of my PHAA evaluation families also take part in the many AP Online and Honors classes that we offer. 

I'm happy to write college and scholarship recommendation letters for my PHAA students as needed, and am very familiar with the Common Application and several other online application systems. 

I'm limited in the number of new students I can take on each year, but hopefully, I can fit your family into my schedule. For families that are re-contracting with me for evaluations, I email out my annual contract in early September of each school year.

Shirley Schafer
1105 Dewey Ave.
New Castle, PA 16101
wfschafer@juno.com

I earned a BS in History with a minor in Elementary Ed and an MS in Education. I am state certified in three areas: Elem Ed, Reading Specialists: K-12, ESL: K-12. I have completed nearly 4,000 evaluations for grades one-twelve since the home school act became law. My own two children were home educated and are now a full-time college librarian/part-time vocal & piano instructor and architectural drafter/residential builder. I have taught at all levels including college and public and private schools. I tutor privately, also and work as a Title 1 teacher in my local school.

All high schoolers working on a recognized home school diploma submit required compositions and research papers to me according to a yearly schedule.

I will email the evaluation contract, fee schedule, and other information to interested home schooling families. As an evaluator I give meaningful suggestions and feed back to the families I serve. I provide letters of recommendation and signed transcripts for high school students.

My name is Anne Burgevin and I am a homeschooling parent here in central Pennsylvania. I have been evaluating homeschooling families for the past 7 years. I enjoy the chance to assist families in this manner. Last year the assistant superintendent of our school district, Mr. Mike Hardy, gave me permission to do evaluations for high school students. I am very excited about this prospect. Please note that I have also worked with families from the surrounding school districts.

I hold a master's degree in elementary education and have permanent certification in New York State. My teaching and homeschooling career spans twenty-five years, which includes the years I homeschooled my two teenage daughters. My older daughter is now a junior at Dickinson College and my younger daughter is currently deciding on which college she would like to attend.

I have room for new families. It would be a pleasure to work with you as your evaluator. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 235-6362. Thank you for your consideration.

Deborah L. Butchart

61 Paul Revere Road

Oil City, PA 16301, Venango County

814-516-4427

bdbutchart@comcast.net

A Homeschool Evaluator for Students of Elementary, High School and Special Needs. A  Teacher of the Hearing Impaired with 34 years of experience recently retired.

Wendy Girard

If you are in need of an evaluator for your child/children: I can evaluate elementary and secondary students, as well as give prior approval for Special Education students. I have PA teaching certificates in Early Childhood Education, Special Education (k-12), and Reading Specialist (k-12). I have taught in PA and MD for a total of 9 years. I am willing to do evaluations or testing in Cambria and surrounding counties.

Dr. Amber Shay Nicholson is a homeschool mother of 4 and holds a doctorate in piano performance with multiple years of teaching at the college level.  She loves to see the individual ways that homeschooled students choose to meet the standard requirements, and how they can tailor their learning plans to learn extra things they are excited about, above and beyond the basics.  She does not offer elementary or secondary evaluations, but can provide virtual, distance, and in-person evaluations for PHAA.

ambershaynicholson@yahoo.com