Sandy earned her BA in English and Philosophy before working as a PR specialist and publications supervisor for the county superintendent of schools, a junior high teacher, and a book, newspaper and magazine writer/editor. Since she finished homeschooling her children through high school, she has felt called to help other homeschoolers find their way through the maze of legalities and possibilities. She now supervises North Kern Christian School’s home study program, and serves on the board of Home Educators’ Resource Center, doing high school advising and private tutoring in the areas of writing and college test prep.

Ms. Baker graduated with Regents High Honors at Jasper Central High School in New York, after which she studied Psychology, Intermediate French, and others, at Corning Community College. She has studied ASL at Bakersfield College, and pursued Bible Leadership coursework as well. She has taught every age group at churches since the age of 12, and has taught at HERC for several years. After homeschooling for 8 years, she recently graduated her youngest child with HERC.

Carla home schooled three now-grown sons with the encouragement of her husband. She has taught with HERC for the past 17 years. Carla graduated from Cal State Northridge with a B.A. in Liberal Studies, a Multiple Subject credential and a Special Ed. credential. She also studied French 5 years stateside and received a certificate of completion from Eurocentre language school in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Love of reading and fine literature was engendered in Carla’s home as a child growing up and has continued her whole life. Carla has been studying/teaching philosophical worldviews for the past 18 years—beginning with her own children. It is her passion to provide young people with a clear understanding of why they believe and to enable them to defend their most reasonable of worldviews.

Mr. Ross has a background strong in painting with all mediums, print making as etching, lithograph, screen printing and graphic design. His high level of computer expertise comprises a wide range of software such as CorelDRAW, Adobe Pagemaker, MS Office, Powerpoint, PhotoShop, as well as HTML design and digital photography. He has taught art in school settings, as well as doing graphics design work as a profession for over 30 years. He is committed to serving the Lord in all walks of life, and serves faithfully at his church.

Mr. Cowart graduated from UC Berkeley with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He has worked 38 years as a Control Systems Engineer, designing systems and specifying the instruments, valves, and computer equipment for various oil, chemical, and manufacturing companies. He committed his life to Christ at age 17. He and Darlene privately educated their son from K-12. Randy learned chess at age 11 and enjoys many strategy games. Randy has been interested in science and math from a very young age.

Emma is a graduate of Valley Oaks Charter High School and has an immense love for dancing. At the age of thirteen she was introduced to ballroom dancing through HERC and immediately developed a passion for it. She continued to take classes there for four more years. After that, she began teaching "The Ballroom Club" at Valley Oaks as well as individual lessons. She loves the way dance creates community and confidence in people and has grown as a person because of it. She is excited to spread God's joy through dance in a community that is inspired by learning.

Holly earned a Bachelor of Science in Nutritional Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1997. She has had the privilege of homeschooling her three children full time for 15 years. Her oldest two graduated from HERC, one in 2020 and another just recently in 2021. Her youngest will be attending HERC this year as a High School Freshman. She has been dedicated to bring them up with the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4) and is honored to serve in and be a part of the HERC community. She plans to take on the duties of the Library Director starting in the 2021/22 School Year.

Elizabeth has privately homeschooled her four children since 2014 with the first graduating in 2022. An upper state New York native, Elizabeth graduated from Skidmore College in 1990 with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Sociology. She then attended Colorado State University and received a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy in 1992, moving to CA in 1993. Elizabeth’s faith and love of good literature, travel and exploring the outdoors, good food, and goal setting have shaped her home education philosophy and her family’s homeschool journey, as well as her love of unique brains and love of making learning fun. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for any questions

Conway has been in the tree care service industry his entire life and has been selfemployed since 1986. He has an AA degree from Bakersfield College in welding and machine shop and is a Certified Arborist and a certified welder. He is also passionate about sports and loves to collect vintage cars, restore them, and attend car shows. He’s helped homeschool his four children since 2014, has been active serving on boards in various non-profit service organizations in town including the Tree Foundation of Kern and Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

Jessica Salmeron Jessica holds a Bachelor of Science in Business with a concentration in Finance, Real Estate, and Law from Cal State Long Beach. She has home educated her children for four years and is loving the journey. She has worked in accounting, real estate, teaching kindergarten and Sunday school. She's had an amazing opportunity to teach ESL to students who live in China. She is thrilled to be part of the HERC community where she hopes to build wonderful relationships.

Jessica has been married for 15 years and is currently in her 4th year of homeschooling 4 beautiful daughters. Her husband is an elder at Grace Bible Church of Bakersfield where they have been thriving for nearly 7 years. Her family enjoys good food, serving at their church, making memories, and just being together. As a young woman Jessica was certified in Early Childhood Education, and studied Child Adolescence and Family Studies in college. She spent 3 years as a preschool teacher in the quaint little town of Taft and 3 more years running a co-op preschool in her own home. In all avenues of her life, she has always found herself teaching and surrounded by young children. She looks forward to serving at HERC in that same capacity.

Heidi grew up in Omaha, NE and has resided in Bakersfield since 1996. She received A.A. degrees in both Business Administration and Liberal Arts from BC in 1999. She then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from CSUB in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance in 2003. She worked at CSUB for ten years in the School of Business as a Budget Analyst. Eventually she left the workforce and started homeschooling her daughter from 4th grade through high school. As her daughter got older, she has been working as a part-time contractor for Chevron’s Sycamore Cogeneration. She has been married to her husband, John, since 2000. They have started a small business together, Oxfords’ Art Studio, for their hobbies in art, photography, and fiber crafts.

Melanie holds a BA in English from Marietta College, an MA in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayette, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Oklahoma City University. She has worked as an instructor at many levels—as a certified public school teacher in Texas, as an instructor of freshman English at the university level, and as a preschool Montessori assistant—but her most rewarding and challenging role has been as homeschool mom to her three children. Melanie is a passionate reader and writer, and she considers one of her most profound accomplishments to be instilling a love for both in her two sons and daughter. A native of New York, Melanie has called half a dozen states and twice as many cities home; however, she is pleased to have finally settled with her children and husband of twenty-six years in the unique beauty of Bakersfield.

Amber graduated from Taft College with her first AA in Math/Science. She will continue to stay at community college one more year to earn her AS in Biology before transferring to earn her Bachelors of Science at CSUB. She plans to get her BS in Biotechnology in order to work in a hospital lab as a Clinical Lab Scientist. Her first biology course was at HERC in eighth grade, and since then she knew Biology would be her field of study. She has helped teach a previous chemistry class at HERC and enjoyed the opportunity to give back to the school that first taught her to fall in love with science.

Rachel grew up in Northern California, but has made Bakersfield her home since 1990, and has been married to her husband Richard since 1991. After several years of working as an Executive Assistant, she studied Architectural Design and Drafting with CAD at Bakersfield College, and has worked with several local Engineers to provide permit-ready architectural drawings, specializing in Landscape Design. Homeschooling her children became a priority in 2014 when her oldest was in first grade, and she has volunteered in many positions since then to help provide fun and educational learning and social opportunities for her own children as well as many others. Over the years this has included co-leader of a Rainbows preschool class and leader of the Prims Girls Club class at a local congregation, table mom at MOPS, co-leader of an elementary science co-op studying Life Science (Grades 3-6), hosted many homeschool field trip events and activities, and for the past 6 years, Girl Scout Troop Leader for a multi-level troop. She truly appreciates the freedom we have to give our children a God-centered education and is passionate about sharing this knowledge with others.