Kelly Dowd, BA, MSEd
Kelly is an educator with more than 30 years of experience in the field and an enthusiasm for life-long learning. She worked for a decade in the public school system, teaching kindergarten through fifth grade. After having her second of three children, Kelly left teaching to care for them. A lackluster kindergarten year prompted her to dip her toes into the world of homeschooling and non-traditional education. Twelve years later, she’s still at it, with her oldest graduating this year and her youngest in 8th grade!
While homeschooling her own children, Kelly also spent a decade facilitating programming for children aged 4-16 at an educational non-profit for homeschoolers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. There, she honed the art of multi-age grouping, collaborative learning, and project-based education.
She loves road trips and field trips that offer opportunities to learn through unusual experiences. When her kids were 6, 8 and 10, she threw them in the minivan for a 6 week epic road trip across the United States to visit National Parks (and everyone survived!) Her favorite recent jaunt included a stop at an emerald mine, where she learned how to successfully pan for gemstones!
Kelly graduated magna cum laude from the University of Connecticut’s Honors Program with a BA in Slavic and Eastern European Studies. After a short stint in the business world as an HR manager, she returned to graduate school at the University of New Haven and earned her MSEd in Elementary Education.
Sue Wenger, BA, MS, MA
Sue has been a professional educator for more than 30 years. For ten years, she taught in private and public schools in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Germany as well as working briefly as a University of Pennsylvania researcher and community college instructor.
She then transitioned to the world of homeschooling where she ran her own independent teaching business, focusing on biology, chemistry, geology, and environmental science. For the past eleven years, she has been a science and math facilitator at an educational non-profit for homeschooled youth. She has loved the opportunity to walk alongside middle and high school-aged youth, kindling and supporting their interest in STEM education and the outdoors.
As a Mom, she has enjoyed planning trips for her three children (and husband) across the U.S. and Europe. Whether it is seeing desert plants blooming at Big Bend National Park, glaciers retreating in the Swiss mountains, or birds migrating in Cape May, New Jersey, she sees every trip as an opportunity to learn more about our beautiful world. She especially loves to share her passions for nature photography, bird watching, and geology with others. If you want to get her super excited, just ask if you can see her mineral collection!
Sue has a BA in Biology from Princeton University and a MS in Biology from Villanova University where she specialized in molecular biology cancer research. She also has an MA in Secondary Science Teaching from Colorado College where she wrote her thesis on interdisciplinary science teaching.