Meet Our TEACHERS
Spanish
Mrs. Linda Bowling
Linda received her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and her Master of Arts in Secondary Education from the University of Central Oklahoma. She has taught Spanish for forty years, thirty-three in public secondary schools and the last seven at Redlands Community College. This will be her second year teaching at Excel. Linda’s goal is to help her students learn and enjoy other languages and cultures. She is married with three children and seven grandchildren. Linda enjoys gardening, exercise, and visiting with friends.
Anatomy; Chemistry
Ms. Karen Evans
Karen holds a Masters in Secondary Counseling and a Bachelor of Science degree from East Central University. She has taught for 31 years, everything from 7th grade Life Science to AP chemistry and physics in schools both large and small. Karen has taught at Excel for six years and currently teaches at Francis Tuttle Technology Center as well. Karen is a master cake decorator, loves to restore old furniture and does stained glass as well.
Middle and High School Music Appreciation
Mrs. Kristin Geddes
Kristin has a bachelor’s degree in music education from Baylor University and a master’s in musical theater performance from Oklahoma City University. She has taught music for fifteen years, including ten in homeschool co-ops, and hopes to instill a love of music in her students. Kristin and her husband have been married for twenty-five years and have four children whom they homeschool. Kristin also teaches ballet and musical theater classes at Classical Ballet School in Edmond. She enjoys exercising and playing games with her family.
MS and HS English; MS and HS History
Mrs. Angela Griffin
Angela is a graduate of California State University, Hayward, where she received a BA in Liberal Studies with a History minor. She and her husband homeschooled their two sons through high school and she has taught homeschool co-op classes for sixteen years, ten of those at Excel. Angela is dedicated to preparing her students for their next level of education. She has said many times that all of her students may not go to college, but if they choose to, it’s her goal to make sure they’re ready. The joys of her life are reading, hanging out with her husband Harve, and enjoying family time, especially with the world’s most amazing granddaughter.
American Sign Language
Mrs. Sheila Ives
Sheila is a graduate of Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, where she received a Bachelor Science in Psychology. She also holds an American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreter certification from Kansas. She began learning ASL in 1974 and received her first certification while living in Chattanooga, TN, in 1979, passing the national boards in 1980. Over the years she has taught countless ASK courses and interpreted for deaf students in public schools for fourteen years. Sheila has been teaching ASL at Excel for the past thirteen years. Her ASL students learn Deaf culture and how to communicate using ASL. Her passions are her husband Bob, her four children and twelve grandchildren, music, storm watching and the occasional Air Show and Native American festival.
Understand the Times; Life Science
Mrs. Kari Kanaly
Kari has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from The University of Oklahoma.
She has taught for twelve years various science and Bible classes from
elementary age through high school. She has a passion to teach God’s Word, as
well as God’s design of all life to her students. Her prayer is that her students
would know that every detail of God’s design is purposeful and matters. Kari and
her husband have been married for twenty years and have three children whom
they homeschool. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and all things coffee.
5-6th Grade Science, Earth Science, Physical Science and Biology
Mr. George Knapp
George Knapp received a Bachelor of Science Education from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2000 and has taught at the junior high and high school level. George has fourteen years experience and is currently a bivocational church pastor. This fall will be his second year at Excel. He wants his students to not only learn science but have a love for the subject. He is married and has four children. He really enjoys hunting and fishing in his spare time.
Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II
Mrs. Carreybeth Lehew
Carreybeth earned her bachelor’s degree in education with a music minor from Baylor University. She added math endorsements to her degree through Tulsa Community College. Her most recent experience was tutoring in the Challenge level program for Classical Conversations. She continues to homeschool her two youngest children. Carrreybeth’s passion is working with middle school and high school students, teaching Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and Geometry. She married her college sweetheart and is a stay-at-home mom to five children.
ACT Prep
Mrs. Susie Nix
Susie Nix graduated from Central Baptist College in Conway, Arkansas, with a degree in music education. Susie has thirty years of experience in preparing students for the ACT Exam. She has seen success in helping students raise their ACT score, help them fill out applications for college and also gain entrance into college. Teaching, being a wife to Mike, a mother to three and grandmother to six are among the greatest blessings of her life.
Government
Mr. Brent Olsson
Brent graduated from Oral Roberts University with a bachelor’s degree in history. In 1988 he attained a Juris Doctor Law Degree from the University of Tulsa. He is chairman of the Excel Board of Directors and has taught government at Excel more than ten years. Brent hopes to make the US Constitution and founding principles of the United States understandable and to instill an appreciation in his students’ hearts for America. He is married to Jene’ and they have three children. His hobbies are history and photography.
Yearbook/Photography
Mrs. Teresa Pendell
Teresa has worked in print, sales and NIE for 10 years in newspapers in Texas, Georgia
and Oklahoma. She worked as a paraprofessional for 6 years in Oklahoma before
adopting her youngest son. They have homeschooled for 10 years.
Her goal is to preserve the memories of the school year while inspiring students’
creativity in photography and graphic design by creating a yearbook. Fostering
individual strengths and building skills to work together to complete projects while
exploring new tools to accomplish goals.
Teresa is married to Kevin and they enjoy camping, gardening and playing games. She
enjoys reading and sewing.
Middle and High School Art and Advanced Art
Mrs. Charlotte Strickland
Charlotte trained extensively under a local Oklahoma artist and is a homeschool graduate. She has tutored for the last ten years, and this will be her second year teaching at Excel. Charlotte’s joy is to teach students to observe God’s artistry in nature and use that to create their own works of art. Besides painting animals, both real and fictional, she enjoys video gaming with her husband, Justin, and trying new restaurants.
Math Foundations, Intermediate Math and
Pre-Algebra
Mrs. Sara Tucker
Sara has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University and spent 8 years working at Tinker Air Force Base as an engineer. Although her educational background is in engineering, she soon discovered through volunteering in children’s ministry and tutoring math to elementary students that teaching is her true passion! She has been homeschooling her two daughters for the past 11 years and has taught elementary science and more recently middle school and high school math in various homeschool coops for most of those years. Her goal is to build confidence in her students and lay the foundations to be successful in math and to create a classroom environment that encourages them to be excited about learning. In her free time, Sara enjoys spending time with her husband of 21 years and their two daughters, watching cooking shows, playing games and camping.
Shurley English/ Cultural Geography
Ms. Melody Warren
Melody has a bachelor's degree from Southwestern Assemblies of God
University in Texas. She is passionate about teaching and has taught a
variety of classes to home school students for the past twenty years.
Spending time with her four adult kids and granddaughter bring her
abundant joy. Melody's favorite hobbies are throwing parties, playing
the piano, reading, and watching live theatre.