Fall 2024 Teachers
Brittany Beach
Storytelling Through Photography
Brittany Beach is a proud mother of 6 children and is going to begin her 8th year homeschooling. She received a BA from Eastern University in Anthropology and Missions. While in college, she pursued photography as a hobby. In 2012, she was asked to help photograph a wedding. That ignited a passion for telling stories through creating beautiful images. Her husband and she launched a wedding and portrait photography business and pursued that full time for years. Now, she spends her days reading good books with her children, gardening, and still capturing beautiful images.
Gina Borchers
5 in a Row & IEW
Gina Borchers worked as a cardiac ICU nurse before starting (and continuing) her 25+ years home schooling career. She and her husband, Keith, have eight children: six of them college graduates, and two still at home. She has taught multiple subjects in home school co-ops over the years including literature, writing, and science. She loves spending time with her family, hiking, attending a monthly book group, and eating chocolate.
Grace Defilippis
Fit for Heaven
Grace Defilippis is the oldest of a Catholic homeschooling family of 9. Graduating from Thomas Aquinas College in California with a Liberal Arts degree, she taught kindergarten for two years at Our Lady Of Lourdes Classical School in Denver. Since then, she’s gotten married and started a family with one girl so far! She’s excited to be a part of this homeschooling community and learn from this experience.
Elise Epstein
Creative Drama & Theatre
Elise Epstein has been doing theater since childhood and enjoys the unique opportunities it provides for all of us to explore and express different creative sides of ourselves we would only get away with on the stage! It is her joy to watch young actors and actors with unique abilities discover their abilities and gain confidence through theatrical experiences. She finds her greatest inspiration from well known stories found in books.
Anthony Gallegos
Martial Arts
Mr. Gallegos has been a martial arts instructor/coach for many years now. He is a life-long student of the martial arts and has enjoyed using the arts as a bridge to understanding and teaching virtue. His joy as an instructor is seeing his students accomplish their goals after making a determined choice to persevere.
Alison Glass
Young AmeriTowne & Fit for Heaven
Mrs. Alison Glass graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2001 with a BA in Theology and Sociology. She then went on to get her JD from Ave Maria School of Law. Upon graduation she moved to the Denver area, met her husband Tim, and worked as a Deputy District Attorney and then as an Arapahoe County Attorney. After her third child was born, she quit work to stay home and be a full-time wife and mother. She and Tim now have 7 children from 3 to 17 years old. Alison has coached or been assistant coach for her young childrens’ various sports teams. She enjoys all kinds of sports and athletic endeavors. As a passionate lifelong learner she is excited to teach at CCE and share her knowledge and gifts with her students.
Mary Machado
God’s World of Wonder – Intro to the Earth Sciences
Mary Machado has a B.S. in Biology and an M.A. in Health Education & Gerontology, with a certificate in secondary education. She was a home educator for 20+ years, with all of her children now grown and graduated. She has a love for history and science topics and hands-on learning in these areas. She has taught homeschool co-op and enrichment program classes in various fields for 20 years.
Brandi Matovina
Hand and Wheel Pottery, Cooking Easy as Pie, Draw Like a Professional
Brandi Matovina’s love for beauty runs deep, and so does her passion for showing people how easy it can be to make beautiful things! Brandi taught art in the public school system for several years directly out of college, and has spent the last ten year teaching art classes for various co-ops and private schools around the Denver Metro. When she does find the time create her own art, Brandi love working with a medium called encaustic: a hot wax method of textural painting that dates back to at least 800 B.C. However, with four busy, amazing kids to raise and enjoy, Brandi spends most of her free time experimenting in the kitchen, chatting with her husband, or reading a few pages of a good book!
Jennie McCabe
Biology
Jennie McCabe is married to Sheldon, and they have 6 children, of which 2 have graduated from homeschooling. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, emphasis on Secondary Education and worked as a microbiologist before her children were born. She believes that as we learn about the natural world, we learn about some attributes of the Creator as well.
Claudia Miller
Machine Sewing & Hand Sewing
Claudia Miller is married and mom of five children. She has been a sewing instructor since 2007 and has taught children and adults a variety of skills from sewing basics to dressmaking to quilting. Claudia became a sewing instructor out of a love for creating things and a desire to share that enjoyment with others. She continues to develop her sewing skills and currently is focused on sewing for the church–habits and altar linens, and occasionally does mending for priests.
Claire Rojas
Art of Storytelling/Wood Carving
Mrs. Claire (Woodbury) Rojas is a homeschool graduate herself. She teaches several classes out of her home in Westminster, including sewing, piano, art and creative writing. Mrs. Rojas has studied iconography for over six years in age-old methods. She has been commissioned for several icons, including one at Holy Trinity (St. Raphael in the Adoration chapel) and an icon of Our Lady of the Rosary for the Dominican Vietnamese chapter in Wheat Ridge.
Carolyn Speer
Choir/Intro to Aristotle/Elementary Literature/Composition
Mrs. Carolyn Speer graduated from Wyoming Catholic College with a BA in Liberal Arts. She studied for a year at the ITI in Austria and graduated from the Augustine Institute with a Master’s degree in Theology. After this, she did a year of post grad work in philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville. She has been enjoying teaching 2nd grade for the past six years and advising high school theses. This coming year, she is excited to stay home with her son, while continuing her passion for teaching at CCE.
Hermine-Jesus Toomer
French
Daniela Warner
Irish Dance and Music & Movement
Dani, a Colorado native, has been dancing since the age of 3 and has no plans to stop. She has been teaching at a local dance studio, Joyful Soles, for two years, and as a call-on substitute for three years. Last spring Dani danced the lead in the spring production of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ playing the part of the White Witch. She also participated in a mission trip to Latvia and Prague, where she performed with four other dancers at the International Music Festival in Prague. She is currently working to obtain her Associates in business. Dani loves to teach kids how to use their movements to worship God and to tell the story of Jesus.