MY STORY

It started long before it became a business.

As far back as I can remember, I have been drawn to education.  As a young girl, I coerced my siblings into playing school.  In high school, my friends and I would daydream about living on a ranch together, each teaching the subjects we loved to each other's children.  As a young adult, I fell into a Louisa May Alcott phase — and when I reached Little Men and read about the school she started in her home at Plumfield, something in me caught fire.

I went on to study Special Education at Brigham Young University, earning 117.5 credit hours — including a semester studying abroad in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt — before a chronic illness redirected my path.  I moved home, found my husband Rob, and started our family.  But the vision of education never left me.

When my children were young, Rob and I decided I would be their primary caregiver and educator.  I poured every ounce of my creative energy into their learning — researching, attending conferences, experimenting, and refining.  Along the way, I encountered the very challenges many of your children are facing: dyslexia, dysgraphia, and the particular heartbreak of watching a bright child struggle to access learning.

I didn't accept "this is just how it is."  I had to find a way to help them progress.  I pursued over 150 hours of specialized training from speech and language pathologists — in phonics, spelling, the history and etymology of English, grammar, reading fluency, comprehension, and supported writing.  My children both struggled and thrived.  And that experience became the foundation for everything I do at Slayer Academy.

MY BACKGROUND

A path built on purpose

WHAT I BELIEVE

The principles I bring to every child

• Every child is capable - they simply need to be met where they are, not where the curriculum expects them to be.

• Every child has a voice worth developing - my job is to clear the path so it can be heard. 

• Confidence and skill grow together.  You cannot build one without the other.

• A child who fears failure cannot truly learn.  Safety is not optional - it is the foundation.

• Parents are essential partners.  What happens between sessions matters as much as what happens in them.

• The goal is always independence - equipping children with tools they carry for life, not dependence on a tutor.

• You don't need a label to get help.  I work with struggling learners with and without a formal diagnosis.