As a lifelong explorer, Ms. Crystal has developed a passion for the visual arts, sciences, and creativity. While unlocking students’ love for learning over two decades Ms. Crystal has developed a wide variety of educational techniques and curriculum. Making art, science and history come alive in her students is a passion of Ms. Crystal's. Through partnerships with local education and community organizations, Ms. Crystal has developed a style of excellence and unique creativity. Ms. Crystal has also enjoyed illustrating her own children’s books with her best friend, Ms. Mandee.

As a passionate teacher and mentor, Ms. Mandee has affected the lives of thousands of children throughout the Treasure Valley. By partnering with the City of Boise, City of Meridian, Boise State University and other organizations, Miss Mandee has created and implemented lasting, enriching events and outreaches for the many youth and refugee children in the area. She is always striving to create new, fun hands-on curriculum and activities for students. Miss Mandee is enjoying her newly found passion of writing children’s books with her best friend, Ms. Crystal.

Meet the Lane Family – Daniel, Sara, and Elian – the down-to-earth crew behind Building Steam! Get ready to hop aboard the Block & Roll Bus, the quirkiest mobile LEGO classroom in town. Back in 2018, Daniel and Sara stumbled into this journey when they couldn't find any LEGO STEM classes nearby. So, they decided to start an FLL (First Lego League) for their homeschooling buddies, and guess what? Teaching with LEGO bricks totally won them over! Join this fun-loving family on their quest to share the joy of learning, one LEGO brick at a time – they're just regular folks, having a blast along the way!

Jessica Harling has been teaching children for over 20 years, mostly in the homeschool community for the last ten. Her educational background is in early childhood development, but her teaching experience has encompassed preschool to 12th grade. Mrs. Jessica also taught on Outschool for a few years, usually covering natural science topics with kids k-8th. Her Outschool parent review score was 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Jessica has been homeschooling her own kids for the last 12 years, and in that time has a taught at three different co-ops across the Treasure Valley. Mrs. Jessica has taught topics including history, geography, science, literature, speech, and debate. Jessica believes learning should be hands-on, engaging, and fun, and she tries to create that sort of learning environment when teaching. It’s important to her that the classroom is a place where kids can ask questions, try new things, and feel safe to participate. Mrs. Jessica joined the Meridian Pod School for the Spring semester of 2024 and is excited to expand her class offering for us this fall!

Daena Nelson-Redford has been an educator for over 17 years. Most of her experience is from the classroom, teaching Kindergarten and first grade. Daena’s combined interest in early childhood education and affinity with helping others led to pursuing her Bachelors degree in human development and teaching credential. She lovingly perseveres in developing foundational skills of young learners and makes lasting connections with families that are built on communication, trust, and compassion. She utilizes a whole child approach and believes that social emotional learning is a vital contributor to life success. Daena fosters a love of learning and promotes an environment that incorporates deeper levels of understanding, confidence building, comfort in asking questions, and hands on learning experiences. Mrs. Daena is over the moon to be joining the Meridian Pod School in Fall 2024!

For over 15 years, Erin Murphy has been teaching in both traditional classroom settings as well as remote, one-on-one, and home schooling environments. She loves to let her creative side shine and hopes you would like to as well. From a young age, she has always enjoyed using her imagination to create arts and crafts from craft shows to an Etsy shop or for pure enjoyment, she is always making handmade items. With extensive experience and a creative drive, she looks forward to guiding others on their own path of creativity.

Inviting curiosity for numbers comes simply to her, therefore she's eager to awaken your imagination while strengthening your critical Math skills. She hopes to nurture numbers-mindset through intriguing hands-on activities and games. She can’t wait to meet you and be a part of the Meridian pod school!

Adra grew up in northeast Florida but headed west to the mountains after receiving her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Guilford College. She spent the next several years building trails and leading conservation corps, where she experienced firsthand the transformative power of spending time in nature. This inspired Adra to go back to school and receive her master's degree from the University of Idaho's McCall Outdoor Science School. She is excited to bring her passion and expertise to Everwild Forest School and Meridian Pod School! When not teaching, you can typically find her exploring outside with her husband, dog, and two young sons.

Erica Hermsen founded the National Outdoor Learning Alliance in 2019, where she oversees a variety of nature-based education programs including EverWild Forest School, a program that serves over 150 students in the Treasure Valley with locations in Boise, Eagle, and Garden City. Prior to starting NOLA, Erica earned a B.A in Environmental Education and an M.S in Conservation Biology, and spent 15 years working in the field of environmental science and wildlife conservation. Her favorite experience before starting NOLA includes working in Kenya as a researcher and educator for a nonprofit dedicated to cheetah conservation!

Gemma (pronounced Hemma) Morawski was born and raised in Spain and lived there until the age of 16. She then moved to Boise in 2000, where she finished high school and went to BSU to get her degree in Child Care and Development as well as a degree in Spanish literature. Gemma started teaching Spanish to children in 2002 and taught until 2023. In 2011, she started teaching Spanish at Boise State. She is so passionate about her roots and heritage that she goes back to Spain every year with her son Caelan. Gemma's passion for the culture and language really shines when she can engage and play games with her students.

Growing up at the base of the mountains in Northern Utah, Dabney spent her childhood playing outdoors and dreaming of becoming a teacher. Through a series of events during high school, including a required bridge building contest for a math class, she fell into engineering and found that she was well suited to it. Upon graduating from Utah State University with a BS in Civil Engineering, Dabney was then able to combine her love for the outdoors and engineering working for the Forest Service. After 5 years of pursuing her career, Dabney made the choice to pursue a different dream and has been caring for and raising her 4 children. As her children are now growing older and more independent, Dabney is now following her childhood dream of becoming a teacher to pass along her love of engineering.

Carrie grew up with a love for art at a young age. She joined arts and culture clubs in high school and furthered her education and received her BA in Fine Arts and Fashion Design at Otis College of Art and Design. She spent ten years professionally as a fashion designer, designing for large and small companies across the U.S. Through her design career she had the opportunity to travel the world, which further inspired her love for art and culture. In 2015 Carrie moved back home and transitioned her career towards interior design for 7 years while teaching the arts part time at art studios, charter schools and one on one art lessons. Carrie's art and design has been featured in multiple magazines, she's won awards and her designs and paintings have been featured in store fronts and galleys across the US. Her painting styles range from realistic detailed artwork to abstract expressionism and designs are a combination of function, comfort and nature inspired with a contemporary twist. With a love for people, creativity and teaching, students will thrive in a caring environment led by 20 years of expertise in design and the arts!

Amy has homeschooled her kiddos who range in ages from 9-18 for nearly 15 years and has led many co-ops and classes as well as developed several curriculum.

Amy and her husband have been married 20 years and as a family love rugby, surfing and mountain biking. In her free time, Amy teaches women’s nutrition and fitness as well as helps her husband run their CPR business. Their family motto is, “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.”