Our Teaching Team

Meet our Staff

Our teachers are carefully selected. Cimarron School of Living Education teachers are inspired by the Cimarron vision and are delighted to come alongside families in raising life-long learners. These teachers desire to grow in their own personal and educational lives while consistently applying the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education. Cimarron teachers are be called to create an atmosphere where our students can grow in wisdom and knowledge, to mentor our children in the shaping of character, and to shepherd our students in truth, beauty, and goodness.

Ashley Garrett, Preschool Teacher

_{Ashley has been in education for twelve years, teaching in both private and public school sectors. Ashley has always thought there was a piece missing in the educational puzzle, and after having her own child, she began to realize the need to teach the whole child. Further research led her upon homeschooling methods and in particular, the philosophy of Charlotte Mason. Ashley was drawn to the Mason principle that the child already possessed all aspects of personhood: body, soul, spirit, mind, will, emotions. Instead of segmenting a child into parts, the idea that we should feed and nourish the child as a complete person is what Ashley has been searching for. Ashley is excited to join the Cimarron team and cultivate this new, rich educational experience.}

Kishia Steiner, Kindergarten Teacher

_{Kishia received her B.S. Ed from Southwestern Oklahoma State University. During this time, she competed in collegiate athletics, was active in student ministries, and took part in two international missions opportunities. She started her career teaching kindergarten and pre-kindergarten for 16 years in a public school setting before joining the Cimarron staff. Kishia has been on a journey to learn the Charlotte Mason methodology and has always believed that children learn and thrive when they have a loving, supportive guide on their side. Being a mom to two boys, she has noticed how they are very much self learners and how all of life is an education from digging for bugs to creating their own books they want to read again and again. Her desire is that her students will gain a love of learning and grow as beautiful individuals who know their Creator. In her free time Kishia enjoys reading, going on family walks and bike rides, and cooking new recipes. She is married to Elliot and mom to Miles and Lincoln, (kindergarten and first grade) students at Cimarron.}

Angie Haubrich , 1st Grade Teacher

Angie is a wife, mother of two girls, and a home educator. She was introduced to the Charlotte Mason Method about two years ago and after starting to read “School Education” by Charlotte Mason she was drawn to the wisdom of Mason’s 20 Principles. The beauty of an educational philosophy which made relationship with God, community, and nature the center from which all learning flowed, drew her and her family to Cimarron School of Living Education.

A childhood of traveling, in the United States and England as an Air Force kid, expanded and shaped Angie’s worldview, gave her a deep appreciation for different cultures, and grew in her a desire to learn more about the world. She attended Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, OK, where she studied Music, Business, and Theology and continued the adventure of traveling with the SNU Chorale on 2 separate tours through Europe, and a summer mission trip to Slovenia. After SNU she married Jesse, her husband of 17 years, worked in insurance as a trainer, and had two beautiful girls.

Angie loves people of all ages. She is active in her parish group at church, where she also enjoys taking spiritual formation and theology classes. She enjoys doing crafty things, hanging out with good friends, amateur gardening, reading with her kids, bird watching, and hunting for deals and treasures at thrift shops and garage sales.

Seeking a personal relationship with Christ has been woven through her entire journey. As she continues to seek the wisdom of God and practices walking the way of Jesus she realizes, more and more, how much about God she can experience and learn from “the least of these.” She considers it a blessing to get to learn with and from the children of Cimarron and is excited for this new adventure in education.

Meredeth Duncan, 2nd Grade Teacher

Meredeth Duncan received her Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma Christian University in 2011. After getting married in 2014, she and her husband Rob began teaching childrens’ Bible classes at their church and have continued on to today. After Meredeth’s busy engineering career with much traveling, they welcomed their son Moses and a few months later, their daughter Daisy was born. Meredeth learned the beauty of being home with her children and teaching them about God, nature, and the wonders of life. While researching homeschool ideas, she was drawn to the Charlotte Mason method and especially to the ideas that children are valuable and precious whole people.

Meredeth and her family enjoy playing outside in all weather, taking care of their chickens, reading books, cooking, and attending church. She can’t wait to pour into your Cimarron students and continue on their journey of education together! While teaching her own children or others, Meredeth truly believes that having the attitude of Jesus is essential. “Rather, in humility value others above yourself.” (Phil. 2:3)

Shireen Smith, 3rd Grade Teacher

_{Shireen Smith received a Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma, in Chickasha, OK in 2010. Receiving her education from USAO, a liberal arts university, Mrs. Smith was first introduced to what Charlotte Mason referred to as the feast of an enriching and varied education. She received her Master’s in Education from the Community Counseling program at the University of Oklahoma in 2012. After completing 2 years of supervision, she became a Licensed Professional Counselor in 2014. Mrs. Smith has ten years of experience as a counselor working with children and adults with depression, anxiety, and trauma. She and her husband David have two precious girls. In homeschooling her oldest daughter, a dear friend introduced Mrs. Smith to a Charlotte Mason based curriculum. She was drawn to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy because of the focus on appreciating God’s creations, the importance of maintaining good habits, and presenting children the feast of a plethora of subjects and studies.}

Meredith Cooper, Form 2 (4th-6th Grades) Teacher

_{Mrs. Cooper received her BA in Communication from James Madison University and her MA in International Studies from The University of Oklahoma. Following a career in politics, she moved around the world with her husband while he served in the Air Force. The Coopers have four children. Mrs. Cooper has homeschooled her children from the beginning, and is eager to join the Cimarron community. She loves to learn about the Charlotte Mason philosophy, and is passionate about reading (and finding friends who love to read). As a mom of kids with disabilities, her favorite Charlotte Mason principle is “Children are born persons.”}

Kate Geesaman, Form 2 (4th-6th Grades) Teacher, Assistant Director

_{Born and raised in Illinois, Kate developed a love of nature and was often found in the pastures or and prairies seeking her next flower treasure or injured animal to nurse back to health. Music, however, has always been her real passion. The deep hymns, playful folksongs and full choral anthems were what inspired her to earn a bachelor degree in Music Education in 2000. She taught K-12 general and choral music for six years before she and her husband, Greg, came home with their first son in 2006. Their family added three more boys in the next 5 years. Kate’s love for education brought her family into homeschooling. A Charlotte Mason way of educating found Kate in those early years of homeschooling and was a natural fit to her love of music, nature, history and literature. Kate is a follower of Jesus and most mornings can be found studying God’s word and learning more about our God that knows her and loves her. She also wonders at the intricacies of God’s creation through nature water-coloring. Kate enjoys teaching music with the Central Oklahoma Homeschool Choir where she leads the middle school and early elementary choirs. She is looking forward to this next adventure and sharing the feast of a Charlotte Mason education with her community.}

Chelsea Fairleigh , Form 3 (7th-8th Grades) Teacher

_{Chelsea spent her childhood moving around the world. Due to her father’s various military postings, she was exposed to different cultures, relationships, and schools of thought. This began the foundation of her strong appreciation and value of relationships. Chelsea was a natural student and always felt drawn to a constant yearning for knowledge. She would go on to obtain her Bachelors’ degree in Nursing from Oklahoma Christian University in 2011. She would spend the next 8 years working as a Registered Nurse at OU Children’s Hospital. This employment allowed for many new opportunities to learn, but also exposed Chelsea to the role of an educator. She discovered what a powerful tool this was in the lives of her patients. What also stimulated her love of education was when her firstborn began to have an increasing hunger for knowledge. This triggered a deep investigation into learning more about educating children and all the various philosophies. What she discovered is that although some educational products have a broad application, the educational process is not an assembly line, bringing in new children and systematically applying uniform principles to each individual while expecting the same outcome in each instance. As Elaine Cooper says in When Children Love to Learn, “A child is a person, not a computer program to be written.” Teaching each child is an individual process, where a relationship is formed with the student, strengths and weaknesses are identified and accounted for, and a holistic environment is created where the student has the latitude to become a life-long learner.}

_{Chelsea went on in 2019 to graduate from Marysville University with a M.S. in nursing to become a Nurse Practitioner. She now works part time at an infusion center. Jesus is of utmost importance in her life. Being outdoors on the trails with her husband and four kids brings the utmost joy. She can’t wait to share the truth, beauty, and goodness with all students young and old.}

Nikki Thomas , Form 4 (9th-10th Grades) Teacher Guide/Form 3 Assistant

Nikki attended OSU and received her degree in Secondary Education Social Studies. She has always loved learning, traveling, exploring, and teaching! During her time at OSU she studied abroad twice including her student teaching at a DoDS school in England. After this she worked in the public school system for five years and taught numerous ages and classes from 5th-12th grade.

She has been married for almost 10 years and has served alongside her husband in youth ministry and now college ministry at UCO. They both have a heart for students and teaching the gospel. When their children were born she had a desire to stay home with them and eventually this became a reality. With this shift she began researching how she wanted her children to grow up and fell in love with the idea of homeschooling.

In 2021 Nikki and her friend Emily created a small business called The Schoolyard creating homeschool physical education curriculum. Nikki discovered Charlotte Mason through an antiquated form of physical education called Swedish Drill. As she learned more about Swedish Drill and how brilliant it was she was instinctually drawn to the this women and her method of homeschooling. After learning about Miss Mason for the past year she firmly believes in her method and form of education.

She is excited to teach in an atmosphere that truly feeds and nourishes students mind, body, and soul with a living education. It is going to be a great year!