People

Mrs. Charske has been married to her husband for over 18 years and has five children. She enjoys many activities: rollerblading, weight lifting, relaxing at the beach, reading, exercise classes at the YMCA, traveling with my husband, hiking in the mountains and especially snow skiing in the mountains. Steamboat Springs, Colorado is her favorite place to snow ski. As a family, she really enjoys sitting down for a family meal and sharing "highs" and "lows" of the day. She loves being a part of her woman's group who study God's word and pray regularly.

Mrs. Works is married with both children attending Ambleside.  Before starting a family she was actively involved in theater, both on stage and behind the scenes.  Although she enjoyed performing, she decided she did not want it to be her life’s work.  She changed her major and received her Bachelors of Science for Psychology from the University of Florida. She enjoys running, traveling, and spending time with her family. She can still be seen performing, whether she is on stage or not.

Mrs. Lacefield has been part of the Ambleside community since January 2007. She passionately embraced Ambleside philosophy, working with founders, Ken & Shari Ausley in the early years to share this education and grow our community. Aside from teaching Kindergarten, Second and Third Grade, she served as a Board Member and Head of School. She holds a BA in Education of the Speech & Hearing Handicapped as well as an MS in Speech & Language Pathology from the State University of New York, College at Fredonia. This background, and Arrowsmith Certification, equips her for her role as a teacher in the Arrowsmith Program.This program supports students with specific learning difficulties by identifying and strengthening cognitive capacities. She also coordinates our Title 1 program in relationship with Marion County Public Schools. Mrs. Lacefield considers herself a life-long learner and therefore has many interests. Mrs. Lacefield and her husband, Jerry, have three daughters, the youngest of whom is in eighth grade at Ambleside.

Mr. Walkup was ordained as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America in 2010 and has served in Youth and Family ministries throughout the southeast since 2005. He and his wife, Rhoda, have two lovely daughters. The Walkups were introduced to Ambleside and Charlotte Mason through family and friends as their oldest daughter approached school age. Mr. Walkup enjoys running, reading, coffee, music, and playing games with his girls.

Mrs. Gibboney loves connecting with people, especially young adults. Her heart is to help them grow in healthy relationship with one another and God. She and her husband, John, love the Florida Gators and their fur child, Gabby. Mrs. Gibboney is proud to serve on the board of directors of The Arnette House.

Mr. Head builds a creative community at Ambleside, centered around joy-filled, Christ-exalting singing. He’s served at Ambleside for seven years, bringing a passion for corporate worship to our mornings. He teaches composer study for 3rd-8th grades in addition to elementary music each week. Primarily a family man, Mr. Head draws much inspiration from his wife and five kids, as well as from the students on campus. When he isn’t teaching, Mr. Head is usually working on the next musical instrument on his list to learn.

Mrs. Lewis is originally from Ocala and has lived here most of her life. She has an AA degree from CFCC and has been artistically creative from an early age. She was introduced to the Charlotte Mason method three years ago when her 2 youngest grandchildren began attending Ambleside. She has always believed art was a very important part of any child's education so voluntarily taught elementary art in a local Christian school where her youngest son attended. She also taught middle school math classes at the same school. She enjoys crafting, reading, biking, swimming and kayaking as well as any other outdoor activity. She also loves spending time with her grandchildren. She and her husband are semi-retired and travel to Charlotte NC as often as possible to visit their son and daughter-in-law.They also enjoy refurbishing houses. She considers it an honor to work with such amazing teachers and staff at Ambleside.

Ms. Stark has lived in Ocala her entire life. Though she loves spending summers in North Carolina working at summer camp, she has continued to gain a greater appreciation for the city of Ocala. Through working with children in various ways and settings for most of her life, Ms. Stark discovered the immense joy found in teaching. She also delights in learning from children about the beautiful way our Heavenly Father sees us and sees it as an incredible responsibility to be able to help shape how children see themselves. Ms. Stark was able to connect with families through working at Grace Episcopal VPK and feels both privileged and blessed to now be apart of the incredible family that is Ambleside. Ms. Stark loves experiencing God’s creation through hiking through the mountains, kayaking, swimming, and road-tripping.

Mrs. Butler and her husband Del are both children of dairy farmers and love being outdoors. After receiving her Master’s Degree, Mrs. Butler moved to Florida in 1983 where she taught in the Marion County Public School System for 30 years. She also served as an adjunct professor at the College of Central Florida since 1989. Mrs. Butler holds a Florida Teaching Certificate in multiple areas from elementary education all the way up to twelfth-grade math. Her and her husband have been married for over 30 years and have raised six children, three boys and three girls. They also have six grandchildren, including Kaitlin who is in second grade at Ambleside. Mrs. Butler enjoys singing, playing the guitar, riding horses, researching, and skating. So far her youngest student has been a four-year-old learning guitar and her oldest student was 86 years old and learning to read her Bible.