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. Owens graduated from The University of Florida in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Education. She is a wife to Shane since 1999 and a mother to three children, all of whom attend Ambleside School. She grew up in Miami, FL and is the oldest of six. Mrs. Owens can be trusted to explain any and all variations on our weather, and to point out any and all birds on campus! You'll hear her infectious laugh if you're within a mile of campus!

Ms. Miles has always had an enormous love and passion for music. She has studied music for 15 years with 3 of those years being at the College of Central Florida where she studied Music Theory, Sight Singing, Music Literacy, Composition and Performance. Her love of performing started at age 15 when she performed in New York City in the production “Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings”. This experience helped her sing and play in cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, Tampa and Disney World. Performance was her main passion until 3 years ago. She was offered a teaching position at Grace School of the Arts in Ocala. This job changed her heart from wanting to perform, to desiring to teach and inspire children with music and the word of God at the same time. She was introduced to Ambleside in 2017 and began assistant-teaching Middle School Choir. She now directs this choir as well as our High School Choir.

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.

As an algebra teacher, Mrs. Dease is passionate about cultivating a love of mathematics in children that comes with understanding and engagement. When she is not teaching at Ambleside, she is a mom to two very young, sweet children and a wife to another teacher, Joshua. Before having children and moving to Ocala in 2015, Mrs. Dease went on many mission trips to Slovenia, teaching teens about God’s love for them. She is very proud to continue that same work here at Ambleside in Ocala.

Mrs. Dersch received her Associate Degree in Nursing in 1986, soon after marriage to her high school sweetheart. After a 10 year career in cardiac critical care, she transitioned home to educate their growing family. She embraced homeschooling her children through their elementary years with a passion that they have opportunity to love the act of learning. Their family joined our Ambleside community in 2011 when their youngest child was adopted internationally. Four of her children have attended Ambleside and Mrs. Dersch has spent countless hours on our campus as a volunteer. She loves our community well through nurturing our flower beds, encouraging others in the world’s best and hardest job of parenting, overseeing our Shakespeare costumes and being willing to serve where needed with a joy-filled heart.