Teachers

Mrs. Charske graduated with her undergraduate degree in Health, Physical Education and Adapted Physical Education in 1996 and then continued on to pursue a Masters in Education in 2002 from the University of Dayton. She began her thirteen year long professional teaching career at Kettering City Schools in 1997.  She taught Health, Physical Education and coached Track and Field for four years before she took a short break to care for their first son. Once returning back to the teaching profession she enjoyed four more years teaching for Kettering Schools at the middle school level. She ended her last five years of teaching at Southdale Elementary School. After their family of seven moved to Florida, she taught one year for Marion County before stepping into her beloved position, teaching Kindergarten and Physical Education for Ambleside. She has been married to her husband for over 22 years and has five beautiful children, ranging from college to fifth grade. She enjoys many activities: relaxing at the beach, exercise classes at One Hot Yoga, traveling with her husband, and spending time with family and friends. She loves being active in her church community.

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. LaValley heard about Ambleside through her husband’s family and from her step-daughter attending the school. She has a heart for helping children and growing them in the knowledge of who Jesus is and also enjoys building relationships with people. She loves spending time with her family, eating dark chocolate, and drinking coffee.

Follower of Christ, wife to Josh, and mom to Lyric, Jacob, Justin, and Kody, Mrs. Phillips grew up in Illinois and moved to Florida after graduating nursing school in 2004. After completing her business degree and working as a registered nurse for several years, she chose to begin a family with Mr. Phillips and stay home with their children. She went on to homeschool her three youngest children where she learned of Charlotte Mason and a living education. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are active in their church community where, through God's divine strategy, they were introduced to Ambleside Ocala. Their three youngest children are now attending Ambleside (the oldest is off to college), and Mrs. Phillips knows it is a gift from the Lord to have the opportunity to teach and love the students in her class.

Mrs. Owens graduated from The University of Florida in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Education. She and her husband, Shane have been together since 1999 and together they have three children. She grew up in Miami, FL and is the oldest of six. Mrs. Owens can be trusted to explain any 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. Lacefield joins our staff as an Ambleside alumni. She first attended Ambleside as a student in 1st grade until she graduated 8th grade in 2014. Her love for the children and people of this community has inspired her to continue her education. She currently attends the College of Central Florida majoring in Special Education. Ms. Lacefield has lead worship at Live Oak Community Fellowship for 6 years. She enjoys outdoor activities, yoga, and spending time with friends!

Ms. Miles has always had an enormous love and passion for music. She has studied music for 18 years with 3 of those years being at the College of Central Florida where she studied Music Theory, Sight Singing, Ear Training, 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 and places like New Orleans, Atlanta, Tampa, and Disney World. She has also played in marching band, wind symphony, jazz band and drum corps. Performance was her main passion until 5 years ago when she was offered a teaching position at Grace School of the Arts in Ocala. This job changed her heart from wanting to perform, to instead 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 music program.

A native Ocalan, John has been a working actor in Los Angeles, California for the last thirty years and has accumulated over twenty five film and television credits. He appeared in more than twenty national commercials and performed in over sixty stage productions during his time there. He has been the proud member of an award winning Christian theatre company in the heart of Hollywood for most of those years, serving on their board of directors, production committee and public relations committee as well as performing on stage in musicals, classics, contemporary plays and world premiere new works. He is happy to be back home again with his dog, Blue, and cat, Ernest T. Bass, and is thrilled to be working at Ambleside.

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. Dorothy Dersch is an ASI Board Member.