Instructors

Keicha Barnum is originally from Randallstown, MD, a suburb of Baltimore and moved to Snellville, GA in 2006.  She is a graduate of Lincoln University, PA.  Her post collegiate experience includes several certifications in technology and the Graphic Arts.  She has been married to her husband DeVaughn for 20 years and together they have three children, Kamayah (age 12), Darius (age 18) and Dionte (age 29).  For the past 10 years she homeschooled her youngest son and daughter.  During those years she searched diligently to find creative, relevant curriculum but was often disappointed.  In response, she began to develop her own lessons that incorporated her background in technology and Graphic Arts.  The result was an innovative, relevant educational experience for her children. 

Keicha's experiences in her own homeschool journey sparked a desire to share her innovative curriculum with other students and educators.  She is currently a Graphic Arts and Technology Instructor at two large homeschool Co-ops where her project-based classes are in high demand. She is owner and creator of Barnum Creative Resources, LLC and BCR TechED, a lead instructor for Whiz Learning Kids - a STEM-based after-school program in Gwinnett County, and freelance graphic designer.  All of her pursuits have led to the establishment of a uniquely geeky community of computer technology professionals.  

Xiomara (Xio) Castro was born in New Jersey; however, she considers herself a “southern girl with an accent.” Born from a Colombian mother and a Dominican father, her first language was Spanish. Her family moved to the Dominican Republic when she was 10 years old and then  moved back to the United States when she was 18 years old.  At age 19, she joined the military and served in the Army for almost 7 years. She then went to work in Corporate America in different roles, including Director of Operations for an Atlanta financial company for 10 years. However, she felt called to homeschool and decided to let go of her corporate career. Xio taught Spanish for five years to both adults and students including those in the Fayette County home school community.  As a graduate of Colorado Technical University, she earned her BS in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Human Services and is looking forward to pursuing her masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in the future.

She has been married to her best friend for 23 years and they have two children. A 27-year-old daughter, whom she homeschooled part-time during her high school years, and a son that was homeschooled until graduation and now attends Baylor University in TX. She volunteers with her husband at a ministry for homeless men in Atlanta and is active in her community.  When she is not spending time with her family, teaching, studying, traveling or serving, you will find her hiking at different state parks with her hiking club. 

One of her biggest passions is to work with kids, especially teens. She loves sharing her love for God with them, as well as her Spanish language and culture. Xio’s number one priority for her students is that they not only learn Spanish well enough to be successful in the next level, but that they learn to love the Spanish language and the culture. She is extremely excited about this opportunity to get to know your students and work with you, as a partner, in your child’s education.

Chris diDomizio is an art instructor, teacher, portrait artist, and professional photographer. He is the CEO, owner of a private art school diDomizio Arts Center, located in the Atlanta area since 1990.

Chris diDomizio has an BFA Degree and studied in Florence, Italy. Through his classical school he designed and innovated hundreds of learning programs with effective tools for art students to use in art. He teaches beginning through advanced classical concepts to teens and adult students in drawing, classical site measuring, oil painting, color theory, figure drawing, portraiture, and professional photography, and cutting-edge color theories. His passion is equipping artists with tools to use their voice in art for God’s purpose and calling.  

Chris also helps students prepare for college through portfolios and art competitions. Some of his high school students have won national, state, and regional art competitions. Some of his students have become top artists in the country and the leaders in nationally recognized art organizations.

Chris is a member of The Portrait Society of America, Portrait Society of Atlanta, Oil Painters of America, where he has won awards for portraiture and given lectures nationally on John Singer Sargent. Chris is appointed to paint a legacy series of President Jimmy Carter where his works will reside in Washington DC., Carter Center in Atlanta, Carter Library, Carter Presidential Museum in Plains, Ga.

His travels include plein air painting and photography trips to Italy, France, and mission trips to Haiti, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well as inner city missions with City of Refuge, Heart Cry, New Hope in Haiti and Art With a Mission Atlanta.    

Renee Dillard is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Georgia Southern University.  She holds degrees in Early Childhood Education and in Middle Grades Education. She has a masters degree from Lesley University in Literacy. She is certified by the state of Georgia in Middle Grades Science, Social Studies, and Math. Renee has taught 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th grades over the past 32 years in the public school system of Georgia. This is her third year at Metro Academic Studies. She loves kids and has spent her life encouraging students to be the best that they can be. Her philosophy has always been to have fun while you learn.  

Renee has been happily married for the past 34 years to George Dillard. Renee has served beside her husband for the past 30 years at the Peachtree City Christian Church where George is the senior minister. Throughout her life Renee has volunteered in all areas of ministry of the church. Renee has enjoyed teaching Sunday School, leading the women’s ministry, the youth, and working with special events held by the church. 

Jennie Jones attended two Christians schools for her primary and secondary school education. Growing up with a Dad as a professor and a mother who was a librarian, she has always had a love of history, a concern for our country, and a passion for educating others about history, government, and literature. She particularly realized the importance of freedom after meeting a Russian art dealer who had been imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag for resisting the Communists. Through the years, she saw that many Americans (including our elected officials—and Christians!) did not know our history and the foundations of our country’s freedom and prosperity.  So, she decided to go back to college and pursue graduate coursework in history, government, and literature. 

Jennie earned her Bachelor’s in program management from Northwest Florida State College and her Master’s in American Studies (history, government, and literature) from the University of Dallas in Irving. Before embarking on her master’s degree, she studied European history and American history at Texas State University in San Marcos. 

While working on her bachelor’s degree, she ran a local judicial campaign in Northwest Florida and worked on a gubernatorial campaign in Georgia. She also worked in civil service for the Air Force and for a non-profit organization before working for an internet technology firm while pursuing her master’s. While pursuing further graduate studies in Literature, she taught Federal Government and American History I as an adjunct at Collin College in McKinney. She has spent the last four years teaching Federal Government, Texas Government, American History I and II at Weatherford College. 

During her graduate studies, she particularly appreciated learning about the historical context, themes and storytelling methods. She is looking forward to helping students make connections between the American stories, their historical context and important themes. Some literature is analysis rather than stories, but stories contain analysis and lead the reader to analyze what the author or poet is trying to convey to the reader.   Her goal is to equip students to succeed at the next level, and to apply worthwhile lessons from literature to their lives, evaluating literature based upon a Biblical view of the world and of life. 

Thanks to her father, Jennie has immediate access to a library of approximately 3,000 books. When not reading books and keeping up with the news, she enjoys hiking mountain trails, cooking, traveling (especially historical places), horseback riding, and surprising her friends with puns. She has four nieces who live in Northwest Florida, and enjoys spending time with them, and, of course, teaching them a little too! 

Ben Lipford is a professional photographer based out of Atlanta. He found his love of photography over 15 years ago in college while working for The Technique, the Georgia Tech newspaper. During that time, he began to photograph weddings and events. Since then, his love of photography has grown to encompass family, commercial, portrait, and documentary photography. He believes that photography is an opportunity to show others the love in their everyday lives.

When Ben isn't taking pictures of other people, he's documenting his life with his wife Rebecca, his baby daughter Emmy, and his pup Eva. 

Angie Nasrallah is a wife, mother of five, teacher and writer.  A graduate of Florida State University, she also earned her Master's degree in Secondary English Ed from the University of Georgia. Angie began her teaching career at UGA as a graduate assistant in the Challenge Program for gifted and talented students. Since that time, she has taught language arts in a variety of contexts including public high school, private middle school, technical school, home school cooperatives and her own children. Angie’s favorite aspect of teaching English is helping students to get organized, encouraging them to find their writer's voice, and showing them how to view literature through a Christian world lens. She and her husband, Matt, live in Marietta with three of their school-aged children and attend St. Basil's Eastern Orthodox Mission.

Kimberly holds a BA in Political Science from Spelman College where she graduated with Honors. She and her husband are true debate nerds at heart, preferring Debate and Dinner over Netflix any time! She could not be happier about teaching students these incredible skills that she believes will change their lives forever. Regardless of chosen fields for students later, Speech and Debate will offer critical thinking, research, presentation, and persuasion skills that will add a new dimension of growth in an unparalleled way. She believes that every student should have the good fortune to take Speech and Debate for years in their Middle and High School experience. She has been a part of this program for over 5 years and is passionate about teaching students the fundamentals through refinement tools that will allow them to reach their goals. Her goal is to see each student reach their fullest potential while offering a fun and encouraging environment in which to do so.

She is a homeschool mother of three beautiful children who range from 6th to 12th grade. She has homeschooled her children for over 11 years and taught in a variety of capacities. She and her husband started a Coding and Robotics business, reaching up to 60 students per day in the public school system. Her background prior to that was in Real Estate and Sales, where she loved helping people obtain ownership and investment dreams! She is excited to partner with you for your student’s success.

Karren Richardson taught Algebra I, Algebra II, Algebra III/Trig, Geometry and Precalculus during her eleven years of teaching at Whitefield Academy. She spent five years teaching math to home school students and fifteen years providing math tutoring at the middle and high school level. Karren graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in math. She is married and has two adult sons. Karren and her husband have lived in Atlanta for 29 years and have lived in Smyrna for the past 11 years. They are members of Church of the Apostles. She is looking forward to tutoring math at the middle and high school level at Metro Academic Studies.

Lisa completed her BS degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Engineering emphasis from Michigan State University and her MBA from Santa Clara University. She worked in the computer industry in Project Management before retiring to take care of and homeschool her three daughters. 

Using her strong Math, English and Teaching skills she began teaching test preparation classes for Chyten Educational Services where she broadened into tutoring all levels of Math, Chemistry, AP courses and Writing skills. After 2 years she established her own test preparation and tutoring business, Champion Management Consulting, in 2014.

She has tutored 100s of students in the last 7 years and has found it very rewarding to see students master the SAT/ACT tests with a little direction and encouragement. Lisa has been an active member of The Church of the Apostles for the last 14 years and enjoys mentoring young women in God’s Word. 

Margaret Shuman earned a secondary English education/German double major and a renewable, 7-12 GA teaching certificate at Berry College. She went on to get a master's degree from Bowling Green State University, OH, in speech and theatre, where she also took graduate level courses in literature and theories of teaching writing. Since graduation, she has taught in two public schools, two private schools, and the home education world. The College Board has officially approved Margaret to teach both AP Literature and AP Language, and has hired her to score SAT essays. She has also led seminars in drama, AP English, speech, and writing at professional development conferences. Margaret and her family worship at Passion City Church. You can find out more about Margaret at www.MargaretShuman.com or by emailing shumanhw@gmail.com.

Joe Tribble, an Atlanta native, has been a teacher and coach at a private Christian school in the city since 1983.  He earned his BA from the University of Georgia graduating with a dual major in History and French Language.  He studied French history and culture for a semester at the Université de Paris, Sorbonne, before earning his Master of Arts and Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College with a concentration in 20th Century German and American History. Joe is a Boys’ Varsity Head Coach for cross country in the fall and an Assistant Varsity Coach for boys and girls distance runners in the spring. Joe also teaches a course he created in 1996 that combines his love of history and his passion for running and coaching. The course involves studying topics ranging from prehistoric Stonehenge to the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. Joe then leads the students on a summer tour of the previously examined sites found in the U.K. and Europe.  

For 30 years Joe was married to his lovely wife Gail, until she passed away from cancer. Gail was a studio artist and published illustrator who earned a degree in Fine Arts from Mount Allison University. Their daughter, Grace Marion, graduated from Columbia University in NYC, and went on to earn her Master of Philosophy in Assyriology from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. She is currently a writer. Joe sums up his Christian faith with a verse from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (1:21) that “…to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Brad Winsted was a career Naval officer and pilot and has run an international non-profit that produces Christian Educational material (childministry.com) since 1995. He attended the University of Colorado where he received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A. Political Science). He graduated with a Master's in Business Science (MBS-Human Resources Development) from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA and a Master's equivalent in National Strategy and Policy from the Naval War College in Providence, RI. Brad has taught American Government, American History, World History and Economics for 15 years in local Home School coops/academies (at MAS since it's inception).

Brad desires his students to become personally involved in their own education by giving classroom presentations, interacting with the subject at hand and questioning why and how things came/come to past.  In other words, not being passive learners, but motivated ones.  His best students bring challenging questions to class after completing their homework and reading assignments.  Brad often collectively prays with his students before tests that God will help them to recall and retain their subjects.  Remember true Christian education is to encourage students to be learners all their lives, to continually search for the truth and to serve and glorify God in whatever circumstances He places them. 

Brad became a born-again Christian while in the Navy. He and his first wife (Fawn, now deceased) home-educated all 8 of their children from K-12th grade starting in 1983 when homeschooling was largely unknown. Brad re-married after the death of his first wife to Marga, a Czech national in 2014 and has 14 grandchildren; nine are currently being homeschooled, with five being too young.

Brad wants his students to love the study of history as he does, seeing that it is "His-story" (God through His Son Jesus Christ), the study of Redemption. Brad desires his students to see the arc of history and how it impacts their lives today, to better understand events today.  Without strong families, a belief in the Triune God of Scripture, a community based on the free and respectful interchange of ideas, and the rule of law (guaranteeing the preservation of private property) our communities and lives will continue to disintegrate into atomistic units of confusion and meaninglessness with ultimately an autocratic dictator maintaining peace. To never study and understand our past as a people and nation, is to guarantee that we will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.  He holds to the "Austrian" School of Economics (as articulated by Von Mises) which supports free market capitalism and Brad further believes that governments which understand minimal government interference, the US Constitutional rule of law, balanced budgets (living within our means privately and publicly), private ownership of property and supporting policies to under-gird strong families will guarantee our national survival and prosperity.