Teacher Bios

Chester Weaver

Chester was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but moved to Texas in 1987, and has spent 37 years as a full-time teacher at five separate schools, usually teaching the upper level grades. One of those schools involved an eight-year stint in Indiana, where he was privileged to interact with both the Old Order Amish community as well as historians related to the Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen. He has spent almost his entire life in education by teaching, preaching, and writing. He has specialized in history, especially Anabaptist history and theology. In 2020 he published The Things Which Become Sound Doctrine, a biography of Aaron Shank, who was instrumental in his move to Texas. Three of his eight children live in California, two in Texas, two in Virginia, and one in Ireland, while he and his wife Barbara live south of Ft. Worth in the village of Itasca. He eagerly welcomes the opportunity to “pay his debt” to the oncoming generations.

Deana Swanson

Deana holds a Bachelor in Communication from the University of Texas at Arlington and completed an additional two-year secondary English education certification program at Valdosta State University. She has been a teacher in Christian schools for twelve years and homeschooled her own children for eleven years before returning to the classroom once again. She also instructed high school music programs for twenty-five years, is a former member of the Oasis Chorale, teaches at Shenandoah Christian Music Camps, and is on the planning committee of the Anabaptist Orchestra. She lives in Terre Hill, Pennsylvania, with her husband Jeff and four of her children, writes about education-related topics, enjoys playing board games, and takes walks with her family and four of her five cats. Deana offers a preview of the art course content for those who contact her. Contact Deana.

Chantel Young

Chantel Young grew up along the east coast and has lived in Oklahoma since 1991. She has been teaching for almost 30 years, including private school, homeschooling her own children, and homeschool co-ops. She is a mother to 7 children, as well as Grandma to 4 beautiful little grandaughters.

She has a passion for teaching and helping students to see the joy in learning.

She enjoys spending time with family, gardening, hiking, camping, reading, and baking.