Instructors and Staff
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Melody Fowler
Founder, Director, Form III Instructor Ages 12-14
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Melody is a happy wife of 26 years, a proud mother of three and now an over-the-moon grandma of sweet Hope. She was born in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Redding when she was five years old. She loved learning as a child and her favorite pastime was to play school in her garage with younger siblings and neighborhood friends on vintage desks her father bought at local yard sales.
After receiving her Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies and teaching credential from Simpson University, Melody taught a self-contained fifth grade classroom for 11 years before moving on to the 8th grade teaching English and U.S. History for four years. She finds it essential to teach the next generation to revere and protect the rich inheritance of liberty they have been gifted. She also completed her administrative credential in Educational Leadership and wrote her Master's paper on Charlotte Mason.
She participated in the Northern California Arts Project, the Shasta County Math Grant, and a three-year ELL grammar program teaching English as a second language. Melody was involved in her site’s leadership team, acted as a site council member, and successfully advocated for funding creative problem-solving programs like Odyssey of the Mind for the gifted and talented. She also volunteered to coach other activities like student government, softball, and cheer.
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In her free time, she enjoys learning about education, philosophy, economics, history, gardening, and spending time with her family and six dogs.
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Chad Fowler
Founder, Director, and Form II Instructor Ages 10-11
Chad was born and raised in Shasta County. He and his wife Melody have three children with the youngest almost 16. From an early age, Chad had an interest in gardening and animals and participated in Shasta County 4-H. Chad worked his family business as well as other working retail management for many years. After helping in his son's kindergarten class and coming from a family of teachers, Chad decided his place needed to be in the classroom and he went back to school. He received his BA in Liberal Studies and teaching credential through Simpson University. He later completed his administrative credential and Masters degree in Educational Leadership through National University.
He has been a public school educator since 2008 and served as a Master Teacher, Teacher in Charge, Activities Director and Lead Teacher. He has participated in the Shasta County Math Grant, the Northern California Arts Project for teachers, Gates Literacy Grant and other teacher development trainings since 2008. Chad enjoys time in the garden growing vegetables, fruits and flowers, camping with his family and spending time with his Nigerian Dwarf Goats and chickens.
Joy Simpson
Form IA Instructor Ages 8-9
Joy Simpson was born and raised in Orange County and came to Redding right when the Carr fire started in 2018 for a teaching job after discovering its rich beauty and community. She is excited to dive right into the Charlotte Mason philosophy of teaching and have her 10-year old son also attend Roots with her.
She has a California teaching credential in both single subject English and elementary school and has been in the public school setting for over a decade where she has taught a wide array of ages from teaching adults English as a Second Language, to teaching high school and middle school English to discovering her love and passion for the elementary school classroom where her enthusiasm for teaching and playfulness is shared by the students as well. The advantage of teaching across a wide range of ages and abilities is that she teaches with the end goal in mind, as she knows what is expected at the older grade levels. However, the Charlotte Mason philosophy has opened her up to a new perspective of what success looks like and how to get there. She is excited about growing the child's relationship with knowledge where the child is the one looking for relationships between ideas and making connections, something that most educational methods cannot give them. She sees her job as an educator to foster their strengths as well as build up areas for growth through modeling, repetition and encouragement.
In her free time she enjoys exploring the outdoors with her son and is always up for an adventure, whether it is camping, mountain biking, kayaking or hiking. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and loves to grow in all areas: spiritually, relationally, in the classroom and most of all in her love and relationship with Christ for He is the foundation of all she does. It's her goal to be a lamp placed on the lampstand so that others can benefit from its brightness. She seeks to create a classroom where others can feel the warmth of God's love and is excited to work at a school who has a mission of challenging young minds through a solid foundation in academics as well as guiding their hearts through a solid foundation of their roots in Christ as the supreme guiding factor in all they do.
Sarah Paschen
Form IB Instructor Ages 6-7
Sarah graduated from Simpson University in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree and teaching credential. She taught at Boulder Creek in the Enterprise Elementary School District for the past eight years. Seven of those years were in the first grade, with one year in the second grade. She absolutely loves teaching and watching children find a love of learning all their own. She cannot wait to join Roots and learn more about Charlotte Mason and the biblical principles she applies to education! She believes the Lord created children to be amazing and unique.
Mrs. Paschen and her husband Mitchell have been married just under two years. They love adventuring in the summers and on his days off when he is not at work as a firefighter! They bought a 1970 VW bus and love to load up their three dogs and go camping wherever they can. Sarah finds joy being outside in nature. She loves camping, kayaking, biking, picking blackberries and flowers, caring for animals, or anything that gets her outside in God's creation!
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Shalane Phelps
Kindergarten Instructor Age 5
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Shalane has been a teacher for over six years. This last year she had the privilege of working as an academic guide at the California Adventure Academy. While it was not like traditional education, it was a lot of fun and a great experience. Before that she taught at Rother Elementary School in the Enterprise Elementary School District. Although Rother is known to be one of the toughest schools to teach at in the district, she taught kindergarten and loved it! That experience provided her the opportunity to learn many great teaching strategies and develop solid relationships with students, staff, and parents. Prior to teaching, she attended a discipleship training school in Belize and was also a classroom aide for a couple years.
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A little bit about her life outside of education. She is a mother of two beautiful, bright, and sweet children. Her daughter Gloria is six years old and will be joining her at Roots. Her son just turned four and will attend preschool. She is blessed to have an amazing, hard working husband who is the marketing director of SBDC (small business development center). Together they love gardening, hiking, biking, nature, music, and art. The both play guitar (though neither one of us is amazing at it) and before kids, they used to paint and play music together.
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Margaret Natina
Instructor Form IV Ages 15-16
Margaret is a native to Redding and a dedicated mother to two young daughters who were also born and are being raised here. She is the eighth of nine children, and very close with her family. Since she was young, Margaret has been involved with children and their growing process. Throughout her homeschooled highschool years, she traveled to Switzerland to be an au pair on two separate occasions. She also spent some time in Turks and Caicos with another family in need of a temporary au pair.
Margaret attended Chico State for Kinesiology, and found that she was very interested in the child development part of the curriculum. Before graduating, Margaret began a family and waited to pursue a degree. She later attended Simpson University and graduated with a psychology degree. Being a mother is Margaret’s most important role, however, she continued to work with children through seasonal swim instruction, physical education, and was moving towards a career as a behavioral technician for children with autism and other sensory processing disorders. The work with children with autism ignited a fire and a deep sense of purpose for Margaret and she continues to make some form of this work a goal for her life.
Margaret has also created a career as a yoga teacher and was a world-renowned Buti Yoga Master Teacher. She has spent 15+ years studying the body and learning health, prevention and recovery through movement. In her free time, Margaret loves to be with her children, take runs with her dog, travel and compete in jiu jitsu tournaments, and self-educate on any and all health and wellness topics. Margaret is so happy to be a part of the Roots community, because she lives for being of service to the future generations of this world.
Devorah Bajkowski
Math and Joy Instructor
Devorah is a Bay Area native and has lived in many states throughout the country. She has resided in Redding the past 11 years. She’s a proud parent to her 17-year-old daughter, Christina. Please pray for Devorah as her daughter had the nerve to go and grow up and will soon be moving out on her own! She also has a 10-year-old son who will be enrolled at Roots!
She has been a home educator for many years and has worked with children for more years than she would like to admit so as not to give away her age. She is passionate about the Charlotte Mason method of education and loves working with children! Instilling a love of learning and seeing when things ‘click’ for a child excites her and gives her great joy.
Devorah has had the privilege of being a worship leader and loves musical theater (hello, Hugh Jackman). She is often found singing throughout the day astonishing her children of how she can make up a song as she performs even the most unpleasant of household chores.