Joanna Kurtz
Joanna Kurtz has been a classroom educator since 2002. She began her teaching career in a third-grade classroom of a Christian school in Fort Worth, Texas, and has since taught in public, classical, and homeschool settings in Texas, Colorado, California, and Tennessee. She has also classically homeschooled her three children since 2012, with a 5-year span at a classical Christian school in Franklin, Tennessee where her children attended while she taught 5th and 6th grade. She has extensive classroom experience with IEW, Shurley Grammar, Saxon Math, and various other curricula. Joanna also spent many years in curriculum development for various publishers, including Houghton Mifflin, Pearson, and David C. Cook, as well as assisted in grammar school curriculum development with her most recent school. Joanna holds a B.A. in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Child and Family Development from California State University, Fresno, and has held teaching certifications in Texas and Colorado. Besides teaching, she enjoys planning and organization, meeting with families in her community who are interested in homeschooling or dual enrollment, and reading good books on her patio in the rain. She also loves camping with her family in their travel trailer and exploring God’s creation. She is a lifelong learner who seeks to understand God’s goodness, beauty, and truth in all things, and to help others do the same.
Joanna is happily married to her high school sweetheart, Robby, and is thankful to be a mother to her three children: Kadence, Keaton, and Annabel. She is originally from Pennsylvania and California, but has been settled in Franklin, Tennessee since 2016. Joanna was raised by strong believing parents; her mother coming from a large Mennonite family in Lancaster, PA, and her father the son of an Armenian pastor in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She made an early profession of faith, but it wasn’t until much later in life when the Lord opened her eyes to truly understand His undeserved, overflowing grace in rescuing her sinful heart through the sacrifice of His Son. Joanna and her family are members of Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, where she leads a discipleship group for teen girls, serves in the children’s ministry and hosts a couples’ small group with her husband. Believing that God’s truth encompasses all areas of education and life, Joanna’s passion is learning and sharing God’s Word, and guiding students in developing a biblical worldview.
