Board Members

Originally from NY, Cathleen & her husband Brad have called Tennessee home since 2015. After a weekend trip to East TN, they felt that God was telling them that this is where they needed to be, and within a few weeks, they relocated from Palm Beach County, Florida. Their biggest joys are their children and grandchildren: Quint (married, one precious grandson Jack, and a sweet little girl, Lainey, due September), Allyson (married and precious Madden due in January) and our youngest, Isabella, who has been homeschooled from the beginning. Cathleen has been involved in the homeschooling community since she moved here, running various homeschooling support groups on Facebook, as well as serving at Cornerstone as a teacher and field trip coordinator. Helping and supporting homeschooling families to succeed is a passion of hers. As a family, they enjoy spending time together watching movies and sports, especially football and swimming, traveling to Florida to visit their family, swimming, long drives to nowhere and just being together. Cathleen enjoys decorating their home, loves to cook, and is an avid reader. They have one sweet, adopted dog Toby, and various barn cats that have adopted them. They attend Calvary Church and are blessed to have found such a welcoming, loving community. Cathleen is incredibly thankful for being a part of Cornerstone and how much her faith has grown being surrounded by some truly amazing women; I am excited to see all the glorious things God has in store for Cornerstone Cooperative!

Cassandra began homeschooling in 2014 and moved to TN with her husband Justin and 6 children in 2021 living in several states as well as Kenya long the way. While missionaries she became involved with the movement to legalize homeschooling in Kenya starting a library and assisting Kenyan families to begin their homeschool journey. Now that they are stateside she loves to help new to homeschooling families and continues to work with mission agencies to support homeschoolers. Her favorite part of Cornerstone is teaching and getting to know the wonderful kids and teens that make up our community. The Daggetts love working on their homestead, camping, hiking, paddling, and reading.

A native of WNY, Kelly has been married to Jeff for almost 20 years. They officially became a homeschooling family in 2011, and since relocating to East TN five years ago, have been blessed with a flourishing homeschool community at both Cornerstone Cooperative and at their beloved church, Calvary Chapel Knoxville. The Knapps live in Maryville with Bentley, their golden retriever, and 3 unique cats who are full of personality. Together they enjoy playing games, snuggling, watching football, and hosting gatherings in their home. Kelly loves to read, cook, bake, write, and decorate, and considers it her greatest joy to invest in her children: Jeffery, John, Katherine, and Margaret. Serving local homeschool families and founding Cornerstone together with Elena has been a ministry highlight, and a catalyst for her personal and spiritual growth these last few years, and she considers it a privilege and a blessing to serve this community. Go Bills!

(Elena is currently on sabbatical.)

Elena, wife to Erik and homeschool mom of 3, began homeschooling over a decade ago after leaving the banking industry. Throughout their homeschooling journey, the Lord has grown a passion in them for global missions and through this, led them to live in London for a year to open a cafe associated with a church. When they returned, God made a way for Elena to help start this amazing homeschool community we call Cornerstone Cooperative. You can find the Nelsons serving at their church, as well as out and about as they use their entrepreneurial skills to connect with and serve the people of Blount County through one of Maryville’s beloved food trucks. When not serving, cooking on her truck, or teaching, you can find Elena floating in the sun on Tellico Lake.

Lisa has been homeschooling her 3 children since her oldest was about to start school 10 years ago and is so thankful God has called her to do so. Before moving to TN, Lisa and Armando had been involved in ministry and pastoral care for 15 years leading and helping marriages and serving families. They believe strongly in church community and being real. As a family they enjoy game nights, hiking and look forward to their weekly family movie night and watching football and basketball when in season. Despite the mess and challenges of having a fixer upper home with tons of projects going on at once, they love having people in their home to share a meal and to fellowship. The family has a goal to search for the best burger in Tennessee but think their dads burgers are the best! She’s her husbands biggest fan and her greatest joy is praying over and ministering to her children. Lisa loves her morning coffee, serving, reading, making her home cozy and peaceful, tending to their chickens, growing their own food and recently, cooking! 

Erica, wife to Sheldon, is a mother to five, stepmother to two, and Grandma to two. She has homeschooled her five children all their lives and is thankful the Lord called her to it early. Erica and her family attend Partnership Christian Church where she leads the women’s ministry and serves in outreach and children’s ministry as well. Erica’s greatest ministry though is her family so you can typically find her at the baseball field (with three of her boys playing ball) or at home with her family playing outside or a game of hide and seek.