Our Teachers
Frances Rice completed her BA at the University of Denver in Speech Pathology with a minor in Art and additional concentrations in Math, Natural Sciences, and Dance. She discovered her passion for teaching while doing a practicum in a preschool for hearing impaired children. She obtained her elementary teaching credential at Sonoma State University and her master’s degree in education through Lesley University’s Creative Arts in Learning program. Frances has taught in both public elementary schools and alternative learning programs. She has taught at alternative programs throughout her career from the University for Youth program at the University of Denver, to the Plumas County Artists in the Schools program, OPHC, and Windward/Maple Wood.
Frances is originally from California, but has lived on the Olympic Peninsula since 1999. Frances loves being a mom, and is very proud of her two adult sons! Frances enjoys gardening and cooking up her backyard harvests! Frances loves being outdoors whether that’s bicycling, swimming, hiking, or cross country skiing. She also enjoys creating art, reading, and photography.
Coral Beil grew up splashing around the Salish Sea… mostly in the San Juan Islands and Bellingham. As a teen Coral started coaching Math Olympiad and tutoring French. Coral earned her BA in French with an endorsement in Second Language Acquisition at Western Washington University. Coral has interned on farms in southern France learning about bio-dynamics, straw bale construction and water reclamation. She pursued graduate studies in French literature at Santa Barbara while starting a family. During her studies Coral taught French in settings ranging from formal university courses to elementary after-school programs, and nearly every age and setting in between.
She has three wonderful sons that she has homeschooled, while traveling to Japan and Europe with her former husband’s career. She is passionate about homeschooling and launched the Bristol Journal of Home Ed in 2016. She has really enjoyed teaching hands-on science, nature studies, baking, and art classes as a homeschool enrichment teacher.
Della LaCour originally hails from Yorkshire, England. She immigrated with her family to the southern United States when she was nine. She met her husband in New Orleans, where their son and daughter were also born. She homeschooled them both, partnering with a Waldorf learning program and a homeschool coop. After their move to Sequim they attended OPHC and Running Start at Peninsula College. Both graduated high school with community college degrees. Della taught classes for OPHC in Art, Cooking, and Nature Studies before joining Maple Wood. She enjoys cooking, gardening, and painting. Della is the administrative assistant to her husband in his Engineering/Design business, and volunteers with the Sequim Prairie Garden Club, Olympic Theater Arts, the Sequim Museum and Arts Center, and the North Olympic Land Trust.