Meet our Head of School

Debbie Elder

Meet Debbie Elder, our owner and head of school! Mrs. Elder received her degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  As a certified Nurtured Heart trainer, Mrs. Elder provides trainings in this program to parents and educators in both the USA and Canada. She is a certified D.I.S.C instructor and spent several years training teachers in classroom and behavior management here in the states and also in Canada and Ireland. In addition, Mrs. Elder worked for the Applebaum Training Institute as a professional speaker/trainer. Corporate training for the Balancing Life’s Issues LLC has allowed Mrs. Elder to continue providing training both online and in person. For 10 years she homeschooled her two daughters who then went on to graduate university as the Salutatorian and Valedictorian in 2009. While homeschooling her children, she opened her home to other students and taught them as well. This opportunity provided her with the incentive to open up 14 additional middle and high schools across the country that she administered for 12 years before becoming a college planner. Mrs. Elder took over Shady Oak Primary in August 2014. Weekly she is the onsite speech teacher and facilitates our Friday Genius Afternoon projects. We are so proud and honored to have Mrs. Elder as our Leader of our Shady Oak Primary Team!