Hello families! This is my second year teaching music with Journey, and I am so excited to be part of this community. I earned my Bachelors of Music Education degree (Classroom and Instrumental Music) from Bethel University with a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. During my 11 years of teaching, I have taught orchestra in public schools with grades 4-12, as well as private and group lessons on piano, violin, viola, cello and bass. Most recently, I spent 5 years teaching 4th and 5th grade orchestra and 1 year teaching General Music K-5 in the South Washington County School District in MN. I was a long-time member playing bass in the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, and now I stay active making music on the Faith Community Church worship team. I grew up in the Twin Cities area, and was homeschooled in 3rd and 4th grade myself! My husband Jordan and I have been part of the Faith Community Church for nearly 7 years, since before we were married in 2017. We have a son named Jonathan who will be 2 in September 2023. Some of my favorite hobbies are hiking, reading, doing calligraphy, and spending time with my husband and two golden retrievers. Music is an incredible gift from God. It is one of the ways we express ourselves and connect with others and with God. It gives me so much joy to see young students grow as young musicians, because studying music helps to foster confidence, independence, responsibility, creativity- not to mention it’s just fun! I look forward to meeting you and your children this fall!
Hello families! This is my second year teaching music with Journey, and I am so excited to be part of this community. I earned my Bachelors of Music Education degree (Classroom and Instrumental Music) from Bethel University with a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. During my 11 years of teaching, I have taught orchestra in public schools with grades 4-12, as well as private and group lessons on piano, violin, viola, cello and bass. Most recently, I spent 5 years teaching 4th and 5th grade orchestra and 1 year teaching General Music K-5 in the South Washington County School District in MN. I was a long-time member playing bass in the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, and now I stay active making music on the Faith Community Church worship team. I grew up in the Twin Cities area, and was homeschooled in 3rd and 4th grade myself! My husband Jordan and I have been part of the Faith Community Church for nearly 7 years, since before we were married in 2017. We have a son named Jonathan who will be 2 in September 2023. Some of my favorite hobbies are hiking, reading, doing calligraphy, and spending time with my husband and two golden retrievers. Music is an incredible gift from God. It is one of the ways we express ourselves and connect with others and with God. It gives me so much joy to see young students grow as young musicians, because studying music helps to foster confidence, independence, responsibility, creativity- not to mention it’s just fun! I look forward to meeting you and your children this fall!
About Cara
Cara Skarsten ~ Middle School Science
I’m excited to be back in the classroom exploring general middle school science with your kids this year. Before I started homeschooling, I taught middle school and high school science. I got my teaching license at Viterbo University in La Crosse and my undergraduate in Cellular and Molecular Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Spanish at UW La Crosse. My overall goal in class is for each student is to enjoy learning and science while also developing higher skills and confidence as we do experiments, make mistakes and try again. My husband Danny and I have three children, Sophia (13), Jubilee (11) and Peter (8). We love being outdoors, and summer is our favorite season. In our free time we’ve begun mountain biking and we enjoy finding new rivers or lakes for us to explore and swim. I also enjoy creatively gardening and growing mushrooms.