THE CAERUS TEAM OF EDUCATORS
MR. JIM MUELLER - SCIENCE
“Science Jim” Mueller has a B.A. from Lake Forest College and an M.S. from Aurora University. He has worked as an environmental educator from 1989 to 1994. The following eight years he worked at a small children’s science museum in Carbondale, Illinois, six of those years as the executive director. In 2002, Jim began developing and teaching a Physics curriculum specifically for homeschoolers. As his popularity as a science teacher grew, he began developing and teaching courses in other sciences. Currently he teaches Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth Science. He is renowned for his sense of humor and the fun he brings to his classes.
MRS. JEN MUELLER - ELA AND HISTORY
Jen Mueller received her B.A. in Psychology from SUNY Cortland and her teaching certification from Antioch University in New England. She has also received certification as a Phono-Graphix reading therapist. Jen began teaching in 1999 at Pine Hill Waldorf School in Wilton, NH, where she took a class from first though third grade. From 2002 to 2010, she taught both first and fourth grade at The Well School in Peterborough, NH. During this time she also served as the school-wide curriculum designer as well as a mentor teacher. Jen left the cold Northeast in 2010 to take a class from fifth thought eighth grade at Emerson Waldorf School in Chapel Hill. Since co-founding Caerus Academy in 2014, she has been happily teaching homeschoolers English and History. In addition to a passion for teaching, Jen has a lifelong interest in theater. Her theatrical credits include thirty years of producing, directing, and acting on stage.
MR. ROB RICH - MATHEMATICS
Rob Rich received his B.A. in Anthropology from Dartmouth College, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. He taught math at the Dover-Sherborn High School outside Boston, and served as the lead math teacher at the Emerson Waldorf High School in Chapel Hill from 2003 to 2019, where he was instrumental in constructing the High School’s math curriculum. He has been teaching Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 at Caerus since 2019.
Aside from teaching, Rob has experience working for Honeywell Corporation’s Space Division, where he designed deployment and positioning devices for spacecraft. A storyteller at heart, he is known for entertaining stories of his travels and misadventures, which he may sometimes share at the start of class, including those of his time with the space program or his hitchhiking trip from Paris to the Arctic Circle. He is a husband and parent, a kayaker, an indefatigable reader, and a singer of sea shanties.
Rob Rich received his B.A. in Anthropology from Dartmouth College, and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University. He taught math at the Dover-Sherborn High School outside Boston, and served as the lead math teacher at the Emerson Waldorf High School in Chapel Hill from 2003 to 2019, where he was instrumental in constructing the High School’s math curriculum. He has been teaching Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 at Caerus since 2019.
Aside from teaching, Rob has experience working for Honeywell Corporation’s Space Division, where he designed deployment and positioning devices for spacecraft. A storyteller at heart, he is known for entertaining stories of his travels and misadventures, which he may sometimes share at the start of class, including those of his time with the space program or his hitchhiking trip from Paris to the Arctic Circle. He is a husband and parent, a kayaker, an indefatigable reader, and a singer of sea shanties.