Country Knoll School & Preschool is owned and run by Susan Benham.

Susan Benham has three sons. Isaac, 24, Austin, 22, and Andrew, 20.  She has been a single mom since 1995.

Isaac just graduated from Georgetown Law School in May, 2010.

Austin is a senior at Central. He is majoring in History. His long-term goal is to practice Sports Law or work in the political field..

Andrew is finishing his AS at Edmonds Community College and will be moving forward to a BS in Robotic Engineering and Marine Biology. He is a Certified Scuba Diver and is interested in Robotic Engineering.

Susan has a BA degree in Liberal Arts majoring in Alternative Education, an AA degree n Early Child Development and is Montessori Certified.

She has worked with children for twenty-five years. She coached boy’s baseball, basketball, and soccer for 13 years. She owned and operated Lake Marcel Montessori School in Carnation and Country Knoll School. She worked for the Lake Washington School District, at Emily Dickinson. At Emily Dickinson she taught Autistic children, special needs children, ESL, preschool and was a classroom substitute. She left Emily Dickinson to open her own program.

She received a $9,000 grant from Bill Gates to start Country Knoll School.

Jamie-Rose Edwards has been teaching children, ages 1-18, for over ten years. She spent two years teaching immigrant and at-risk youth through the Washington Service Corps.

She has tutored numerous students on subjects such as reading, writing, social studies and the visual arts. She has served as a program manager and development assistant at The Power of Hope, a youth empowerment organization based in Seattle, for over seven years.

Through her experience with Power of Hope, she has learned how to integrate arts-based techniques into traditional curriculum in order to provide experiential learning opportunities that engage students creatively. She is a grant writer, youth program coordinator, event planner, group facilitator, volunteer coordinator, and mother.

She received her B.A. in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College in Indiana. She is committed to providing an educational environment where children are respected, empowered, and loved.

Patrick Fallon is a fun loving nature lover who has experience playing in the woods dating back to about 1983 in New Jersey. He has a kind, caring way which allows him to connect with most kids with ease. He has worked as a children's ski instructor and nature based summer camp instructor and numerous other jobs including gardener, and web designer. He graduated June 2009 from the Wilderness Awareness School's 2 year Intensive Residential & Teaching Apprenticeship Program which included a full year apprenticing with the 4-6 year old & and 7-9 year old programs.

He taught at Tracks and Tales Nature School in 2009 and has worked at Country Knoll since 2009. His interests include music, dancing, birding, biking, and yummy food and permaculture/self-sustainability!

Melissa Esposito was born and raised in Long Island, NY where she spent many days wandering the sandy beach behind her house and dreaming of someday living in wild, lush forests. Her dreams came true when she moved to Washington in 2007 and enrolled in the Wilderness Awareness School's Residential Program, where she was immersed in a set of skills and knowledge that has forever deepened her understanding of nature, community and self. She was able to pass on these important skills during the following year as an Apprentice with WAS Foxes (7-9 year olds) and Roots and Wings (4-6 year olds).

She emerged from the apprenticeship with strong mentoring skills and an even deeper passion for sharing nature with children. She taught at Tracks and Tales Nature School in 2009 and has worked at Country Knoll since 2009. In her spare time she likes to make music, dance uncontrollably, practice yoga and meditation, track wild animals, and grow food!

Country Knoll is part of the Natural Learning Center.