Meet our Academic Advisors: Special Needs Kids Get Special Care

Bridgeway Academic Advisor Angela Schmoyer specializes in supporting students with special needs and learning disabilities. Angela lives along the Kittatinny Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania, very close to historic Hawk Mountain, the first raptor sanctuary in North America. Along with her children, Olivia and Maxwell, and husband Justin, Angela loves hiking the nearby Pinnacle to enjoy the scenery along one of the primary migratory bird flyways in North America.

While the kids are a little young to make the full climb, the family also enjoys exploring the nearby Bartrum Trail along the Schuylkill River, where they can ride their bikes and witness first-hand how a once sludge-filled river has been made whole again.

Making things whole appeals to Angela. Very much. A gift she has worked diligently to realize throughout her life.

A graduate of Kutztown University, she earned a dual degree in Elementary Education (K-6) and Special Education (Newborn-Grade 12). She applied those growing skills by teaching in the Allentown School District for three years before taking a few years off to begin raising her children.

Here at Bridgeway, Angela is the academic advisor for students K-8 and is particularly adept at working with special needs students who have learning challenges such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, auditory processing disorder, autism, ADHD and others. She takes the time to provide extra support and input to other Bridgeway advisors when they have questions about their special needs students.

She shares that many of the special needs students who utilize Bridgeway homeschool curriculum are not always part of the more specific HOPE Program run by our affiliated Essential Learning Institute (ELI).
“The reason many parents decide to homeschool is because their children are behind in traditional schools and not receiving the help they need,” Angela says.

Even though she is an expert in teaching students with special needs, she works with top gifted students as well. In fact, one of the families she advises has both a National History Bee winner and a child with dyslexia who is an elite swimmer.

“I love what I do as an academic advisor and am so happy to see my students succeed in their education here at Bridgeway,” Angela says. “ I serve families in grades K-8 across the United States and throughout the world.”

Bridgeway Academy has empowered a cadre of qualified academic advisors to support, assist, advise, and keep records and transcripts for its homeschooling families. We can do it for you! Learn more about how to join the academically accredited programs that allow Bridgeway families to homeschool with confidence.