History & Director | MMA Academy & Resources

Our Story

Our program was founded as Regina Caeli Academy in 1994 by Catholic home educating mothers in North County San Diego who saw a need to form a community in that area to support like-minded families who also educated their children at home. While these women went on the following year to establish an independent Roman Catholic school locally (still in existence and very well-esteemed), they also began the legacy of handing down the directorship of this program to individual Catholic home educating mothers. I am honored to serve as its fourth director, growing our reach and doing so without staff or assistance.

We are the oldest private school satellite program

serving our specific communities of families

in the State of California.

Having exclusively homeschooled our sons under RCA since 2004, in 2014 I "inherited" the directorship and opened enrollment to families throughout California, thereby becoming the only statewide private school satellite program supporting independent Catholic home educators. In doing so, I also upgraded our website and began conducting business via the website and electronically, in order to accommodate families outside of our immediate geographical area of San Diego.

The economic times of the years that followed ushered in yet another expansion of enrollment in that not only did my family relocate to Kansas, but others of my enrolled families emigrated out of California to other states, as well. They each expressed a desire to maintain enrollment in this program and so I obliged and began enrolling even more families from across the Country.

By the time the dark cloud of 2020 forced thousands of families into homeschooling, I had already been conducting all business via my website and virtually and so it was natural for me to be able to welcome many new families and to be able to support them in ways I had already been supporting those families who had been vocationally called by Our Lord to homeschool.

I thoroughly enjoy connecting with other independent homeschooling mothers, couples, and families, who all manage their own businesses in support of our Catholic and Catholic-friendly homeschooling communities, and from one of these relationships sprung a direct connection to the homeschooling communities in Central and South America. By 2022, I began enrolling these families and became international!

In 2023, due to expanding my reach and a few other important business reasons, after years of very carefully and prayerfully discerning, I made the emotional decision to change our name to Mantellum Matris Academy, a title which I feel more accurately identifies who we are and what we do together as families, while remaining faithful to our original devotion to and patronage of Our Blessed Mother, Queen of Heaven.

Above all, I am committed to offering services and support to parents in ways which give them the confidence and ability to devote all of their time and resources to their children. Continuing upon the legacy of our founders, I am determined to remain true to their original Mission and never lose sight of keeping Our Lord at the very center of all I do.

I am committed to continuing the vision of our founders by fulfilling our very real and growing need for support and assistance as home educators. Not only are families supported administratively, but we come together to form a community by joining in the common bonds of Faith, vocations as Catholic parents, and support for one another through prayer and mutual encouragement.

My Experience and Qualifications:

23-year Veteran Catholic Home Educator
13-year Veteran Director of Mantellum Matris Academy
Speaker on legislative matters related to parental, religious, and educational rights
Former Academic Advisor, Kolbe Academy
Former Director of Admissions, Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
Former Home & Private School Liaison and Proctor Coordinator, Classic Learning Test
Former non-profit museum and arts executive
Professional musician

About the Director

Laura Loroña-Kays

This is my fifteenth year as sole director of Mantellum Matris Academy and in 2022 graduated our youngest, thus completing 23 years as a lifelong home educating family.

I am blessed to be able to share my experiences with the families I serve and pray I may work to give you the confidence, courage, and creativity to help you and your children in their quest for life after high school and beyond and most hopefully, into Heaven as saints.

As a former arts executive, I created many educational programs in the realms of aviation and the arts, while performing professionally as a musician. My husband is also in the arts as a former performer and now arts executive, so we both well-understand the challenges to parents who incorporate the arts, sports, and other passions into their unique courses of study and life readiness plans for their children. Add into this our focus on incorporating our Faith in all we do...we easily find ourselves well outside the "norm," doing things our way and pushing boundaries wherever we need to when it comes to preparing our children for life through life discernment, un-standardized testing, college and scholarship applications, job applications, etc.