Introducing... Learning Levels
If I were writing a book, I would be announcing that I am sending a final draft to the publisher (is that how that works)? But it isn't exactly a book - and I'm not sending it to a publisher.
I modified a riding curriculum! And it took 2 years. And I’m sharing it with the Cheyne Ranch students!
It started 2 years ago when I purchased a curriculum for horseback riding lessons called, "Horse Sense Learning Levels." And I took a closer look at it, then put it back on the (digital) shelf because I was more focused on the PALS / Animal Care curriculum I created. From scratch. Because I found nothing to base my PALS vision on, other than… my own vision. PALS has been pretty fabulous by the way.
Recently, our main instructor needed some time off, so I unexpectedly took on her 15 riding students. Then, my daughter, Anna, attended 3! weeks of a nifty overnight summer camp so I also took on her 5 students. So I found myself with 20 extra students and my brain only works in spreadsheets, lists, processes, and an interwoven universe of millions of boxes of information. I really really needed a written curriculum!
So I spent HOURS on the internet searching for some sort of riding instructor curriculum. As a homeschool parent, choosing curriculum is a complete delight, there are SO MANY choices, I can't even begin to evaluate all the options - it is just too many. But the horse world... is seriously lacking a decent curriculum. Especially for our unique (incredible) programs at Cheyne Ranch, where our emphasis is learning animal care and connection, and making this learning accessible to all learners.
So then I remembered the curriculum I purchased 2 years ago. And I looked at it again. And it was overwhelming and I had 2,000 questions. And 4,000 doubts. More or less
One recent morning, I had ONE! conversation with my friend, Jamie, and she SOLVED my entire problem. She said - this is fantastic! Just do it. Laminate the heck out of these pages and just do it! And that is what I did. That very afternoon in fact. I started printing and laminating lesson plans. I started adding students to a handy app called Trello. I started teaching these lessons that very next morning. I spent hours each night reading over the lesson plans. Thinking through and documenting different ideas, modifications, and extra ideas to include.
Final Notes:
There are hundreds of digital pages of content contained in these levels. So far, I have printed (and laminated!) about 100 pages. I have so much more to go. Anyone want to have a laminating party?
There is even more to come. All in time. There are Learning objective checklists. Student study books. Flashcards. Ribbons. Coloring books. We will be adding those slowly.
**there are actually more than 5 levels, but this is as far as I've modified
And now I present to you... the high level view of our new riding curriculum - Learning Levels.
Thank you for being part of this incredible community.
