FES Update
Hello families who are using the UA FES / Gardiner Scholarship though StepUp for Students!
UA = Unique Abilities
FES = Family Empowerment Scholarship (formerly called the Gardiner Scholarship)
SUFS = StepUp for Students organization - a private (not government) organization responsible for managing & disbursing the funds according to what the Florida law requires them to do.
I know there is a lot of talk on the Facebook pages (here & here) right now about the recently released Purchasing Guide from SUFS. I have spent a lot of time reading everything over as well as meeting and talking with a few of the moms who are part of an advocacy group that advocates on our behalf! They advocate to the leadership of SUFS as well as taking things all the way to our state legislatures in Tallahassee.
(Which is amazing of these volunteers by the way - I want to buy them a cookie and a coffee. And figure out how to do even more soon.)
I am confident that Cheyne Ranch services are going to be covered by 2 different categories that each have NO dollar amount limit (no $ cap!)
The 2 categories are:
Physical Education > Sports Lessons > There is no annual spending cap on Sports Lessons
Home Education > Cheyne Ranch programs seem to qualify for this newly expanded / rewritten category of Home Education. There is no annual spending cap on Home Education
Here are the screenshots from the Purchasing Guide (screenshots taken 7/1/2023)
SPORTS LESSONS: Page 6 & 7
HOME EDUCATION: Page 12 & 13
There are 2 moms that have volunteered to submit a PreAuth for the Cheyne Ranch services soon. I need to update my webpage to make the tuition / fees more clear. I will definitely keep you in the loop as to what SUFS does with these PreAuths.
Please let me know if you have any questions,
Sally Ann Cheyne
Founder & President
Cheyne Ranch, Inc.
nonprofit 501(c)(3)
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 205-7744
email: Sally@CheyneRanch.com
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: facebook.com/CheyneRanch
Instagram: instagram.com/CheyneRanch
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.
Student Showcase 2023!
We had an amazing night at our Student Showcase! Our horseback riding students and PALS students did a phenomenal job showing their families what they have been practicing the past few weeks.
Link to photo slideshow
Link to photo album
We ate BBQ together (but we forgot to pick up the BBQ sauce - I’m so sorry!!), celebrated Alyssa & Tatiana's birthdays with cupcakes, tie-dyed Cheyne Ranch shirts, painted horseshoes & rocks, made pool noodle stick horse, walked our pool noodle stick horses through the obstacle course, cheered for one another, and had a lot of fun.
Thank you so much families for showing up to support your kids, thank you so much for purchasing dinner, and giving donations to help fund this event.
I want to give special thank you to the following people, all of whom showed up ready and willing to work this week. I never appreciate how much time and planning it takes to put on these events until I am behind the scenes. This event was safe, and every student was successful showcasing their accomplishments because so many people gave their time & talents to make this happen:
🦄 Alyssa, Anna & Isabella B. ←horseback riding stars
🦄 Tatiana, Christina M ←all around saints
🦄 Michael, Barbara B., Erin M, Susan R ←dinner heroes
🦄 Heather & Brant ←parking champions
🦄 Kaylah, Preston, Kai ← Cheyne Ranch worker warriors
🦄 Gabby, Giana, Abby, Julia ← teenage volunteer gold medalists
🦄 Serena, Jocelyn L., Jessica M.← mom volunteer superstars
🦄 Skyler, Charlotte, Jack, Miranda & Cameron ← young students who are big big helpers.
And of course, endless gratitude to my husband, Philip and the 4 Cheyne kids (Anna, Evan, Sophia & Grace), who give their time and energy every single day, 365 days a year, to help this Cheyne Ranch dream come true.
Please donate! Events like this are so important to kids to gain confidence and experience success while they are in the spotlight.
Cheyne Ranch is a nonprofit that provides an inclusive and accessible way for all people to learn about animal care & connection. Donations are accepted any of the ways you want to give: chra.us/donation
#cheyneranch
Nonprofit = no sleep
I've been awake all night…
Trying to figure out how to get more money for Cheyne Ranch. I analyzed my family's personal finances to find out how large of a donation we will be able to make to Cheyne Ranch this summer. The answer is... not enough.
tl;dr / cliff notes: We need donations to continue operating
I've analyzed the Cheyne Ranch revenue as well as our expenses to find out where we can squeeze out more money. Our 2 primary expense categories are as expected - 1) animal care and 2) staff costs. I used to keep the simple math in my head that each month, our classes and events need to generate enough money to go in those 2 directions - half for the animals, half for the staff wages. Our animal care costs are about $3,000 each month. Our staffing costs range from about $1,000 - $3,000 each month.
*Note: my kids and I do not receive a salary
Administrative Reality
But a surprisingly high cost category now sits in 3rd place - our administrative and overhead costs. Cheyne Ranch is committed to following high safety standards set by PATH, Intl. It is expensive to implement proper safety precautions, meaning hours invested in staff and volunteer training, there is a cost to ensure our staff is Red Cross first aid and CPR certified, costs for a dedicated phone line, fire extinguishers, first aid supplies, costs for our newly upgraded equestrian helmets and costs to maintain my membership with PATH, Intl. We carry professional liability insurance, and it is expensive (about 8%).
It costs money to receive money, we pay a processing fee on every dollar of money we collect (about 3%). Additionally, we pay for the banking software, website services, scheduling software, tax software. And there is a cost to remain accountable to the county, state and federal government for our activities and transactions to remain compliant as a 501(c)(3). Not to mention the hundreds of (wo)man hours required to keep all this bookkeeping, record keeping and rule following up-to-date (although this is technically “free” since I don’t receive a salary). All these are line items on an expense list - none of these are optional, nothing here is negotiable. Running Cheyne Ranch as a professional nonprofit while meeting a high level of safety precautions, standards and insurance is a shocking 20% of our total expenses.
Scholarships
There is one particular "expense” category that I haven’t mentioned yet - because it is a fuzzy expense in my non-accounting mind. It is something I am particularly committed to, and one of the reasons I founded Cheyne Ranch. This important "expense" is scholarships. Such as when a student attends our already low cost program for a reduced or even free cost. About 10% of our students attend for free. An additional 25% of our students attend for a reduced cost (50% off). Our programs operate at capacity and usually with a waiting list. We could close off our scholarships and only allow full paying families to benefit, but... It isn't who we are. Cheyne Ranch exists to share the benefits of the animals, to teach animal care and connection, and to offer that opportunity to our community members who may not have the resources to pay.
There is a reason I love this work, and I’m driven to continue day in and day out. It is because our efforts matter - and we make a profound impact on so many of the families in our Cheyne Ranch community. I hear stories every single week from parent’s telling me how their child is growing in confidence, work stamina, knowledge and empathy because of their time here.
$13,000,000 or $120,000
Six days a week we drive our 17 year old daughter, Grace, downtown to the Orlando Ballet School (OBS). She participates in an intense ballet training program that is subsidized by donations raised by the school. The Orlando Ballet School is in fact, also a nonprofit organization.
Each time I look at the beautiful ballet school recently constructed for Thirteen MILLION dollars, I stop and share my gratitude that enough people believed in their mission - to make it happen.
All the same, Cheyne Ranch is also a nonprofit organization, trying to make our community a better place. And needing to find donations to carryout our mission.
Thankfully, Cheyne Ranch is operating on a completely different scale than the Orlando Ballet School. Our 2023 projected expenses are about $120,000 with expected revenue from classes and events of about $90,000.
DONATE! (finally, thank you for reading this far!)
Will you please help us? We are fortunate to make our community impact without needing to raise millions of dollars. For 2023, we already have pledges of $10,000, we need to raise another $20,000 this year. .We need $10,000 to operate through the summer months.
There are so many ways to donate:
chra.us/pay (zelle is fee free!)
Be amazing and help purchase our Cheyne Ranch shirts for the summer camp kids. We have an invoice waiting from Atticus print shop (change the amount due to whatever amount you want to pay)
Buy us a Lowes, Home Depot, or Tractor Supply gift card.
Call Horstmeyer’s in Sanford and add money to our account - this is where we buy a lot of our hay & feed.
Purchase anything from our Amazon wish list
Sponsor one of our NEW PROGRAMS! **still open to nifty name ideasTreasures curriculum (for middle school girls) - learn animal care, build confidence, make connections, find community
$320 sponsors a student to participate in this 8 week summer program
<still need nifty name> (for teen boys from BoysTown, Oviedo) - learn animal care, build confidence, make connections, find community
$320 sponsors a student to participate in this 8 week summer program
Feeling low on funds?
Here are some ways to support Cheyne Ranch that are not monetary donations:
REFER US! WE love offering family visits, birthday parties and meeting new people. Tell your friends and neighbors about us so they will come see us too!
REVIEW US! One of the primary ways small businesses gain new customers is by having a lot of positive online reviews! Please write us a positive review us on google, facebook, or anywhere else you visit on the web
FOLLOW US! By following us on social media, you help keep our sporadic posts in other people’s news feed. More views creates more views. Interacting with a photo or a post on social media (like, comment, share) is even better!
VOLUNTEER! If you are an existing family who is part of our Cheyne Ranch community, please reach out to me and let me know if you want to come clean some stalls, sweep the floor, fill some waters or even organize anything! Email me for more info
THANK YOU!
Sally Ann Cheyne
Founder & President
Cheyne Ranch, Inc.
nonprofit 501(c)(3)
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 205-7744
email: Sally@CheyneRanch.com
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: facebook.com/CheyneRanch
Instagram: instagram.com/CheyneRanch
Happy SPRING!! April Newsletter :)
Spring is here!!
Spring is here!! On March 20th, we had (roughly) the same number of hours of daylight as darkness! I love the daylight and I love everyday that it gets lighter later and later.
HAPPY St. Patrick’s Day!!
We had so much fun celebrating St. Patrick’s Day during a special spring break Friday Nature Club. We helped with morning animal care, held baby chicks, searched for hidden leprechauns, did a fancy experiment with leprechaun stones, painted rainbows and decorated yummy cupcakes! We also had pony rides and fabulous fruit snacks all on a very green day.
STUDENT SHOWCASE!!
May 19th, Friday evening
SAVE THE DATE
We are hosting our first ever student showcase!! On Friday night, May 19th from 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM! Each student in horseback riding lessons and PALS will have an opportunity to complete a rehearsed pattern for parents, grandparents and our Cheyne Ranch community. More details coming soon.
End-of-School year PARTY!!
Wednesday, May 31 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Come celebrate the end of school year with us at Cheyne Ranch! We will have fun with the animals, do some water activity, craft, outdoor games and a pony ride. We will eat lunch together on the playground.
Wednesday, May 31st 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
$40 first kid in family / $25 sibling
Our Summer camps are open for registration! We have such fun stuff planned! We have 3 adults + 4 teenage workers + volunteers. The campers are ages 5 - 12. We will take care of the animals, spend time learning about animals and nature, play outdoor games including water games, take ponies on a walk and tons of fun activities.
4 different weeks offered, sign up for 1, 2, 3 or 4!
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Worker Spotlight - TATIANA!
We have such a phenomenal community of people here at Cheyne Ranch. Since earlier this fall - we’ve had the honor of having TATIANA volunteer here then work here! She is so bright, her smile, her intelligence, her friendliness, her knowledge of people, nature and animals, everything brightens when Tatiana is here. We are so lucky to have her.
Summer Nature Club!
4 Mondays | 9 Fridays
Nature Club is so fun! Summer schedules are so varied with many families traveling - so our nature clubs are “drop-in” (sort of). What this means is you can select the dates you plan to attend and only pay for those particular dates. We are offering Nature club on 4 Mondays and 9! Fridays. Mix and match whatever dates work for your family’s schedule. $40 each Nature club, sibling discount available.
Each nature club will be unique with a focus on animal care, animal connection, outdoor fun and nature learning.
4 Mondays 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM | June 12, 26, July 10, 24
9 Fridays 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM | June 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, July 7, 14, 21, 28
Baby Chicks! & Family Visits
Our 10 baby chicks are growing so FAST! They are already just over 3 weeks old and they seem huge! Here is a phot of them at 16 days old. They will be in their heated coop for only 3 more weeks - then we will move start their slow transition to the BIG coop.
We would love to see you for a family visit!! That is when we spend about an hour up-close with our animals learning about them and interacting with them. Kids age 21 and younger get a pony ride around our property.
and finally…
Donate
Cheyne Ranch is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to teach animal care and provide a community of inclusivity for people with all kinds of neurodiversity. With your donations, we keep our classes affordable and accessible to special needs members of our community.
We accept money all the ways ;) We love Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, and credit card (through our website)
Sally Ann Cheyne
Founder & President
Cheyne Ranch, Inc.
nonprofit 501(c)(3)
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 205-7744
email: Sally@CheyneRanch.com
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: facebook.com/CheyneRanch
Instagram: instagram.com/CheyneRanch
Newsletter September 2021
Our fall programs are off to an incredible start! Please join us, we are in an exciting time of big growth (in a small business way!)
Kids' Night Out!
We are having a Kids' Night Out at Cheyne Ranch every 4 weeks starting this Friday, September 10th. It is a fun-filled 3 hour outdoor evening planned with tons of activities, games, animal time and dinner together. It is 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM, the cost is $35 for the first kid and $25 for each additional child in the family. The ratio of helpers to kids is at least 1:4. RSVP to me to get signed up, or online registration is: chra.us/kno Special Needs Welcome
PALS openings:
I have opened more PALS appointments! These are such a great way to get yourself and your kids individual family time at the barn. These are weekly (or 2x a month) appointments where we follow a progressive list of barn skills and learn important life skills along the way. More info: chra.us/pals Below is the updated appointment availability, yellow boxes are current openings:
Nature Club:We have 3 Nature Clubs which are all currently full. Please join our waiting list if you are interested, the schedules of families are frequently shifting, etc. These are so fun! They are 3 hours, with 2.5 hours of planned activities, skill building, craft, barn chores and nature experiences.
Nature Club more info: chra.us/nc
Nature Club waiting list: chra.us/i
Family Visits:
I love our family visits! They are 75 - 90 minute experiences with your family or small group only. We spend time with each of the animals and take the ponies on a nature walk (kids under age 21 and up to 180 lbs sit on the horse during our walk). These are by appointment only, and the community price is extremely low - only $20 each kid (age 2 - 21). Minimum of $40 each appointment. Schedule online here: chra.us/f
Birthday Parties
Did you know we are the least expensive horse / pony birthday party in Central Florida, but due to our small business size, birthday parties @ Cheyne Ranch are the best revenue generator for us? We use the birthday party money to fund our special needs programs - which we offer to the community for low cost or FREE! It is a win-win all around. We love hosting birthday parties and we limit them to 1 each weekend. They are scheduled for 3 hours and the cost is $300 for up to 15 kids (age 2 - 21). More info: chra.us/bday
Referrals:
Almost all of our business is from personal referral, we do not spend any money on advertising! Please help us keep our costs affordable and spread the word about our programs!
I would love to see you all soon! Please email, text or send me a FB message with any questions,
Sally Ann Cheyne
Owner, Cheyne Ranch
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 680-3348
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheyneRanch
email: CheyneRanch@gmail.com
What is the difference between a Family Visit, Nature Club & PALS?
I’ve received a few messages asking to clarify the difference between some of our programs. The horse & animal world is non-standard and since I am offering services that aren’t “traditional,” there is certainly a lot to articulate. To make things easier, I made a chart!
What is the difference between a Family Visit, Nature Club & PALS? I made a handy comparison chart!
Update on fall programs
Newsletter to families on interest list:
Hello parents! I appreciate your patience while I work my way down the interest list for our fall programs at Cheyne Ranch! To offer some efficiency, this post will attempt to answer frequently asked questions and provide the web links for online registration and payment.
I love our unique outdoor barn and animal learning programs. There is SO MUCH learning to happen when in the barn, around the animals, feeding, cleaning, caring for them, repairing stuff they break, learning countless life skills along the way.
Nature Club is a 3 hour small group weekly session, with 3 different times to choose from.
Mondays 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM (homeschool) - 4 openings
Wednesdays 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM (afterschool) - 3 openings
Fridays 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM (homeschool) - FULL
$35 each week or prepay $180 for 6 sessions (15% discount)
Register online here or contact me ASAP for any questions so we can get you registered
PALS is an individual or sibling session, customized for your child(ren), but primarily working through the same set of 300+ nature skills we use as our foundation and structure for Nature Club. I am the leader / facilitator for these sessions and these sessions (along with Nature Club) are my passion
New service, so 10+ openings each week
Can schedule weekly or every other week
$35 each week or prepay $180 for 6 sessions (15% discount)
Online registration is not yet available, but contact me and I will schedule you.
See dates and times in attached photo, or visit this link
Family Visits a 90 minute experience for your family or small group. We will meet and experience hands-on learning with our chickens, miniature horses, big horses, goats and bunnies. At the end of the experience we bring out a horse, learn and practice brushing / grooming the horse, and kids 180 lbs and under can ride on the horse as we take a short nature walk together.
Offered at select times on Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays
$40 for the first 1 - 2 kids, $20 each additional kid.
Some families come a few times a year, some families come a few times a month!
Yoga what? oh yes! This amazing human named Ms. Sarah is coming to Cheyne Ranch! To teach yoga! for everyone (beginners like me!!)
Mondays 8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
$10 for the first family member, a donation of (you choose) amount for the rest of the family members.
I'm really excited about this!
Currently, we are completely full for horseback riding lesson spots. And the waitlist has over 30+ interested families. Alyssa is absolutely amazing and I am (seriously) on the waiting list for lessons from her as well. We are going to blink and her young children are going to be old enough for her to teach a lot more often, so I am trying to not wish the time away too quickly. As the mom of 4! teenagers, I know how fast this will fly, for all of us. A few ideas while we wait on the waitlist:
Sign up for Cheyne Ranch programs such as PALS, Nature Clubs, or Family Visits to spend time outdoors learning in nature - so much to learn with our feet on the ground.
Take a look at other amazing horseback riding trainers in our local area - these are 3 professional, safe and knowledgeable women I love and respect. I have made a web page for this (of course I did).
Enjoy some other local nature themed activities. I made a web page for that too: Local Outdoor Fun
Reading to the Animals, Birthday Parties, Kids Night Out & other events:
There is so much fun stuff planned here! Watch our social media pages for more details.
9/10/2021: Friday evening, Kids Night Out! Who cares if the Parents go out it is really all about the kids having fun for an evening @ Cheyne Ranch! We are going to do a mixed media craft, and hang with the animals. I really really want to have s'mores.
9/18/2021: Saturday morning, a really fun event planned called Reading to the Animals (or hopefully we will come up with a better name)
Birthday parties are super fun! We only do 1 each weekend so reserve early.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Please text me so we can set up a time to talk if you have questions.
Sally Ann Cheyne
Owner, Cheyne Ranch
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 680-3348
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheyneRanch
email: CheyneRanch@gmail.com