Hello Parents,

Would you like your son or daughter to take the ACT?

CALO will be taking students to ACT testing on September 8, 2012. If you are interested and would like to register your child, the registration deadline is August 17th.

Parents may register and pay for their child's ACT testing at www.actstudent.org. You may have the results sent directly to you by choosing "homeschool" rather than inputting a high school code. Please register for the Osage Beach test site. CALO will provide transportation to and from the testing.

Questions? Please contact kallison@caloteens.com

Next time you come to campus, make sure to check out all the new artwork that is displayed around campus. Phil Young, our art teacher, has been working consistently on both our CALO mural and daily art projects with students. Art gives our students the opportunity to express themselves and think creatively, offering a wonderful therapeutic outlet that they love. You will see great new work by our talented students all around the CALO campus. In the future we will continue to expand these exhibits, so stay tuned! Here is a glimpse of some of the art currently on display:

As you know, the CALO academic department has partnered with Park City Independent to provide online curriculum for educating our students. For the last two years, they have provided us with the curriculum necessary to help our students attain educational goals. They have offered our students a variety of courses and given us the ability to accept students from any state with the guarantee that the credits earned at CALO will be honored in their home states and local school. We are grateful for all that Park City has been able to offer CALO. However, as we look to the future, we have found a different curriculum provider who can provide a more robust academic experience on many different levels.

We are extremely excited to announce a new partnership with curriculum provider K12. Beginning March 5th, CALO will be utilizing a variety of curriculum offered by this nationally known and recognized group. In order to ensure that our students continue to earn credits which will be recognized nation-wide, we are also partnering with Advantages School for our academic accreditation (Advantages is accredited by AdvancED). Curriculum will be primarily computer based, but will incorporate many more didactic learning (teacher led, with teacher at the head of the class) opportunities than are currently available. To assist in this process, we are purchasing an additional smart board as well as several tablets and laptops to allow for more interactivity and creativity from both students and teachers. With the addition of this curriculum, we now have the capability of offering credit recovery courses as well as an honors/AP track for our students. During this process, we will also begin teaching students in classes which are divided based upon grade level. We believe this curriculum will enable our students to progress through courses in a more efficient manner while learning the necessary material through interactive methods. In combination with our teachers’ skills and creativity, we are confident that this curriculum will provide students the enhanced learning opportunities they need.

In preparation for this change of curriculum, CALO will spend one week (February 27- March 2) focusing on elective courses such as Canine Science, Interpersonal Communication, PE, Art, and Recreational Therapy. This will allow teachers the time necessary to adequately train, plan, and create the courses inside of K12. As we transition to this new curriculum, students will begin a class in the same place where they have left off with their Park City course. For instance, if student Janey is in Science and has completed 25% of the course, we will make certain that we extract 25% of the lessons from her K12 curriculum. She will not lose any progress or be penalized for this curriculum transition.

This is an exciting day for CALO Academics and for all our students. We believe this partnership with K12 will add tremendous learning power to what we are providing for our students. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Krista Allison

As you may know, I have recently joined CALO as the Academic Director. I am excited about the academic growth that lies ahead and look forward to meeting each of you. In the meantime, I wanted to make sure that you are aware of the transitions occurring and how these changes may affect you.

Abby Mayer and I share many responsibilities and she has been an incredible asset as I have begun learning about CALO’s Academic Department. She is now the registrar and will be taking care of all transcript issues, academic plans, and many day to day operational tasks. If you have any questions about these areas, please feel free to contact her. I am currently focusing on leading the accreditation process for CALO as well as curriculum enhancement, faculty development, and academic counseling. As questions arise, I will be happy to assist you as well.

Currently, Abby and I share a phone line, so you are likely to speak with both of us at some time in the future. Our direct line is 866-501-1395. We look forward to assisting you and ensuring that our students receive countless opportunities for academic success.

Sincerely,
Krista Allison

Caylon was born and raised in a very small northern Missouri town called Kingston. Upon graduating high school, he attended Northwest Missouri State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education K-12. Before coming to CALO, he coached football, basketball and track and field for 5 years. For 3 years, he taught PE and Health in a small K-12 school. Caylon’s wife, Gwen, is a special education teacher for our local school district, School of the Osage. Together, they have a dog, Alfie, who takes up the majority of their spare time. 

Caylon is very happy to have found CALO and enjoys teaching and working with our special students.  He loves being able to relate to the students on both a personal and professional level and looks forward to staying for a long time!

Today might be the best day I have ever had at CALO!  I was the lucky gal that got to be the first to congratulate 5 of our amazing students as they graduated high school.  This morning at 10:00am CALO hosted a cap and gown ceremony for five of our CALO scholars.  This day was made even more fantastic as each of our students had friends and family to support them in their accomplishments. 

Not everyone in the world gets to graduate from high school; they don’t all join the elite club. The five students that graduated today have definitely had obstacles thrown in their paths; however, they persevered and came out on top.  The journey was definitely not without sweat or tears but they did it, they made it to the top.   Throughout their journey I have had multiple conversations with all of them; there were most certainly times in which they did not believe they would make it to today.  Never the less, they did it!  All of them! 

Dominique was born and raised in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.   While in school, she enjoyed playing softball and was a member of both flag corp and the Trap Shooting team; where she was a qualifier in the state level competitions.

She attended Longview Community College and earned her Associates of Arts before attending the University of Central Missouri where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Middle School Education with a Mathematics and Language Arts concentration.   She plans obtaining her teaching certification in both Social Studies and Science Education and hopes to pursue her Master’s Degree in Education.    

Dominique states that she wanted to become a teacher because, “I love working with kids and hope to be a positive impact in their lives.  I hope to share my passion for math and encourage them take up a subject that not everyone enjoys.” 

Dominique is engaged to Quentin, who she met through a family friend.  She enjoys spending time with him and their daughter, Emilea, who was born in March of 2007. As a family they enjoy all outdoor activities especially camping, horseback riding, canoeing and hunting. 

Today our CALO students are on a field trip.  They are at Kauffman Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals, in Kansas City, Missouri for a yearly event entitled, “School Day at the K”.   This event has been a work in progress over the past several weeks, purely by the efforts of a few staff members and the voices of our CALO students. 

Some months ago, our CALO Student Council represented our student body with a proposal suggesting "bigger and better".  Weekly, our CALO students attend different events off campus and connect with members in the community.  A request to the Student Council prompted further discussion and ultimately a proposal requesting quarterly events that as the students say are "really cool". 

This quarter, our students are attending “School Day at the K”.  The CALO group left campus bright and early this morning and made the 3 hour drive to Kauffman Stadium for a day of educational activities and fun.  An impressive and interactive lesson on meteorology was presented by the local news and weather teams, to be followed by lunch and then the students will watch the Kansas City Royals take on the Baltimore Orioles.  What a fun way to spend a beautiful spring day! 

Our CALO students enjoy being actively involved in their education.  Our weekly Wednesday Seminar and Saturday Physical Education courses are often based upon topics and activities suggested by our students.  Most recently, our CALO young ladies have requested the opportunity to explore the sport of gymnastics.   

 CALO Physical Education teacher, Mike Paynter, has taught our students about all views of athletics, health and safety and is always on the lookout for a new concept to present.  Until recently, we have never ventured into gymnastics due to not having all of the appropriate tools necessary.

 Our young ladies have shown interest in gymnastics time and time again, so Mike went in search of a solution to their request.  We were able to find the solution at our local YMCA.  They have a wonderful gymnastics program and all of the equipment necessary to ensure the safety of all.  So, each Saturday for the next 3-4 weeks, our CALO girls will be attending gymnastics lessons. 

 With some planning, we were able to facilitate with the YMCA an appointment each Saturday morning during our regularly scheduled PE time.  The girls leave the CALO campus and are taken to the YMCA to participate in the gymnastics activity.  We are able to use the YMCA’s facility, trampolines, mats, low beams and other various equipments in addition to their knowledgeable staff to help in the education of our CALO girls.  With supervised YMCA staff members on site, as well as our own staff participating with the students; it has proven to be a fantastic activity and an exciting change to our PE curriculum. 

There is a new phrase downstairs in the Academic Hallway, “Is Mr. Young on ‘The Wall?’”  Mr. Young, our fantastic CALO art teacher, has undertaken an art project of gargantuan proportion. 

 The academic hallway measures 100+ feet in length.  Mr. Young, along with several of our CALO students are working weekly on a 100 foot mural.  The mural will show depictions of our daily life here at CALO.  The letters C A L O are spaced out, one letter every 25 feet; each letter is over 6 feet tall. 

 Mr. Young spent a great amount of time researching our different CALO departments to adequately represent them in the mural; our students are also encouraged to share their ideas and designs.  In addition to the C A L O letters, there are 3 foot tall golden retrievers, therapeutic vocabulary, students fishing and canoeing, a campfire, school work, students climbing the rock wall and working on the pottery wheel; are all represented in sketches.  When the sketches are complete, Mr. Young along with the help of some of our students will fill them in with paint.   We also have our model; Trust of Care, Trust of Control, Trust of Self and Interdependence clearly represented by the sun, earth, water and tree. 

 According to Mr. Young, “The goal (of The Wall) is to explain and show what we do here at CALO through art; to explain our model and depict our daily activities.  I want the students to participate as much as possible, to give us the chance to express ourselves with the gifts we were given.” 

"The Wall" is a work in progress, each week more is completed.  Our goal is to complete the mural within the next few months.  If you happen to be on campus please feel free to stop by and check it out!