Care Lykins Burpee
Cell: 907-854-5824 Email: learningunabridged@gmail.com
Address: 19908 War Admiral Road, Eagle River, Alaska 99577
Projects
Things I Have Shepherded into Being
Homeschool Co-ops
A homeschool co-op is a school in which parents gather together with all their students to provide classes and group learning for the kids, taught by the parents. They can be a few families in a house or a large group that meets in church classrooms one or more days a week. While living in Utah, several friends and I began, co-directed, and taught in a co-op that grew into a multi-day school with over 150 students in nursery through 12th grade. Here in Alaska, I took over management of a co-op of about half that size. I oversaw finding a new facility, moving the co-op, using web-based class registration, bought supplies, did bookkeeping, assigned students and teachers to classes, taught classes, and mediated personality clashed between both adults and students.
Whole-Book Website
When COVID-19 first struck, many of my non-homeschooling friends were scrambling to find material for their kids, feeling that their schools were not meeting the challenge. A few months before, I began building a website to help organize all the various book lists and suggestions that I have accumulated over the years. For many years, I used a blog, but it lacked the features that I needed to adequately meet my needs. Our family uses a type of classical homeschooling that is called "whole-book" homeschooling. We use very few textbooks -- mostly just for math. All other subjects are studied using quality fiction and nonfiction. My website has grown into a substantial resource -- which I published on the web in February of 2020 -- of chronological and topical lists of books for students of all ages. I write occasional blog posts and have been dabbling in learning SEO and how to drive traffic and track analytics using the site's Instagram. This passion project has given me valuable skills that carry over into the workforce.
Click here to visit Learning Unabridged's Website
Click here to visit Learning Unabridged's Instagram
(Instagram posts created using Canva)
Youth Theater
Using Google Docs, I mentored a group of students as they turned C. S. Lewis's novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, into a script. I then cast, directed, and produced the show. Students in grades 4-12 participated with me (and several helpers I dubbed my "Magnificent Mamas") in building a full theater set, making costumes, learning stage makeup, memorizing lines, stage blocking, and the many other tasks that go into creating a show. With financial assistance from a few community organizations, we were able to rent a local stage and perform the show for the public. Prior to this show, I had always been the performer. Providing this experience for the kids was a highlight of my homeschooling career.
