McMinn Co. vet tech transforms into home school teacher thanks to grant

RICEVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - An East Tennessee woman has turned her 15 acre McMinn County farm into an education lab to homeschool elementary school children. She said she hopes to help out her community.

“We always want to do something to help our community. I mean that’s, that is the main goal,” Amber Passamonte said.

Passamonte used to work as a veterinarian technician and has a background in equine emergency medicine and orthopedics. She also taught veterinarian students technical skills.

Then she decided to home school her five year old twins.

Passamonte said, “Teaching kids my knowledge of horses is kind of what I’ve always wanted to do.”

She wanted to expand her teaching to other children in home school programs across the East Tennessee region. With the help of a non-profit called Vela she earned a $10,000 grant to make River’s Ridge Home School Horsemanship possible. She has four horses on her farm that children get to interact with and learn about.

Now she teaches kids how to figure out the size of the horse measuring it from the withers using your hands. Passamonte also explains how horses have been used throughout time, such as mane or tail hair used for paint brushes and horses used to pull buggies.

She’s also taught them anatomy of a horse, communication skills and arts and crafts.

“I just love having the families and the learners out here together, watching the joy of the kids around the horses is amazing cause I take it for granted not everybody gets to experience this everyday,” she said.

She has students signed up for April and May classes. There’s still room for kids to join.

Passamonte is also considering doing a summer program as well. For more information you can click here.

Copyright 2022 WVLT. All rights reserved.