Master’s Ranch is a non-profit Christian boarding school and boys home designed to help at-risk and struggling boys between the ages of 12 and 17. The ranch campus in Southern Missouri offers a small family environment in an agricultural setting with a balance of discipline and training in an unmistakable atmosphere of mentoring, love and acceptance. Through education, hard work, vocational training, working with animals, recreation, family interaction and counseling, each boy is given the tools needed to regain the confidence, self-respect and spiritual footing necessary to embrace his family and his future. The boarding school provides professional clinical-type counseling from licensed therapists as well as pastoral, group and individual counseling. The program offers milieu counseling, often utilizing the setting of the outdoors and activities to help teens feel comfortable so they will open up and share more readily.
Academic Curriculum
Master Ranch provides excellent educational opportunities for its students on site with a nationally accredited curriculum through Western Christian Academy. It also has traditional instruction from certified teachers. GED classes as well as ACT and SAT prep are offered. The academic program is also heavily vocational in nature, and offers a vocational diploma for those who choose it. Western Christian Academy uses distinctive, individualized, multi-media software from grades 3-12 that specifically addresses their learning style.
Therapeutic Approach
Most good counseling is just good listening. Masters ranch staff want to hear from the boys. What do they think? How do they feel? Master’s Ranch also has a fully operational ranch. We have seen the value of connecting kids to animals – some call it “animal therapy.” Teens learn responsibility as they care for an animal that needs them. Animals also help connect the boy emotionally, reflect the boy’s moods and temperaments, and erase any streaks of cruelty that may have developed. Boys at the ranch gain these benefits through therapy with horses, cows, pigs, chickens and dogs. All of the boys also have regular ranch chores, such as milking cows, just as they have regular chores in the dorm and the kitchen. Boys also have the privilege of signing up for extra learning experiences on the farm.
Teen Issues We Deal With
Teens at this program often exhibit difficulty following rules of the home, displaying appropriate respect for rules and authority figures, truancy from school, verbal abuse, apathy, depression, violence, manipulation, deceit, and sexual promiscuity. Such behaviors are often accompanied by association with negative peer groups, may or may not be in addition to drug/alcohol experimentation. At Master’s Ranch, the boys are removed from such potential harmful influences.
Therapeutic Healing and Confidence through Learning How to Work
Ranch life provides the setting for the transformation that happens in boys at Master’s Ranch Christian Academy. Boys live on a working farm and learn responsibility by caring for cattle, pigs, and dogs. We give special attention to using animals in anger management and for healing problems with emotional attachment.
The boarding school program is heavily vocational. The boys learn from general contractors in wood, metal, cement, plumbing, welding, culinary arts, and electrical construction. Often, our boys get the opportunity to put their skills to work in the local economy and earn money.
While attending Master’s Ranch Christian Academy, boys will also get their hunter’s safety permit and driver’s license after completing driver’s education. Master’s Ranch Christian Academy uses a system of organization and discipline similar to military ranks. The boys navigate a rank structure through which they gradually earn elevated trust, responsibility, authority, and privilege. Breaking the rules leads to losing benefits.
Master’s Ranch boys are built up in confidence and thoughtfulness, allowing them to successfully return to home life, college, vocational training, the military, or employment. We firmly push them toward a vocation or to move toward more training once they leave Master’s Ranch Christian Academy, which gives them the reason to keep a straight head and their eye on the target for their future, so they don’t fall back into old ways of thinking and acting. We work under the simple philosophy of giving the kids something they don’t want to lose. Whether that be the hope for an exciting future, a trade they love, or a fresh new start in life, boys leave here with a new purpose and desire to be responsible men of God.
Preparing for Successful Futures with Accredited Education
Master’s Ranch Christian Academy educates boys on-site with a computer-based nationally accredited curriculum through the ACELLUS ACADEMY. These credits are fully transferrable to public schools in all US states. Most students will complete a lot of their elective requirements for high school issued directly by our Private School. Master’s Ranch also offers GED preparation classes (called HISET in the state of Missouri) along with ACT and SAT prep classes. We will coordinate each of these final tests as needed.
Healthy Recreation and Activities
Master’s Ranch Christian Academy teaches kids how to enjoy good, clean “unplugged” fun. The boys at Master’s Ranch have regular outdoor activities that include: camping, fishing, hunting, basketball, football, swimming at the local river, roping, hiking, paintball, and occasionally horseback rides. Regular weekly recreation includes use of the Rec Room (pool table foosball, ping pong, darts, cornhole), a Fitness Room, weekly board games, and weekly movie nights. Elective activities include band, sound team, book clubs, strategy games, basketball team, and more. The Master’s Ranch Christian Academy is a place of healing and hope. We have seen hundreds of at-risk and struggling teens transformed into hard-working, respectable young adults. We help restore boys to their families; healthy, confident, and spiritually and academically on track.
Testimonial
“We have seen the results of MRCA in our son; nothing short of a miracle. We are excited about our son’s future and forever grateful for making the tough decision to send our troubled son but in return have received a well adjusted, aspiring young man. Thank you.” –Jeff and Brenda
Learn more on their website: https://mastersranch.org Or call this number: (417)938-4711. 
