The Magic of Pratt: An Ode to Our Fave Place

For Christmas this year, my mini collaborators, editors and fact checkers and I wrote a poetry series for their nature school teachers. We tried to capture the magic of this place during all seasons, all the people, places, animals and education they receive there. While some of the rhymes are a stretch, and the flow can be rocky in spots (see what I did there??) we hope the sentiment is clear:)

The Magic of Pratt

We’ve all heard it said, Pratt’s a magical place

but what makes it so, more than any old space?

The people, for one, are unlike any other

and the land is there just waiting to be discovered.

A classroom without walls? But what will they learn?

Creativity, problem solving, physics, the life cycle of a worm!

Build an intricate fairy house with tiny twigs,

sit on a log, imagine you’re driving a big rig!

What’s that you say?

It’s all “just play?”

The tiny buildings and big ways to find thrills,

all develop fine and gross motor skills.

Emotional regulation, spatial awareness, stress reduction,

physical and mental well-being, the importance of collaboration.

If they’re wondering something, they figure it out.

Facilitating learning opportunities, what Pratt’s all about.

Spark a flame, not just of fire, but learning

solving the problem of most children’s yearning;

to be heard, listened to and understood.

Only Pratt people make something this good. 

In nature, neurons are connecting all over the place!

There isn’t much offered for kids where all this is the case. 

A childhood as smooth as tumbled river glass,

but open to the bumps and skinned knees full of grass

teaches the ways of the world

to children whose worries can unfurl

all because of one small thing

and the great amount of joy it brings.

The magic of Pratt is in Diane, Dave and Haley,

Sara and Jessica, Adam and Melanie. 

The kids get to embody their spirits

with an education they’re lucky more than just fits. 

It happens seamlessly and with lots of love,

Earth, soul and Pratt are what life is made of. 

Seasons at Pratt 

The newly green leaves rustling under the willow

welcome spring as goldenrod sprouts in the meadow. 

A time when not just the fields are in bloom,

children flourish too, if you just give them room. 

Room is one thing Pratt has and it’s teachers create,

helping children learn, grow and feel safe.

A hot summer day takes you to Gold Rush,

when you wade in, relieved by the river’s cool touch.

Then, you watch vibrant leaves fall with the breeze,

as deep breaths with your buddies fill you with relaxation and ease.

Below your boots, the brown leaves crunch

while the squirrels scatter, gather and munch.

The weather turns colder and the hill’s covered in snow

until giggles and screams break the silence of the fresh fallen glow.

With a Pratt education, there’s never a time to NOT be outside,

Pratt kids boot skate, puddle jump, sun bask and mud squish with pride.

What is it about Pratt?

It’s the sticks and rocks and mud,

the beavers damming and causing a flood.

It’s Eleanor’s excited bray

when gaggles of children come running her way.

It’s Pancake and Rosie plotting their hunt

to steal some lunches and pull off quite the stunt.

It’s catching frogs by the pond,

or carving sticks into wands.

It’s hiking past Willow to get to Corner Spot

or hiding in the phragmites when the sun is too hot. 

Some days it’s up to the top of the mountain

and watching the creeks flow like a fountain.  

It’s water rushing under the log along mermaid beach

where you have to be careful or your crocs might sail just out of reach.

It’s using fluffy duffys as they learn to spark,

taking precise aim at archery in hopes of hitting the mark.

It’s kids not wanting to leave at pickup,

climbing just one more time to fill up their cup.

Add this all together and what do we find?

A magic childhood that stays in their mind.

And the minds of all the Pratt lives that are touched

spread the magic of this place that we all love so much.

Life of a Pratt Parent

14 pair of extra clothes, well stocked in the car,

5,000 pieces of river glass tucked inside a jar.

Rocks and sticks and stones are everywhere;

pockets, dryers, in a bed isn’t even that rare!

Stains and mud on all the things  

are simple reminders of the joy Pratt brings.

Squishy squashy with each step,

excited to see their grownup

and show them the waterfall coming out of their boots

sometimes with pebbles or knotweed chutes.

Hauling that coveted branch across the street

to be brought home to a new stick family to meet,

adding to the corner of the garage pile,

laid out all together would cover more than a mile.

Collections of nature welcome, no matter what- 

even boulders weighing down backpacks- no ifs ands or buts. 

Being encouraged, “eat an autumn olive berry!”

puckering your way through, a little bit wary.

Oh, the things they know and the things they bring home

even the stories of Roger the gnome

hold a special place in all of our hearts,

thankful for the wisdom Pratt imparts.

Take off your glasses, it doesn’t matter, 

Everything is rose colored as long as Pratt people gather.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiation: the process of tailoring lessons to meet each student's individual interests, strengths, and needs.  

Homeschooling: see above

It often surprises people that there aren’t many things I can take from my time as a teacher that have helped in our homeschool journey. So, I’m here to share one takeaway from my time in grad school and my experience in the classroom that has helped develop me as a homeschool mom, and that is the process of differentiating instruction. Last week put a spotlight on that in the most beautiful way. This semester in our co op, I’ve been teaching a building class for Charlie’s age group. These little engineers blow my mind every week, and the moments of planned and on-the-fly differentiating happen weekly as well. But recently we had actual building kits. Like hammer, nails, screws, wood glue building sets. With step by step instructions. I was a little wary of how it might go with my little buddies who don’t love directions like that. 

Children inherently think outside the box. Until and unless they’re told not to. The freedom in homeschooling allows for my kids and their friends who I get to teach, is that there isn’t really anyone telling them not to think outside that box. They're actually encouraged to follow their outside-the-box thinking. And let me tell you, it is so very cool to see where it takes them! And while there is a time and place for following stringent directions, my class full of 5-7 year olds isn’t one of them. 

So let me paint you the picture;

After covering all the safety measures of children using hammers, nails and screwdrivers, the kids were ready to open their kits and begin building. In my mind, I thought we would all do the first step together, then move onto the next, and so on. (Take note-I used to teach a classroom full of public school children…following directions to a T was necessary, important and praised.) 

What unfolded in my classroom that morning was certainly not what my holding-on-for-dear-life-teacher-brain had envisioned. Sure, there were a few kids who wanted to follow the steps in order and sought the reassurance they were doing it right and ready to move to the next step. But then there were the ones who didn’t. My son being one of them. He moved himself to an empty table, laid out all the materials in front of him and began putting things together simply because they looked like they should go together. First, I panicked and was a bit annoyed with him, if I'm being honest. They were making binoculars and if he didn’t put it together correctly it wouldn’t work. Then I saw his determination to simply complete a task, just build. 

He had the picture and word directions in front of him but barely glanced at them, so I let him be (after one minor correction of showing that the reason what he was doing wasn’t working was because he was using a screw instead of a nail.) He didn’t want to hear it from me, so I walked away only to glance over my shoulder to see him hammering a nail where he was previously trying to drive in a screw.

Another one of my kiddos asked if he could go on building without waiting for everyone to get to the next step, to which I said of course. This kid was actually looking at the pictures and interpreting them himself. The curve of his lens was backwards and one of the wood pieces was upside down, but he worked diligently. And yet another who was trying very hard to “keep up” until I told him that everyone was going at their own pace and he could too, and that if he needed any help, I was there for him. I saw him relax after that and begin to do his own thing until he came across a problem which he solved himself. The table was shaking from his peers hammering and he couldn’t align the nail properly which was frustrating him. So he took his things and moved to an empty table and completed his next few steps there. 

Meanwhile, back in Charlie land, a complete set was built. Were there pieces facing the “wrong” direction? Yes. Was each piece of wood perfectly aligned with its partner? Nope. But did I have a kid beaming at me with a finished product that he made all by himself? Yes. Yes, I did. And it made me so proud watching these kids figure this all out. Each had a set of binoculars that they were so proud to have built. Were these binoculars going to help them truly see things far away? Doubtful. And my students (which I don't really like to call them, because I see myself as more of a facilitator than a teacher and them more as collaborators than students...but that's another blog post) helped me to see that didn’t matter. These kids are 5, 6 and 7 years old. There will be a time they’ll need to follow the directions closely in order to have a working end product. But they helped me to see I am solely laying the foundation for those future instances.

 

The week prior to this lesson, my kids and I read a book about the man who created the first balloons for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (Tony Sarg, look him up, it’s pretty cool) and what he was like as a child. When he was six years old, his dad gave him a chore to feed the chickens at 6:00 every morning. Little Tony didn’t want to get out of bed at 6 am so he rigged up a pulley system that went from his bedroom window to the door of the chicken coop. He put the food out in the evening before he went to sleep and closed the chickens in the coop. When his alarm went off at 6 am, he sat up in bed, pulled the string from his bedroom window, opening the chicken coop door and letting all the chickens out to eat the feed he left the night before. Without ever leaving the warmth of his bed.

This made us think; most of the books we’ve read about famous inventors, scientists and engineers, all tell a similar story of their younger selves. Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein…all “different” kids who didn't do things the way society (and/or their teachers) said they should. They tinkered and played and made things work in ways people didn’t think they could. Imagine if these children stopped questioning, wondering, tinkering and playing in a way that made sense to them. Their inventions were rarely, if ever, perfect the first time or two, or three, or more! But they kept pushing forward, trying in a different way, skipping over a few steps or adding in their own. But they created the light bulb, an airplane and the freaking theory of relativity! Maybe I should have seen what would happen if I didn't point out to Charlie to use a nail instead of a screw! 

Anyhow, my point is if we are meant to educate our children, why can’t we do that in a way that is most beneficial for them? I used to love coming up with ways to differentiate in my classroom; something for the kids who needed a challenge, something for the kids who needed a little extra time or help. And now? All we do is differentiated instruction! I love that I just continue to recognize more and more ways that homeschooling is right for us. Their world is open, their education is endless and their drive and passion to learn is infinite. And me? I'm just lucky to be part of it.