From the Basement to the Stars

Stargazer was an impossibility first. Nameless, something we dreamt half-laughing. “You and I should start a school.” Sure, we said. Someday.

Someday came on us more sudden and severe than we had anticipated. We found ourselves face to face with a terrifying opportunity to build something we could be proud to share with the families who asked us for support.

If I am being vague, I apologize. Our story, like all stories, starts with the end of another; growing in the rich decomposition of what came before. Let me simply say that we were already spread thin, our intrepid spirits sagging by the day.

We began our days with a single Stargazer, and lots of questions.

• Why didn’t we get along so well when we met?

• Why do the painted wood ducks act so different from the mallards?

• Why do slinkies walk down the stairs?

• Do you think more people will come?

• Why are there sixty seconds in a minute?

• How do aqueducts even work, anyway?

• Why can’t I get my brain to focus on what I want?
  

All questions lead back to the same source:

• How does change move through a system?

When we pay attention to the ripples of change, we can begin to see what is needed: patience, support, time, curiosity. No wonder Maria Montessori recognized attention as the implement of self-construction.

This community didn’t begin with a plan, but with questions, attention, and a pattern we couldn’t stop seeing. When you slow down enough to watch the changes, the world becomes a little bit more coherent.

Not a bad start for a learning community.

~Kai