A Day In the Life Of A Child In The PSCS Younger Program

True to PSCS philosophy, every day looks different for every child so what follows is just a dream of what a day might be like for some dreamed up children.

Joshua lives in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle with his parents and two younger siblings. A curious baby and young child, Joshua has many interests at the age of 6. Most of all he likes to watch bugs. He has been going to PSCS for a year now and enjoys it very much.

It’s early October and Joshua is playing alongside his mother in the front yard of his home while they wait for his school carpool. He rides each morning with PSCS students Ruby-Louise and Nathan, both age 5 and Amy, age 10, all of whom live in and around Ballard. Carl, Nathan’s dad is driving them today and is running a little late. Joshua is unaffected by the delay. Dressed in his favorite jeans and red hooded sweatshirt, he is warm and horizontal. That is, horizontal on the ground watching an earthworm burrowing into the ground. Joshua reaches for the worm, putting it in his little pocket jar so he can show it to Ruby-Louise who is also fascinated by all things small and wiggly. Carl arrives finally and the troops are on their way to PSCS. The traffic is typically slow so the children have ample time to chat on their way. The younger three had all gone to the storytelling evening at Third Place Books the night before and were mesmerized by the man who told stories while juggling! Nathan had been so taken in that upon reaching home he had grabbed 2 tennis balls and tried to juggle. He still has the balls in his hands and is tossing them to Amy who good-naturedly catches them before handing them back. None of the children know how to juggle but man is it cool!

As they dismount from the car, Carl reminds them all to take the ingredients for their group lunch. Ruby and Joshua walk into the yard of the 2-cottage school deeply inspecting the worm. The front yard has a small pond and a play yard adjoining a big grove of trees. The backyard touches Ravenna Park and has vegetable beds along with an outdoor cooking oven. By now, the worm is trying to make its way out of the jar. Ruby and Joshua decide that they need to find a safe spot for it. Perhaps, they can let it lose into the field of spinach that some of the other students have been growing. They walk up to Regina, one of the staff members, asking her if that is a good idea. Regina welcomes them and follows them to the field of spinach. They talk about what the worm might do for the little field and how it might help loosen the clay soil that has been getting soaked the last few days.

In the meantime, Nathan has engaged another boy, Peter, with the tennis balls and together they have gathered a whole group of keen participants who all also want to juggle. The group is standing in a circle tossing the 2 balls back and forth.
Jeffrey, another of the staff walks up to them and throws a third ball to the circle. Amy catches it and now it’s part of the intergenerational group juggle.

At PSCS, the day starts with a group gathering. Regina and Jeffrey lead it for now, trusting that as the children grow older, they will begin to lead, just like the junior and senior high students do at their morning check-in. Today, they decide that the gathering should happen as part of the juggling circle if that is okay with the group. The gathering starts with Regina asking what everyone did the previous evening. Nathan speaks of his fascination with the juggler and Joshua tells of all the earthworms he has been finding in his backyard. He offers to bring in some to the school if it would help the vegetable patch. Other students agree that that is a great idea. Then, one of the students speaks about a neighborhood friend's brother who has been cutting up worms in his high school. The group is stunned by the idea. They look to Jeffrey for an explanation that he provides. A discussion ensues on what the worms might feel versus the need to study them. The children wrestle with the dilemma before them, not closing on it just then. Then, Ruby jumps in with the idea that she wants to start a ‘Save the worms’ campaign. 3 other students including Joshua say they want to join her. At this point, a girl named Esme brings the group back to the question of what happened the previous evening – she speaks of seeing the picture of a man wearing many beads and being present at the Woodland Park Zoo. She says she couldn’t stop seeing the picture. Regina asks her if she would like to go see the man to which she responds with an enthusiastic jump. 2 other students say they would like to see the man too. The gathering continues for another 10 minutes with other students speaking of their happenings from the previous evening. The gathering then closes with expressions of what the students and staff are most looking forward to in the day.

As they close, Ruby and her group head to a table to start creating posters for the ‘Save the worms campaign’. Nathan continues juggling. Jeffrey is an expert juggler but he chooses not to step in and teach Nathan, letting him discover juggling for himself. Regina and Esme decide to call the zoo to arrange a field trip to see the man of many beads. Regina knows that Esme is referring to the Masai but chooses not to label the man. She believes in letting Esme discover about the Masai rather than naming the group and presenting her with a pre-existing body of knowledge.

Jeffrey is a musician and has been learning to play the Santoor recently. He has brought the Santoor to school today and is playing it under the grove of trees in the front yard. This new instrument intrigues several children. They ask to give it a try and Jeffrey obliges more than willingly. A crowd gathers, with several students asking to play it. Jeffrey asks the group if they would like to create their own Santoor-like instruments and the group cannot wait. Soon, circles of small
bowls filled with water appear. Each child has a pair of chopsticks with which they strike the edge of the bowls. Soon enough they discover that changing the amount of water in a bowl alters the note it produces. The exploration is endless.

Some other students are reading, others are building a teeter-totter that the group has agreed needs to be added to the small school play yard, still others are sitting and looking at their reflections in the pond, while two girls are singing the opening song of the school play. The play is 2 weeks out and the younger children have been working with the older ones in rehearsals. The multi-age play is one of the highlights of the school year, bringing together the 5 year olds and the 18 year olds. The younger and older students interact in many other ways. While they have their own morning gatherings, they do projects together, go on field trips, do service work and tend to share their lunches. The older students also chaperone the younger students to get lunch supplies or books from the public library.

About a half hour before lunch, Remi, who has been at the school for 4 years now, comes around and asks everyone to bring their lunch ingredients into the kitchen. Twice a week, the school enjoys a group lunch. A volunteer coordinates the effort and several students take a lead for particular dishes. Now the whole school of 40 is milling around the kitchen, some students carrying out plates, others looking for flatware and yet others picking fresh tomatoes from the vegetable patch. Amy is in charge of the salad and she is directing 17 year-old Crystal based on the recipe she brought from home. The cooking class that includes several students has just finished making pizzas and a cake. At noon, it is lunch and everyone descends upon the big hall where tables have been laid and the singers from the play are going to practice.

After lunch, all the students help clean up before returning to their other self-chosen activities. Some younger children retreat to the quiet reading room to read and/or take a short nap. Others attend a longstanding storytelling class facilitated by a group of seniors from the local community center. Younger and older students attend the class. Each week, they await stories from the lives of the elders based on historical events. Today, they are hearing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The older students relay back their experience going through 9/11. Some students follow each class with papers they write on historical events. It is their way of learning ‘history’. In the background, 3 students knit with one of the elderly men. With winter around the corner, they don’t have much time left to finish making the 30 hats they will be donating to the church down the street.

As the day comes to a close, the entire school gathers in the big hall. It is time for reflecting on the happenings of the day and sharing stories from it. Nathan gets the ball rolling (!) by stepping into the center and juggling 2 balls while calling to people. He is indeed a fast learner and very happy that he can now juggle 2 balls and talk at the same time, just like the man who told stories the night before.

Several people comment on the chest they are building in the wood shop. Still others, donning the half-made costumes they have been working on, speak of the need to sell all the play tickets so the school can raise funds for the annual weekend trip to Portland by train. Ruby then asks the group if the older students in the school have been cutting up worms like others she had heard about. One of the seniors answers her question. She then announces the ‘Save the worms’ campaign and asks people to be careful when they walk so as to not crush any worms.

A few weeks later the school play has happened with enough money being raised for all students and staff to be accommodated on the annual trip to Portland. Ruby's ‘Save the worms’ campaign has resulted in posters on the schoolyard, a campaign statement and a project studying worms and other interesting bugs. Esme's quest after the man of many beads results in a trip to the zoo, followed by a study on gorillas that some of the students really took to and a project on the culture of the Masai. Esme now knows that the man calls himself a Masai! Nathan is now juggling 3 balls at a time and has been teaching others how to juggle. He has discovered that Jeffrey is good at juggling and seeks to learn more from him. The chest that the woodshop built is now being used to store school archives. Joshua has been transporting worms from his backyard to the school vegetable patch. The P-patch group has been very thankful to him for the now well-tilled soil. And, a band of Santoor players has been created with the younger children teaching the older ones how to play their newly discovered instrument!