BY LAURA SPAULDING, Staff Writer/ Educational Consultant

Anyone who has ever attempted to keep a plant thriving knows just how much planning, time, patience, and intentional work it takes to successfully grow a flourishing garden. It turns out that growing good humans and growing beautiful flowers is not really so different.

The United States Department of Agriculture has an official “Plant Hardiness Zone Map” to help gardeners make informed decisions about which perennial plants are most likely to thrive in a given location. Unfortunately, there is no "Kid Hardiness Zone Map" to help parents navigate what each child needs to flourish. But there are lessons we can learn by paying attention to the individualized care master gardeners give to every type of plant they tend.

During the planning stage, gardeners consider the type of soil they're working with, typical weather patterns, what they intend to grow and why, and what types of plants grow best where they live.

Many plants are considered “low maintenance.” They grow easily in a variety of Hardiness Zones without regard to the soil quality, the weather patterns, or how much TLC they receive. Throw these low-maintenance seeds anywhere, and they will figure it out! These plants are often labeled as weeds, unless they meet someone who really understands and appreciates them. In which case, they will more than likely be labeled wildflowers. In either case, they are often referred to as invasive because they flourish easily even in highly competitive environments. Prolonged periods of drought or freezing temperatures might set them back some, but rarely does anything stop them from coming back stronger year after year. They are highly resilient, even when dug up and replanted elsewhere with a brand-new ecosystem to contend with.

Other plants are what we might call “high maintenance.” Without specific soil and weather conditions (and a considerable amount of TLC), these high-maintenance friends likely never develop beyond seedlings. Of course, most plants fall somewhere between these two extremes, and all plants, no matter how long they survive, will not bear good fruit in extremely harsh conditions.

The metaphor speaks for itself. Classrooms are gardens, and students are the seeds. No wise gardener would ever think to say, “This seed is not growing, so there must be something wrong with it.” The wise gardener would say, “This seed is not growing; I must have planted it in the wrong kind of garden.”

The wise gardener would then figure out the right kind of garden for this seed to not only sprout, but to reach its full flowering or fruit-bearing potential. The gardener would be quick about digging it up from the spot that was either too windy, too crowded, too dry, too rocky, or too hot. She would offer a lot of targeted TLC in the transition to the new garden, and then she would watch as the seed slowly but surely became the best version of itself.

In the same way, when you notice a child is wilting, or their color seems to be fading, the first question to ask is: Are they in the right environment to maximize their potential? In the wrong school or classroom, a child will do whatever they have to do just to survive. A change in the environment might be the only way for anyone to know what their true colors or fruit-bearing potential really is.

The Joy School uniquely understands how this all works. Our teachers are committed to figuring out the sort of classroom their students are most likely to thrive in. Then, they work hard to cultivate that sort of classroom, adapting and adjusting as they go. They offer as much TLC as necessary during each student's transition from one classroom or school to the next. That TLC often comes in the form of intentional support and targeted remediations and interventions. With the right conditions, we eventually get to sit back and watch as our former students continue to grow, blossom, and become the best version of themselves, long after they have graduated.

For more information about how The Joy School unlocks every student's unique learning potential, visit our website or attend a parent tour.