Micro Dreams
Embedded Files
Edward Grattan
Team Chapnick
Story Summary
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A dirt crossroad in Kennett, Mo., leads to a classroom carved out of a renovated barn-house at the center of a 40-acre cotton field. Mackenzie Wiseman and Liz Reeves, who are teachers, just left public school behind to begin the town's first ever "microschool," Stellar Starlight. The classroom, built in big sky country, joins the approximatley 95,000 microschools and homeschooling pods, as estimated by the National Microschooling Center, a nonprofit resource hub.
The state of Missouri sets standard requirements for elementary school students to meet each year. In order to meet the learning pace of their students, Mackenzie and Liv adjusted the curriculum. Lessons start in the soil; four young students spend early morning hours sorting seeds across the communal desk and identifying the anatomy of cicadas and cockroaches.
The future is delicate, and there is no promises the microschool will continue past next year. Mackenzie and Liv conduct open houses for parents to visit the classroom and learn about the educational infrastructure, hoping that the exposure will draw them in to enroll their children. The two teachers estimate six more students need to enroll to stay afloat, explaining they’ve waived salaries for themselves to pursue what they said is “every teacher’s dream.”
Hutton Reeves, a 5-year-old student, leans against microschool Stellar Starlight's front door in Kennett, Mo. Hutton is one of four students who are part of the pilot program teachers Mackenzie Wiseman, 31, and Hutton's mother, Elizabeth Reeves, 31, are leading.
From left, Hutton, along with students Knox Rebstock, 4, and McCoy Risner, 4, do the "alphabet dance" with instructor Mackenzie behind them. Mackenzie and Elizabeth label their program as “private” to circumvent a Missouri law that states it is illegal to receive payment for homeschooling other people's children.
Mackenzie leads her students through phonetic lessons. "It is every teacher’s dream, starting your own school," she said.
Mackenzie guides Knox in a project-based lesson on harvesting. Mackenzie founded the microschool in 2024 alongside Elizabeth with four students as part of the pilot class.
Isaiah Stockton, 7, slides down on the anonymously-donated playground. Isaiah is part of the microschool's pilot program.
Students Isaiah, Knox and McCoy Risner, 4, play in a corn-filled repurposed school bus. The students just finished a project based on a bug’s life cycle, and they are starting projects centered around harvesting.
Mackenzie sits quietly at a communal desk. Prior to this, she was a special education teacher for four years but resigned on April 2, 2024, and announced the plans for the microschool 25 days later.
Isaiah and Hutton play and draw in one of the booths as part of the tiny town the Reeves family created. The students are in school Tuesdays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
A bowl of seeds sits next to cotton and soybean pods on Stellar Starlight's communal desk. The students learn through hands-on projects and dynamic play.
Hutton participates in an "alphabet lesson." Mackenzie teaches at the microschool and said it is different from the “one size fits all” narrative of public schooling.
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