Dreaming of a One Room Schoolhouse
I sit in our homeschooling room (what we call our Schoolroom) and think of how it would have been like in the days of little house, that time period in America's history where there were kids of all ages learning together, playing together and not separated out each year at a time. I think of the lessons that would have been learned by the older kids of taking care and watching out for the little ones, and the amazing things the little ones would have learned too-such as community, self-worth, inclusion...so much. I know I learn by helping others learn, many times even by writing it out here I learn things about myself I had never known. What are our children missing out on now that they are segregated not by what they can or cannot bring to the group as a whole, but by a very easy categorization, age. We all know kids develop at very different speeds so placing a bond on children on just that seems very much a cop-out.
This does not make sense to me for so many more reasons. One of them that it seems so obvious that not every 5 year old will be at the same level, but why give the name of 'smart' or worse yet 'not smart' when it is only an age, only a year and not who the child is. For this reason and others the boys both do the work that they can do, and if they struggle I help and then move back a little in that subject. They are not being taught the same stuff, or even held to the same standard (as they are 6 and 4) however they are both exposed to much of the same material. I am constantly amazed by the boys that they will rise to my expectations.
One day I dream of buying one of these old one room schoolhouses and living in it (with an added loft for bedrooms and an add on bathroom of course) it would have been amazing back in the day. I know there is so much to be thankful for in living now, but somethings would have been better if left alone.
A girl can dream right?! Tell me about one of your dreams, or about what you think about this schooling topic. Any thoughts?
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March 22nd, 2010 - 07:23
Hi Bethany,
You should be able to find a few of them still, but I don’t know where. In Walton we were three grades to a class room. It didn’t seem strange.
March 22nd, 2010 - 11:24
Dad, Thanks so much for writing a comment!!! :) Maybe we could buy the Walton school and live there- or maybe that would bring back bad memories when you came to visit of dunce hats and sitting in corners?? you probably never got in trouble! right!?!
March 22nd, 2010 - 08:13
I’ve been teaching (college) for about 7 years now (it boggles the mind that it’s been that long), and I could not agree with you more. I see my students come into a variety of classes from fundamentals on up to college writing and senior-level English courses, and I can’t help but think if there’d been a little more nurture along the way, they’d be much better off and better adjusted to the classroom in general. Now that I’m having a baby of my own, I’m thinking about this issue all the more.
March 22nd, 2010 - 11:26
I agree! There is so much that we can learn from other peer groups that is completely ignored now-a-days because we tend to only interact with people we have things in common with (age, gender,job, social class….)
Bring back the one room schoolhouse!!!!
March 22nd, 2010 - 13:44
I don’t know…I read the Little House series and the Rose series (and Laura and Almanzo’s daughter) and those schoolhouses seemed to be drafty and cold in the winter, and the children wasted much of the day waiting for the teacher to quiz all the other children before it was their turn. I get the impression they got very little individual attention (hence the hair in inkpots and other practical jokes!). I do agree with your assessment of our current system, though. My friend’s child is not dumb, but his mental development is about 2 years behind the other kids, so even as a struggling first grader he is convinced he is stupid.
March 22nd, 2010 - 14:34
Lexington, Mississippi has a wonderful restored one room schoolhouse……I just love it. Your article was wonderful…thank you!
March 23rd, 2010 - 09:11
I dream of actually having just one room devoted to schooling in our house. We don’t have that now. The school room is also the dining room. I’d like to build up over the dining room and have that be our school room. Lots of light, lots of windows, lots of space to hang artwork and tables set up for hands on play. Complete with an outdoor balcony that’s covered. A girl can dream, huh? But for now, we do what we can with the space that we have and I give up my expectations of having a nice dining room and having it just like I want it.
I’m fine where we are.
I totally understand what you mean about the older kids helping the younger ones. I can start to see it already in my kids and I love it. I think that’s one of the reasons I enjoy watching families with older kids who also have little babies. They help out. They learn to teach and the little ones learn to listen to someone other than mom.
While there are certain developmental milestones that can’t be denied, I love having the boys together for many things.
April 2nd, 2010 - 19:04
So, here is what I just had happen this past week that made me think of this very issue. Xavier and I were with Preston and my friend’s 4 year old daughter, visiting another friend (giving a short lesson for church). As I chatted, I noticed my 7.5 year old son playing happily on the floor with the 4 year old daughter of my friend. They were playing ponies. WHEN, I ask you, would he have stopped in his life to do that if he wasn’t being homeschoooled right now? I loved it :)