I actually learned a lot! I have gone and done some different field trips in the past - they teach about the area and the local Indian tribes and how the area was settled each fall in school with various lessons as they progress. 2nd grade they bring in people and the props and set up an area in each classroom. I know I did the animal pelts one year and tools the next year.
For us - we got to visit a little village and saw a replica of a cracker house (they called the settlers from up north crackers, because they rounded up the cattle with a whip that cracked when they used it! ) The cows, horses, pigs and chickens were left behind by previous Spanish settlers. They saw how the kitchen was not attached to the house for fire reasons. The outhouse, one room school house and they got to be in school for about 20 minutes! They wrote answers on slate tablets and cleaned them with a wipe (which one of the older girls got to bring home and wash daily - or the days they did school between 10-3:30 from October to March). Hot potato - they brought half cooked potato to school for lunch and put it on top of the stove to be cooked for their lunch. It was neat to see how they taught 8 grades in one room! They also cracked some corn, pulled some water from the well with a pump (64 buckets needed each day to water things - the kids job before school. No wonder they had so many kids!) The blacksmith was the favorite - especially for the boys!
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| Blacksmith on the right and the hand crank for milling dried corn and pumping water. |
We then had lunch and learned where the bugs and chiggers are - if there are pine needles it is safe as that is a natural insect repellant!. Then it was into the nice and warm museum part. They had a sheet of answers to go around the museum front room for their scavenger hunt. Then it was to the back to learn more of the settlers and had a answer hunt and classroom instruction with passing of items to see.
I snapped these photo's in the last part......
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| Hand crank sewing machine. The instructor told me as a newbie she brought this out to a Seminole woman for one of their events and had grabbed a extension cord. I guess the lady laughed and mentioned they had never used electricity for sewing. |
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| Their dresses told a story - I don't remember them all but it mentioned thunder storms, snakes, etc. Each pieced row told a story. |
This was in another section/time era.
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7 comments:
sounds like a neat place to visit and love those sewing machines. I didn't know that pine trees were supposed to be natural repellents - I wonder if I burned pine wood in the fire pit close to the house in the summer when I am on the porch if it would help :) would be nice!!
I attended one of the last one room schools in our county back in the early '60s.
That sounds like a fun field trip - it's great when the adults enjoy the trip too!.And I learned about the pine needles - thanks! ~Jeanne
They built their houses out of pine trees since they were a natural deterent. I leaned to look for pine needles to set up a tent down here... not near leaves - they have chiggers and ticks!
The kids have seen one still in use for grades K-2 in Lake Elmore, Vermont. It is across from the little store - they were shocked since there are 7-8 classes of about 20 kids each for each grade in their school. Big difference.
I attended a small country school with K-8th grades all of my elementary years K-8. I had 2 other kids in my class, but most of the classes only had 1 or 2 students. We had 15 kids at most and as few as 8. My two classmates and I graduated from high school. One went to Notre Dame and now is a Family medical doctor and the other is an NFR Rodeo cowboy who won the average in saddle bronc. Our school is still open and it has about 12 kids right now. We had one teacher and an aide to help. One of my favorite memories were the Christmas programs where we sang songs and recited poems and did a play. Almost every year we did the Great Mail race where we would pick a school in each state and write to their class and try to see how many responses we'd get back. I treasure my time in a country school.
A fun and educational trip
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