As there were recent events at school, my mother and I started to talk about how education has changed through the years. For the better of course. We are in more advanced times.

My mother remembers starting school right after her fifth birthday, which is the 31st of August, because there were so few children in their little country school and nobody in 1st grade. It was a one-room school house with a big heater that “ate” wood or coal like it was ice cream. 

The windows were long, and of course nothing was insulated. The library of mostly old books and maps was the size of a small closet. The spaces between the windows were blackboards of slate and the windows offered opportunities for cleaning erasers of excess chalk. It was a two-way job. Sometimes given as a task for bad behavior or as a favorite activity for being good. 

Water was brought either by the teacher or one of the older students who lived close by and put in a "Red Wing" water jar with a little spigot on the bottom. That was modern in those days. There was a common dipper or the children used cups. 

The entry was where they hung their coats and put their lunches, most often packed in empty three pound lard containers. A few were fortunate to have a store-bought lunch pail. The school seats were joined in lengths so that they could be pushed aside for easier cleaning. They also featured a place to put a pencil and an ink well. 

There was an attached coal shed out in back of the school which held the supply of coal, wood, kindling and whatever the teacher needed to keep the children warm during the long winter months. It is hard to believe teachers had time to do all the things necessary to educate the children when they had so many other things to do as well. But they did. 

They even had the advantage of working with children from 1st through 8th grade. Back then, the teacher didn't just teach one grade, they taught them all, which provided the students opportunities to learn from each other. Often other students looked after and helped the younger students. 

And because toilet facilities were located outside, it involved a winter process of dressing for the occasion and equipment like a broom to sweep the snow or frost off the wooden board seats. When the winter snow arrived, the older students were delegated to take the little ones over the snowdrifts when they had to visit the outhouse. Also note: an up-to-date toliet would have holes with one low enough for tiny tots.

Yes, there were really Dick and Jane books. Imagine the thrill of just being able to read. Reading was wonderful. Maybe because there were no TVs, probably a radio. But, there were none of the electronics that children take to like glue on fly paper now.

Remember I said the library was small — so many books were read and reread and contained things of interest we might bypass today as interesting.

Physical education was the noon hour and recess times when games were played like “pump, pump pull away,” “stealing sticks,” tag, “anie I over” and most schools had a teeter totter and swings.

Adventure was sometimes traveling to and from school in the sled behind a team of horses. In times such as these, the children were wrapped in a blanket, homemade quilt or horsehair robes to help keep them warm. The dad driving the horses had a heavy long coat of sheep skin, and often he stayed long enough to help the teacher get the fire going. Teachers most often stayed at the home of some of the parents of the children who attended school, as the teachers were not married, most were very young women. 

The school my mother attended, District 133 and 96 was on the county line and had two counties to supervise it. The county superintendent would come quietly in and take a seat, observing the activity in the room. He made a report to the teacher for things that needed to be changed.

If attendance was small, every child had one on one attention from the teacher. Big events were the Christmas program and practicing the part to be played.

There is a school house right beside where I live — only it isn’t a school house any more — it is the Geneva Community Center. But, the camera in my head still shows me in my little blue dress the first day I started school. Pony tail neatly pulled back and pencil and paper in hand.

It brings back thoughts of “Fork in the Road.” If I hadn’t settled here where would I be. How would my life be different? 

Back in my mother’s day there were basket socials for the community often times for Valentines Day. Young men could bid on baskets of choice hoping to get the one made by the gal he was most interested in. The baskets or containers were decorated with crepe paper and construction paper and contained a delicious lunch inside to be eaten by two people. 

Crisp friend chicken, sandwiches, cakes, cookies, etc.. Everyone tried to out do the other. The big event at the end of the school year was a potluck picnic when everyone brought a picnic lunch to share. The picnic often featured ice cream packed in a metal container inside a well-wrapped canvas housing. What a thrill! Ice cream was a special treat back in those “good old days” as it was not as available as it is today.

In my grandparent’s day, school attendance was secondary to things that had to be done at home, which sometimes resulted in some upper class students that were larger than your average grade school pupil. A favorite family story was always telling how Grandpa Richard was placed under the teacher’s desk for disciplinary reasons. His size, or being cramped, or whatever — he raised up enough to tilt the teacher’s desk, causing an opened quart of ink to be deposited in the teachers lap. 

They were also at an age where there were tricks to be played. Grandpa attended school at Bath, which featured a waterway on the west side of the school house. A favorite trick was to see which one of the boys could manage to get his friends bike submerged in the creek first. 

Good old days? You might not think so but the memories linger on. The children learned to read and write “cursive” and find countries on the outdated globe, looked up words in a huge dictionary and had spelling bees. It was all part of the times.

If you run out of ideas to talk about, reminisce about what school was like when you were young. The things we forget. The things you remember now are bound to bring shades of laughter and joy. Unbelievable! Was it really that long ago? It is hard to believe things could have changed that much.

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Birthdays and anniversaries:

• Thursday, February 16th: Delores Hemingway, Marian Horan, Jesse Lund, Wayne Jensen, David Peterson, Sara Miller, Sarah Nelson, Ian Oolman, Tanya Callahan, LeAnn Hanson, Donald & Dory Hunt.

• Friday, February 17th: Toni Wayne Smith, Nancy Johnson Erickson, Thomas Farr, Keith Wayne, Dave Von Gorkom, Dawn Pence Gross, Brian Dobberstein, Joan Richards, Joan Kaphers, Michelle Cortinas, Carolyn LaFave, Shannon Weckwerth Pacholl, Alvin & Cheryl Cooper.

• Saturday, February 18th: Kris Munson McDonald, Janice Waage, Zola Wayne, Jamie Kunkel Riley, Brad & Rachel Lerum.

• Sunday, February 19th: Abraham Peterson, Allison Schmidt, Eleanor Schember, Maklela Larkin, Deedee Hunt, Jason Jensen, Teri Ravenhorst, Marcia Halvorson, Marjorie Solberg.

• Monday, February 20th: Derek Flesche, Amy Shaunce, David Swearingen, Joyce Lageson Hoddick, LuAnn Sommer Granholdt, David & LeAnn Hanson, Jim & Nancy Cornelius.

• Tuesday, February 21st: Jeannie Worrell, Andy Butler, Phillip Ingvaldson, Bryan Dirkson, Leanna Peterson, Chris & Kim Jensen, Darrell & Cynthia Farr, Max & Marlene Jensen.

• Wednesday, February 22nd: Cheri Bergland, Shelia Nelson White, Carlie Thompson, Dalys Waltz, Joan & Marian Mast 

Sending you heartfelt wishes for a wonderful birthday!