Little Old Schoolhouse...

Two days ago Sarah's class had a fieldtrip to a small town that has an entire village of historical buildings that are being restored and brought back to their original uses. Its quite remarkable to see, especially the little schoolhouse, it is exactly how I would have imagined it to be. When they found this schoolhouse it was sinking into 6 feet of ground and they literally had to dig the foundation out of the earth. They had several pictures of its disrepair, very sad to see how so much history was just left to rot on a plot of land in the middle of nowhere. Sarah's teacher (I could just give this women a great big hug and a wet sloppy kiss on the cheek she is that wonderful!) decided it would be a great adventure for the children to get to see how a school day was for the children of yesteryear, she planned for the whole day to be spent at this little village. The kids even had to dress the way the children did in the 1800's, of course our kids don't normally dress that way, so we had to come as close as we could with the clothing we already owned, surprizingly,every girl had on a long dress and many of them also had aprons and bonnets and humongous bows for their hair, Sarah wore a long dress with one of our vintage aprons and a gigantic bow(which she hated) in her long hair, I fixed her hair exactly like the girls would have worn it back then ( I love to research these things on the computer hehee), Sarah was not amused but she just looked as cute-as-a-bugs-ear!! And so the part ! When we arrived at the village the Village teacher was waiting for us and had all of the kids line up outside the school house in two straight lines ("very straight or I'll whack your knuckles with a ruler Straight!" That teacher was Harsh!!). Then she went inside and rang the school bell, all the kids walked nicely inside in two precisely straight lines and sat two by two in the first desks each came to. The inside of the school was restored to its original beauty, although in those days in a schoolhouse beauty was basic, the walls and ceiling were tongue and groove and the windows were huge to let in as much natural light as possible (gotta love that light), there was a humongous 200 year old pot belly stove that was original to the school and also 4 rows of desks that also belonged to the school, in fact when they found the old schoolhouse in its abandonded state ,the men originally thought that everything had been stolen and damaged by vandals, fortunatley when they were in the process of moving the school they had to cut it into pieces and when they got to the attic they cut a portion of the roof off and looked inside and found 25 perfectly preserved little double fold two seater desks, and they are beautiful! Very detailed iron work and the wood just glows. Thank God there was know way to access the attic and know way for anyone to know what had been so carefully stored up there.The village teacher played her part so very well she almost had me in tears, that women was a menace!In the very beginning of class she told the students that in the 1800's and early 1900's most of the teachers were very young in fact some of them were even younger then a good portion of the students they were teaching so in order to gain respect they needed to be very harsh and rigid, the village teacher, she was all of that and more...she even had the class genius bawlin' his big brained eyes out!! Sarah sat stiff and with perfect posture in her little wooden desk eyes forward with a "don't look in my direction" grimace pinched all over her face.It was a little funny to see Sarah so stiff but I guarantee if that teacher would have tried to mess with my kid I would have jumped out of my seat and she would have been pickin' her ruler out of her teeth !! Sarah's teacher was even getting a little taste of that "Rabid Mother Bear Syndrome",I seen her on the edge of her seat several times just wanting to stand up and put an end to the harshness and protect her babies. But she stayed calm and in her seat. After striking the fear of God into the children and half of the parents and Sarah's teacher, the Village teacher finally tried to explain to the class that she was just play acting and that they were not to be afraid just pretend along with her, that seemed to help alittle, although I must say I am extremely grateful to God and all that is pure and good that I never had a teacher like this women and I pray my children never do...they are already afraid to open their little mouths in class I think a teacher like that would traumatize them for life! No wonder the children in those days always had the look of mortal fear etched on their little faces. Despite the drama the whole day was unique and amazing...and a learning experience for all of us...