Life in a One-Room Schoolhouse

I started school when I was only 4 going on 5, because my brother Ray was the teacher and he took pity on me. I would stand alone at our house and watch the kids playing and having a great deal of fun in the school yard just across the highway. He finally took me by the hand and led me across the road, my start at formal learning.

The school room was set up with the little desks in a row on one side of the space with each row getting larger and larger until the big desks lined the other side of the room. At the front were two blackboards with risers in front of them. The teacher’s desk was there as well. In the very centre was a large wood-burning stove designed to keep the schoolhouse warm in winter. Sometimes it was so cold in January, that we all had to huddle around the stove to keep from freezing.

The school building was built of stone as you can see in the photograph. It had three large windows on each side and two windows at the door end. The other end had a door leading to the huge wood shed that was piled to the roof with split maple to burn in winter. It made a great place to hide during recess when we played hide and seek. Sometimes we would climb in among the piles of wood and block up the hole so we couldn’t be seen. Unfortunately, we always had to appear when the school bell rang to end recess.

The teacher must have been pretty busy with kids from grades one to eight. As each person grew larger they moved to a larger desk, and, presumably, a higher grade. I imagine the teacher grouped kids as much by ability as by age, which was great advantage for kids with ability. One of the great advantages of a one-room school house is that everybody gets to hear all of the lessons. I remember wondering why those big guys didn’t know the answers to the teacher’s questions when they seemed obvious to me. I mean, there’s the map on the wall. Java is right there –that pink island in the Pacific Ocean!

Those were the days of the grade 8 examinations, the entrance to high school. I recall that Keith Somerville and I were the top students in grade 8 and had no trouble passing the examinations, but not everyone passed them because not everyone continued on to high school.

I remember most of my school mates well. In the photo, that is me at the left in front beside Harold Kingston and Keith Somerville. Behind us are Barbara Douglas, Audrey Grue and Rita Kingston. I cannot identify the rest.

Life in the one-room school house had its advantages. You certainly got to know everyone.