It’s History

“The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.”
—historian and writer Stephen Ambrose

For 3 weeks every summer I go back 100 years.

Our local history center hosts a program called Old Tyme Country School open to 1st-8th graders. It’s housed in a one room schoolhouse that was once located in our county, and for the past 10 years I have been the teacher.

This summer it’s 1924–the “Roaring 20s.” In the US it’s a time of relative calm, having made it through WWI and the Spanish Flu Pandemic, and having not yet hit the Great Depression. Jazz and speakeasies and flappers are the rage. Prohibition is in effect. Calvin Coolidge is our 30th president. We have 48 states in the union. Hitler is in jail for trying to overthrow the German government. Bolshevik revolutionist Vladimir Lenin’s death is mourned across the Soviet Union. The first Winter Olympics are held in Chamonix, France.

While I am an English teacher at my “real” job, I really love getting to teach a little history during this time. It didn’t become a passion of mine until I hit my 30s, and this job helped fuel that love as I had to learn more history in order to teach it. I hit upon world and US history, but I most enjoy the local history. And it does help me have faith in the future. Sometimes, when hope in the world or humanity fails me, I am reminded how many times we have faced adversity and challenges before, and survived.

Each session of Old Tyme School lasts 5 days, running from 9am-2pm, and it is JAM PACKED! We do history lessons, cook in the outdoor pizza oven, write with pen and ink, do math with chalk and slate, read old stories and lesson books, sing songs, recite the pledge of allegiance, go on a nature scavenger hunt, make “volcanoes” with baking soda and vinegar, play old tyme games, have a quiz and a spelling bee, AND put on a performance for families at the end of the week followed by a pot luck ice cream social. Once they complete their 8th grade year, they graduate from the program, complete with a certificate (and a DQ gift card 😉).

I stumbled upon this gig by luck. A friend of mine saw a Facebook post asking for a teacher, I applied, and was hired. I don’t think there was much competition, to be honest. It’s hard to find people to do temp jobs, but this is the perfect job for a stay at home mom, a part time worker, or a teacher.

So I fell into it, and then I fell in love with it. I’ve shaped it into my own program over the years, and I enjoy the fact that no one, (ahem…administration), is breathing down my neck or looking over my shoulder, or making me jump through hoops. I get to just teach and enjoy the kids!

And the kids are great, of course. They are the students who want to dress up like Little House On The Prairie, and most of them have a true love of learning, (I get a lot of homeschooled kids too). They all come in time period clothing, bringing their lunches in pails or baskets. They leave their phones at home, and every week for the past 10 years, I’ve watched kids make new friends. Some friendships have gone on into the “real world” and have lasted the years.

Yet all good things must come to an end, and I’ve decided this will be my last year. For many reasons.

For one, I’m getting older, and those hot summer days are a little harder to handle. I can still do the 70s, but when it hits the 80s-90s, I’m dying. And I love hot weather! I just don’t love to be dressed head to toe in it. I don’t know how they did it back then, especially with no air conditioning to escape into! (I feel a bit 1st world privileged just saying that.)

The costs are definitely a factor in my decision. Like most teachers, I put a lot of my own money into it. I buy the supplies and the clothing for myself, and several other items to make it a fun week. I never minded before, but now that I am on my own, I need the money. And I moved farther away, so instead of a ten minute drive, it’s thirty minutes, costing more in gas, and wear and tear on my much needed vehicle.

Plus I have my other job now as a server, and working both jobs at once was tough. Unless I absolutely have to, I’d rather have one summer job, and serving pays pretty well.

Then there is the usual teacher duties of lesson planning, but with Old Tyme School there is also the cleaning of the schoolhouse, and the hauling of items needed throughout the week (the history center doesn’t provide it all).

But most fitting of all, I graduated my son this year. Damian has been coming since I started teaching the program, and ever since he was 5 years old. Now he finished 8th grade, and received his certificate of graduation, so it really feels like the end of a chapter.

Therefore, last Friday was my last day. It felt bittersweet for sure. It was not an easy decision to make, but it’s the right one. It feels good to leave something on a positive note for a change.

I will miss it for sure. I will miss the kids the most, and the schoolhouse I called my own.

Goodbye Whittier, District #41!