Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Thursday Thirteen


Thirteen Things about my Primary School days:



1. I went to a one-teacher, one-roomed school in the country.

2. There were about 24 children in the school, aged 5 -14 and covering 9 grades.

3. I started school when I was 5, and after 6 weeks the teacher put me up into the next grade.

4. We travelled to school on the back of the truck that came to collect the cans of milk from the dairy farms, and we walked 2 miles home each night.

5. We had no electricity in the school, and heating in the winter was from an open wood fire.

6. We had pan-toilets; no sewerage or septic tanks.

7. We played games like Poison Ball, Cops and Robbers, Hide & Seek, and Hopscotch.

8. We brought lunch to school and swapped our sandwiches with other children.

9. We studied Arithmetic, Spelling, Grammar, Nature Study, Health, Singing, Geography, History and Art.

10. We had no television but we did have a battery-powered radio.

11. At the end of the year we always had a concert and Christmas Tree (school year here runs from February to December).

12. There were only four children in my class for most of my six years at Primary School.

13. I loved school and never looked forward to the holidays.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!




22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Little House on the Prarie music going off in my head. Way Cool 13!

Miss Robyn said...

what fun to read ms*alice ! by the way, I emailed you about the autumn leaves, not sure if it went through as my computer was having a menopausal moment.

Peggy said...

what a nice list!

Val said...

Sounds idyllic! And aren't you up bright and early this morning: your Thursday Thirteen already posted and a comment left on my blog just after 7 am! Must be your primary school and farm experiences still standing you in good stead. The morning is the best part of the day anyway, don't you think?

Susie said...

Hi Alice,
Hopped over here from Val's. (You converted the price of gasoline for me)
That certainly reminds me to keep my grumbling about "high prices" down :)
Loved reading your Thur. 13. A one rm schoolhouse education is quite a contrast to California schools!
I'll visit you again...

Kerri said...

Those walks to and from school kept us fit, didn't they? It must've been hard to be a teacher in that sort of situation, with such a vast range of ages. I went to a school like that until 3rd grade, when we moved to a bigger town. I wasn't too far away from MsRobyn. Grew up in the same place as her hubby...Penrith! I liked school too, but I remember looking forward to holidays.

Undercover Angel said...

I loved reading your list! My TT is up now too.

Anonymous said...

My primary school was not that small but still, your list brought back some good memories, thank you.

Laci said...

Sometimes, I wish I could go back to elementary school... We were all so innocent then... :)

Happy Thursday, my TT is up as well! :)

Tanya said...

still no baby news. maybe tonight. managed to post a 13 before I run off.

MaR said...

Wonderful TT, sounds like you could write a lovely short story about those days!

WendyAs said...

Can't imagine the state allowing non septic toilets now days. It all sounds so primative and thrid world. However you were thriving in school. You must have been a good student Alice.
My kids won't know a time when we didn't have DVD's, computer,cordless phones, Ipods and fast food. Times sure change quickly.

Carmen said...

well, at least you had a school, I suppose. :) I visited the school of the air when I went to Australia, and was amazed at how it worked.

My schools were small compared to most of my friends. I graduated with 60 people, my best friend graduated with 400! Whew.

My list
http://carmenhasgonetoplaid.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

What an interesting list!

Mine are up.

Anonymous said...

Thats a great list- I bet it was fun to write.

Frances D said...

It sounds like a wonderful family-like atmosphere.
Hope you write more about it.
Sending good vibes your way,
Frances

twiga92 said...

Hey, that's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing!

I love your Flickr photos! Gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad that you had a good time there, because I hadn't... Nice to hear that other had :-)

Moogie said...

Wow! So much of that would be foreign to me but it looks like you had a wonderful time! Thank you for sharing!

My TT is up!

Meow (aka Connie) said...

What a wonderful way to grow up. I guess those of us who lived in the city and suburbs, never got to experience the loving family atmosphere of schooling like you did. It must have been great. Thanks for sharing.
Take care, Meow

Diana61 said...

What a lovely list. If only I could say the same thing about my school years. I hated it from the age of 9.

Norma said...

This sounds similar to the schools my parents attended in rural Illinois in the 1920s. Very interesting, and I think the children in this setting learn a lot from each other.