One Room Schoolhouse

 
When we lived on the farm near Winner, South Dakota, the little white school house was at the end of our field. The students at this school were Alvin, Robert, Donald, a couple of Indian boys, and one or two other farm boys. Once in a while Mother would send Marie and Norman and the dog along to school to keep them all out of trouble. The dog would lay in the back of the room and give no one trouble. The dog did help the day they killed two rattle snakes in the school yard. Al was rapped across the knuckles one day for climbing the flag pole. This was a one room school house; heated with a wood burning pot bellied stove; out house at the back of the school yard; flag pole with the American flag in the front yard. The teacher boarded at our house for a while. One of the requirements was that the parents of the students had to share in boarding the teacher. Mrs. McClintoke, an American Indian lady and our teacher, on occasion would take all of us out in the evening and tell us all about the stars. The school house near our farm near Winner is no longer there. Silver Lake School, near Beresford, South Dakota, where Alvin and Robert started school, is no longer there. We were at the site this last summer. There are still a few schools between Beresford and Canton, but they are all closed. When Jacob Oye came from Norway, he attended one of those schools. The one room schools were used for community Christmas parties as well as other community affairs. Some interesting things about the one room schools:
There are still 583 in the United States as of 1989
In the early days, the teacher requirements were that they had completed the eight elementary grades.
The discipline in the schools was good.
There are one room school houses that are not used now, but have been preserved for the public to see. There could be one in your state. We visited one in Minden, Nebraska, and one in Northern Indiana.
There are seven active one room schools in Arizona. The articles enclosed are about some of these schools.



We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joy-filled New Year!!!
 
Norman & Marilyn 1991

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