Return of The One Room Schoolhouse

Our oldest son graduated from high school in 2019.  I had been in public elementary classrooms regularly since he had been in kindergarten.  James, my husband, is a private religious educator in programs serving public schools and had worked for nearly 20 years with public high school students.   As the parents of 6 children, with these front row seats to public education, we had growing concerns.  Our kids had had many fantastic teachers who really made a positive difference in their lives, but the encroachment of social issues and the gradual decline of academic expectations kept us on our toes with the education of our own children.

On March 16, 2020, I was in the classroom of my third-grade twins on my regular weekly visit to help the teacher.  We learned we were going into a two-week COVID-19 lockdown, anticipated to re-open after Spring Break, and so we were packing up just a little more than usual.  Secretly, I was thrilled.  When I was a young girl, I didn’t play dolls or house nearly so much as I played school.  

So, when I had the chance of taking on the role of teacher for a couple weeks with my kids, my husband screwed a whiteboard to the basement wall, and we started bright and early on March 17^th.  (I may have been slightly more eager than my kids.) That first day, we opened the true story of St. Patrick and learned about the English slave boy who changed Ireland with his changed heart.  What an inspiring story of a man with impeccable character and faith found along a difficult journey.  Well, you know exactly what happened, weeks turned into months.  As the anniversary of Lexington and Concord approached, we learned about the Revolutionary War, George Washington, his helpers, German Von Stuben (his dog Azor), and French La Fayette.  The ball had begun to roll, and we learned about Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of Independence.  We dissected The Pledge of Allegiance.  The more I learned, the more I realized the treasures in our American History that were no longer being taught to our children in public school.

By the time public school officially was over in June I knew three things.  One, education could be so much more than it was in the lives of my children.  Two, online learning was completely ineffective for my grade-school-aged boys.  Three, my kids needed more than just me in their educational lives on a daily basis.  I also had this gut feeling that come the 2020-2021 school year, public school would still be a far cry from what it had been—even in our little rural community.  My husband and I began to consider our options.  We had three bright, active, young boys whose minds were primed for growth and the last thing we were going to do was to put them in front of a screen for several hours a day.

Making it a matter of prayer and pondering, I would mull it over in my mind on my morning walks.  One bright, sunny, summer morning the thought came—I could gather the children of like-minded parents in my neighborhood and congregation and create a class of my own.  I knew a masterful homeschool mom and she could help me figure out curriculum in addition to all the great things brewing in my own head.  I knew my kids would be better students if surrounded by their peers, and I would be a more prepared teacher if others were counting on me.  Though I had my qualms, I was fully confident that even a less-than-perfect year would be far superior to the alternative looming in the near future of education.  Sweaty and hot from my walk, I plopped myself down in the armchair across from the desk where my husband was working.  “I have an idea,” I said. 

James is well aware that when I say those words, he is often in for some manual labor.  This time was no exception.  I told him my idea and asked him what he thought about using the unfinished bonus room above our garage as a classroom.  His wheels started to turn as well.  It was July and only about a handful of weeks before school would start.  It felt right.  We would move forward. 

I definitely had second thoughts when, in a 100+ degree, stuffy attic room I was pulling sheets of insulation out of the ceiling to be re-wired for educational lighting.  However, the vision I had for what could happen in that room was the impetus.  Little did I know my vision was the tip of the iceberg.  I would become the enraptured student. 

I cannot underscore sufficiently the amount of work that my husband went to, and continues to put forth, in our One Room Schoolhouse venture.  Hats off to James for his trust in my vision and the hours and hours and hours of midnight oil he burned creating a space the likes of which is many a teacher’s dream. 

By the time Labor Day rolled around, I had 10 students (including our three sons) grades 3-6.  I was as excited as any new student on the first day of Glory Academy. I was determined to put God and country back in the classroom.  We started out in the basement, worked out some kinks that come with mentoring 10 young minds at different stages of learning, and the momentum began to build.  

In January we had a showcase in our new classroom for students to share their progress with their parents.  At the end of the evening parents were so impressed that they asked me if I would consider doing this long-term, not just through COVID.  (Several told me in confidence of positive side effects at home.)  I hadn't considered it.  However, by this time, the term "one room schoolhouse" was being mentioned.  I started to think about it and wondered more about those iconic schools of early America.  I bought a couple of books about those schools and was intrigued to find so many similarities.  Families coming together with common ideals and goals, kids of various ages working together, and even some of the games we played outdoors.  Most important, values and principles as the focus of, and content of education.

Word spread and other parents wanted the same thing for their kids.  Spring of 2021 found us training others to start their own One Room Schoolhouses.  James and I outlined what we determined to be the foundation of the strength that came from those early American schools.  The Four Cornerstones of the One Room Schoolhouse are God, Country, High Love/High Expectations, and the Mentor.  Parents, teachers, and students have loved the result.  

I continue to be the most enraptured student as I learn more about what used to be taught in the schools of America.  There is no doubt in my mind that the absence of what used to be present in American education is at the root of so many of today's challenges.  Nothing can take the place of strong families in building and maintaining a strong society.  Second only to family life are the 16,000+ hours of life when young minds are at their most impressionable stage--in "school."  (A Noble Training)  As parents, it better be our business to have a good hold on what those 16,000 hours look like.