Hickory Valley School

Hickory Valley School was the nearest school for our family. It was a little over a mile. It was situated in an area that allowed lots of farm children to attend. From our farm you went up a hill and followed a path through the woods then out into a flat area which went down a small hill. The school house was one large room with a cloak room for coats, boots, and lunch pails. The students were in the first through the eighth grade.

The teacher would come from a near by town and board with us. She would stay in the "living room" or guest room. She would eat with the family at breakfast and dinner. She stayed from Sunday night or Monday morning until Friday evening.

The day started with the teacher calling the students to order. The Pledge of Allegiance was said. Someone would read from the Bible and then the Lord's Prayer was said. There would be a song or two. One song would be honoring our country and one would be a gospel song or a silly song.

The teacher would write the assignments on the blackboard for the older students. As they worked on their assignments she would call the first grade to the front of the room, where she introduced words and pictures. She would go over and over the words to instill their meaning and begin to teach reading. When the first grade was sent to their seat the next grade would be called and the older students who had finished their assignments could help the younger students. So this process went on until lunch time.

At lunch the students could eat outside in the warm weather. Everyone carried their lunch. Usually they brought leftover biscuits and ham or peanut butter and crackers. Many brougth vegetables or fruit to go along with their biscuits. After eating the students played softball, tag, or hide and seek. After an hour the bell called the students back to class. The process of teaching Geography, English, or Math continued.

In the winter the teacher would pay a boy student to go early and build a fire in the stove. The students would sit around the stove and keep warm.

The older boys would go to the spring for water which was kept in the cloak room. Each student brought their own drinking cup to use. The water bucket had a dipper with which they dipped the water into their personal cup.

I'm sure this seems like a crude way to learn by today's standards,but it worked to educate the students in those days. This is where my four brothers and four sisters started their education. The oldest five finished the eighth grade there.

I was only four and wanted to go to school so bad that my mom let me go with my brothers and sisters one day. The walk was so long and the day was even longer. I never asked to go again until I was five and we had moved to another farm where the school was a little closer.