Tag Archives: kindergarten

Flashback Friday: Not Exactly Fond Memories of School

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What’s your earliest memory of school?

Mine is that very first day. I remember it so clearly. I was not quite five, but had been reading for quite a while, so my parents decided I needed to be in school ASAP. Since our neighborhood public school (located right behind our house) did not offer kindergarten, my parents found a kindergarten offered at a church about a mile away, and signed me up.

I recall my nervousness as we approached the multi-sided building with a cross on top. It looked like a space ship, so I suppose it must have been fairly new, a reflection of early 1960s architecture. When we entered, a sick feeling came over me, because I could tell my mother was not going to stay with me.

Soon my fears came true. Mom said she’d be back in a while. The teacher offered me a seat at a nearby table, but I ran after my mother. When I tried to push open the door, it wouldn’t budge. My mother was holding it shut on the other side. All these years later, she says she remembers feeling bad that she had to do that, but that it was for my own good.

I eventually got used to going to school. I even liked it for a while. But I soon grew bored. I occupied my mind with daydreams to pass the time.

Another clear memory: the day school let out for the summer at the end of second grade. I was wearing a light green dress with a collar trimmed in lace, and as I balanced on the railroad ties lining the school’s parking lot, all I could think was, “I’m free!” I planned my summer as I walked home that day….playing, reading, more playing…..freedom! What an incredible feeling!

That was a long time ago. It makes me sad to think about that little girl. To be seven years old and longing for freedom…..I guess I never could bear for my own kids to have that trapped feeling, so I never sent them to school.

I wonder how many people choose to homeschool because they don’t want their children to feel like they did when they were kids. If you’re a homeschooler, did your own school experience have any bearing on your decision to homeschool?

Originally posted 3/2/07

An 1890 Kindergarten Story Curriculum

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Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations

Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations

Being homeschoolers, we love books: the older the book, the better. Buying old books is something we just can’t seem to stop doing.

Last summer, my husband and I were at a book sale up in Door County when we found the cutest book. It’s a kindergarten story curriculum published in 1890. The author, a teacher, organized it into a school-year’s worth (September to June) of stories and object lessons for young children.

Our youngest is 17, so we didn’t really need this book, but I just couldn’t resist it. We bought it, and both my husband and I read it. We were quite taken with the animal and nature stories, fairy tales, fables, and simple object lessons that explained how items in daily use at that time were manufactured. In fact, we agreed that it would be a great book for homeschooling parents except that the print is so small that it would be hard to read aloud. And that got us thinking……

What if we republished the book with a larger font and wider margins so it would be easier to read aloud? Then my husband said he thought he could find some nice illustrations, appropriate to the time period and even the specific stories. After all, kids today are very visual. They love storybooks with pictures! So he spent ages finding the coolest illustrations to go with the stories. Being the artist he is, he also came up with a beautiful cover. The whole process took several months.

And the result? We’re happy to announce that the book, Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks With Over 125 Illustrations, is now in print! It’s available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and pretty much everywhere you can buy books. It was just published, so it’s not in the homeschool catalogs yet, but we’re working on that. In the meantime, we just put it up on our site if you want to learn more.

I wish I’d had a book like this when I first started homeschooling…. I think it’s an ideal first curriculum for homeschooling parents and teachers of young children who enjoy and appreciate vintage texts.