Country Schools in South Dakota (teaching, rooms)

[debey]

Welcome, to City-Data, ph-hawk! Glad to see you here!

[ph-hawk]

I somehow posted my reply to another thread...Rats!..Anyway, I attended a one room school house, Highland School, located in rural Buffalo County. I attended, (I believe) between 1955 and 1961. What wonderful memories. Outhouses, no running water..Snow seeping in through not quite closed windows over the winter weekends. Pictures of Washington, Lincoln, Horses at the Fair on the walls. Finding a fifth grade History book in the "book Closet" with my step-dads name written inside. Playing tag, 22-scidoo, baseball using dried "cow-patties" as bases, (well, usually dried, heh heh). Being in the biggest class in the whole school, (there were four of us). My opinion of what is good and worthwhile in life is based primarily on lessons I learned during those years. What a blessing to have had that experience. By the way, thank you to all my teachers, especially Mrs. Sinkie. Thank you, thank you, thank you.............

[ph-hawk]

Thank you DeBey. I'm really enjoying reading the blogs. I'm pretty computer illiterate, but I'll stumble through as best as I can. My participation will be very hit and miss, but I look forward to sharing experiences with the rest of you as time allows..

[Camden Northsider]

My 90 year old grandma always talks very fondly of attending 1-room schoolhouse in her childhood and teaching for many years in 1-room schoolhouses in SD (for the most part this was primarily in the Flandreau/ Eagan area, but there could have been other areas also). Towards the end of her career she taught math for a number of years in "in-town" schools, although I always got the impression that she would have much rather stayed a country school teacher. An infamous former SD governor/ current lawyer (one that had some legal troubles towards the end of his term) was one of her students at one time - she said that, although brilliant, he was a troublemaker that never came to class...interestingly, the few times she has run into him since she retired, he has referred to her as his 'favorite' teacher which always seemed to make her cringe a little().

I believe my dad attended country school around Sisseton, SD as well - I know he grew up on a farm w/out running water/ electricity for many years so I can't imagine him going to a modern facility for his early schooling. Growing up in SD myself, it was always interesting to drive by all of the abandoned 1 room schoolhouses you see while out driving around in country areas - it blows my mind that there are still 1 room schoolhouses in operation today in Nebraska and possibly Western SD.

[Jammie]

Hi PH, ditto to what Debey said~welcome!!! We don't keep attendance records here so just join us when you can.

Camden, maybe I know who you're talking about. One thing though~no matter how things ended up with that administration and no matter how much havoc was actually going on at that time, there were some very positive things that came out of it. SO, tell his "favorite teacher" that she can be proud that he gave her that title.

I believe Habitat for Humanity is as progressive as it is today because of his leadership in our state. He also started the Pedal Power from the Pen where people can donate bicycles and the prisoners refurbish them. They're given to less fortunate children in our state. Many of our schools wouldn't have the excellent wiring that was done by prisoners under his leadership.

He ended up doing some good and it's a "lasting good".

[Sandhills Guru]

My Mom attended a one room school near Veblen when she was young. Which was many years ago since she is 91 now. She still tells stories of that school.

[ph-hawk]

Hello all.
My recollections of those school years in the 1-room school are slowly coming back to me. One of my fondest memories is of a blizzard when I was in one of the early grades, 2 or 3 I believe. The blizzard struck at about midday and was an ablsolute white out. The snow drifts were too deep for a vehicle, even a tractor to get through, so my dad arrived at school on horseback to pick me up. I remember how "special" I was when he reach down and swung me up behind him. We went galloping of into the white out. My "special" feeling was quickly replaced by discomfort, ie. "feezing my butt off" and clinging to him as hard as I could to prevent bouncing of the snow covered frozen butt of that horse. Ahh! The price we pay for our moment in the spotlight

[Chris19]

There are a few one-room school houses in Lincoln and Turner county, but many of them have been converted into homes. One used to be present on the corner of SD 17 and the county highway that heads west of Tea (and leading to north of Parker) on the southwest side where there are storage units now. It was torn down in the late 1980s.

[TequilaMockingbird]

I attended a country school house myself until I went to ninth grade in 1977, this was in Nebraska, but I dont regret it. What one poster said about discipline definitely applied here. I remember in the second grade there were only six of us and the oldest one being in 4th grade. I think that when I was in the eighth grade there were 21 of us there. It was a lot of fun and although I live in Thailand, I am still in touch with some of the people.

[mkfarnam]

Here's a country school I went to in Michigan in the 60's. 6 classes and 1 teacher.
On the wall behind the teacher was a paddle that said...

"The Board of Education...To the Seat of Understanding."

Selma 5