All I Remember

Here’s what I remember from school, year by year. 

You can insert the line “I don’t remember anything else” after each paragraph - seriously.

Kindergarten. One end of the classroom had a circle painted on the floor, and a chair. The kids all rushed to the circle for story time, with the most coveted positions being on either side of Mrs. Eagle’s chair. When I say chair, I mean one of those solid wood, probably oak, chairs you hardly ever see anymore. I actually don’t remember if it was me or one of the other kids whose desperation to sit next to the teacher got them sliding into the chair, clunking their head and having to have their mom come and get them.

First grade. Two things - Mrs. Akey had red hair, and one day my older brother had been misbehaving in his fifth grade class - apparently acting childish - and as punishment he was sent to a first grade classroom for the rest of the day. I’m not sure which of us was more embarrassed. 

Second grade. Sister Noreen was conducting a reading group in the front of the class and when I raised my hand with the “I have to go to the bathroom” signal, she saw me and gave me the “no” nod. I flashed the signal more imperatively, but got a “no” again. I can still see her face - not that I’m holding a grudge for 50+ years or anything. Well, I pee’d. I’m sure I was embarrassed but I don’t remember that. What I do remember is being in the girls’ lavatory with my mother helping me clean up and change and telling me that if I ever had to go to the bathroom again I should get up and go, no matter who said I couldn’t, and she would stand up for me. That’s the kind of empowerment that lasts a lifetime - at least 50+ years so far. I also remember being paired with Mark G. (who seemed to have a permanent smile on his face - I hope he never lost that) on the day when we did the May Crowning and were allowed to wear regular clothes instead of our uniforms. My dress was white with little blue flowers.

Third Grade. Mrs. Gliosci. She was very short and had a smell about her. I don’t remember if it was a good one or a bad one. One time she told us that her twin sister lived in the house next to her. I couldn’t imagine wanting to live next to one of my siblings when I grew up - possibly still thinking about sharing a classroom two years earlier. I think that’s the year we learned the Mexican Hat Dance, and that was fun.

Fourth Grade. Believe it or not, Sister Noreen had been transferred from second grade to fourth and along the way had changed her name to Sister Barbara, for some reason. They should only let teachers transfer down grades, not up, IMHO. I think that was the year my friend Patty correctly spelled “beginning” for a spelling bee win.

Fifth Grade. Mrs. Bronecke looked like she might have taught Moses earlier in her career, but she seemed to like us kids which was not the most prevalent feeling emanating from most of the staff, to my young mind. She told us about a time she dyed her hair in order to impress someone but something went wrong and it turned green (before that was popular). She laughed at herself and let us laugh too. She was the first teacher to seem like a real person. She also read aloud to us. I remember the E.B. White books - Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Yes, she could have used the time for us to practice reading aloud, but it wouldn’t have been the same experience. I’m pretty sure that was the year we built Native American villages (ok, we called them Indian villages at the time) and I remember my mom helping me make the people from clothespins and gluing on felt loincloths to cover each man’s “possible and his impossible” as she tactfully put it.

Sixth through Eighth Grade. Switched to public school and rotated classrooms with different teachers. I remember writing and performing a commercial in Language Arts class, spelling tests, learning a different way to subtract (that I still use), dissecting a frog in Science class, having to take nude showers just when puberty was descending on each girl in its own timing which led to a lot of embarrassment. They should have scheduled P.E. for the last period of the day and let us go home stinky. I remember when the eighth grade class trip to Washington D.C. was announced and I barely even mentioned it at home because of the cost - $165, which would be about $1000 today.  My parents did not have a lot of ‘disposable income’ but they wanted me to have the opportunity so they put down the deposit and scrimped here and there. Along with all the historical sites, that was the year that pointing out the Watergate Hotel was added to the tour. It was 1973 and the hearings were underway.

High School. I remember lab partners being way more important than Bunsen burners, I remember some of the books we read, and writing ‘themes’ with liner sheets under our plain white writing paper to keep our handwriting neat. Typewriters were around, but not in many regular homes. However, I remember taking a typing class (on manual typewriters) and doing so poorly that my teacher said he didn’t know why I even bothered trying. I told my mom, and you guessed it - she put on her super hero cape again. She went over to the school and talked to the teacher and said she couldn’t understand anyone discouraging someone from trying to learn. The next day he apologized to me. And, for my birthday, my parents bought me a Smith Corona electric typewriter - brand new, two tone blue, with ribbon cartridges that snapped in and out, including one for correcting. I think it was the top of the line or close to it. They put their money where their mouths were. 

I remember a Civics teacher that talked about brand names becoming commonplace so much so that all jeans were called Levi’s at one point, colas were called cokes, etc. I remember a lot of the things I learned in Home Ec courses - sewing (including a very ambitious wool trench coat from a Vogue pattern that had epaulets and bound buttonholes!), cooking, and the like. I remember failing and then re-taking Algebra, giving speeches, P.E. classes like archery and gymnastics, and a few other things. Very few.

Looking back at my years as a homeschool mom I like to think I was mostly like Mrs. Bronecke. A real person. I didn’t have any embarrassing hair disasters, but I do remember the time I was talking about Norwegians and then accidentally referred to their home country as Norweigia!  Still cracks me up, my kids too.

We didn’t build a Native Peoples village but we hatched quail eggs, bought a red river slider (turtle) when we studied Minn of the Mississippi, shed a few tears reading dramatic poetry like The Dog At The Master’s Grave, cross-pollinated tulips in our backyard, and lots of other fun stuff. And we did a lot of reading aloud, even through High School. I will forever associate Crime and Punishment with driving to swim team practice.

The point of all this reminiscing is that even if you think you’ve missed some things in homeschooling your children, or if you’re afraid you will, remember that they WILL learn to read and write, do math and science, learn geography (remember - it’s Norway), and a lot of other things. Your kids might not remember learning the times tables, but they’ll remember the time you spent around the table (and in the yard, on the couch, on a trail, etc.) and the way that your attention lifted them up..