Home-schooled kids get historic lesson at old New Bethel School, northwest of Anderson, Mo.

Photo Submitted On Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the old New Bethel School northwest of Anderson, a historic school day was held with 15 home-schooled children, grades 3-8. The date was Feb. 8, 1936, as we examined relics of the past, such as a butter churn, a curling iron, a shaving mug, an old Brownie camera, ice box and a treadle sewing machine. A short story was read about sheep shearing on Nantucket Island from a 1930's Elson Reader and everyone felt a wool fleece from a Jacob's sheep. We learned about Franklin Roosevelt and his "New Deal" of the Great Depression years. We sang and danced to Old Susanna, Skip to My Lou, Froggie Went A 'Courtin', and the lullaby, All Through the Night, accompanied by Lee Ann Sours on the guitar. For arithmetic, word problems were solved out of a 1910 elementary arithmetic book. Mrs. Linda Patterson (teacher) revived letter writing--a lost art, in which the children composed a "friendly letter" about their day's experience in a 1936 classroom. The spelling lesson opened with a skit by the children called "The Word Hospital" in which the patients were words from a 1920 Speller. Lastly, four 7th and 8th grade pupils competed in a classic spelling bee and tied in a stalemate at 4 p.m. as the school bell rang marking the end of a  Feb. 8, 1936, school day.
Photo Submitted On Tuesday, Feb. 8, at the old New Bethel School northwest of Anderson, a historic school day was held with 15 home-schooled children, grades 3-8. The date was Feb. 8, 1936, as we examined relics of the past, such as a butter churn, a curling iron, a shaving mug, an old Brownie camera, ice box and a treadle sewing machine. A short story was read about sheep shearing on Nantucket Island from a 1930's Elson Reader and everyone felt a wool fleece from a Jacob's sheep. We learned about Franklin Roosevelt and his "New Deal" of the Great Depression years. We sang and danced to Old Susanna, Skip to My Lou, Froggie Went A 'Courtin', and the lullaby, All Through the Night, accompanied by Lee Ann Sours on the guitar. For arithmetic, word problems were solved out of a 1910 elementary arithmetic book. Mrs. Linda Patterson (teacher) revived letter writing--a lost art, in which the children composed a "friendly letter" about their day's experience in a 1936 classroom. The spelling lesson opened with a skit by the children called "The Word Hospital" in which the patients were words from a 1920 Speller. Lastly, four 7th and 8th grade pupils competed in a classic spelling bee and tied in a stalemate at 4 p.m. as the school bell rang marking the end of a Feb. 8, 1936, school day.

ANDERSON, Mo. -- A historic school day was held Feb. 8 with 15 home-schooled children, grades 3-8, at the old New Bethel School, northwest of Anderson.

The students pretended the date was Feb. 8, 1936, as the class examined relics of the past, such as a butter churn, a curling iron, a shaving mug, an old Brownie camera, an icebox and a treadle sewing machine.

A short story was read about sheep shearing on Nantucket Island from a 1930s Elson Reader, and everyone felt a wool fleece from Jacob sheep. Students learned about Franklin Roosevelt and his "New Deal" of the Great Depression years. They sang and danced to "Old Susanna," "Skip to My Lou," "Froggie Went A 'Courtin,'" and the lullaby, "All Through the Night," accompanied by Lee Ann Sours on the guitar.

For arithmetic, word problems were solved out of a 1910 elementary arithmetic book.

Teacher Linda Patterson revived letter writing, in which the children composed a "friendly letter" about their day's experience in a 1936 classroom.

The spelling lesson opened with a skit by the children called "The Word Hospital" in which the patients were words from a 1920 Speller. Lastly, four seventh- and eighth-grade pupils competed in a classic spelling bee and tied in a stalemate at 4 p.m. as the school bell rang, marking the end of a Feb. 8, 1936, school day.

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