Last time I wrote about moving to the farm that I grew up on.
We were 1/2 mile from school so we could walk. But I was kept back a year, I started 1st grade at the age of 7. My mother thought that she could get more work done if I would stay back and play with Peter and Ben. Oh yes, Ben was born in 1949. I also remember watching the boys inside and she would be in the yard and able to watch the window, in case the boys were crying, and I needed her, all I needed to do was wave my arm and she would come in and check on us.
We were all in school till the year John turned 16 and he decided he would quit and help on the farm. He wanted to quit at a younger age but Mom and Dad insisted he go to school till 16 because if he quit younger than that she would loose his child allowance which was about $10.00 a month for him. The government paid about $6.00 for a baby and as a childs age increase so did the money up to $10.00. After age 16 money was discontinued for that child. Mom used this money to buy our groceries.
We had a two room school. Grades 1-6 in one room and 7-12 in the other. Each teacher had 6 grades to teach. In the year about 1955 Helen would have been in the 11th grade and they had to go to Glenbush school for 11 and 12. Then by 1958-1959 that was the last year for the Artichoke school. That year there were 9 students and 8 grades. Only three families attended that year. I was in 8th grade and one September day, everyone stayed home to dig potatoes except for me. It was the most miserable day in school for me that year. Here I was the only one in school with the male teacher who was in his mid 20's. After that year we were bused to Glenbush which was a 3 room school.
This was a big adjustment. I graduated from there in 1962 with 5 of us in the class.
I was 16 when I tranferred to Glenbush. Here each winter they would pour a skating rink. I was the size needed for a hockey rink. We were all required to get skates. Our teacher told us not to think wearing a skirt would get us exempted from skating. In school we always had a 15 min break in the am and also a 15 min break in the afternoon with an hour for lunch and exercise, like skating. So here I was 16 years old and all the other kids could just fly over the ice playing, crack the whip or some other game. But here I was, a very slow skater and just skating on the edge of the ice all by myself. Each winter I prayed for a broken bone. But it just didn't happen. I never did really enjoy skating nor get very good at it. After I graduated I never did put those skates on again.
One thing I did enjoy was curling. I never was good at that either but it was fun and you wore boots on that ice.
Oh yes, I just remembered something about the Artichoke school I went to. We didn't have running water so each day Dormouths would bring a pail of water to school and pour it into the container that had a spigot and if we didn't have a cup with us we would make a paper cup out a sheet of school paper, similar to a paper boat. The teacher kept telling us not us use paper for that but what do you do when your thirsty and need a drink.
I also attended another school for grade 6 and 7. Helen graduated in 1957. In order to help my parents out financially she applied to be a correspondence teacher. Well she go the job at a small school 25 miles from home. There was a teacherage there. So she wouldn't be by herself Mom and Dad had me go live with her. It was a one room school and again there were only 3 or 4 families with children there. I think we had about an attendance of 12 at that school. She guided us though our lessons and then we sent them into the school office for correcting and so they could see that we were learning what we were required for that year. She got paid $140.00 a month and gave $100.00 to my parents each month just keeping $40.00 for herself. This really helped mom and dad out with their bills. Helen did this for 2 years and then went on to secretary college and later a Medical Librarian.
These two years living in another area was a great experience. I'll talk about that maybe next time.
