A Peek into My Amish Schoolhouse, with Pictures

While not homemaking-related, this will be an item of interest for those who’ve enjoyed my book.

Some time ago, I realized that I was in the neighborhood of the Amish schoolhouse where I taught during my second year of teaching. I asked my husband if he could pull into the driveway so I could take a picture. The schoolhouse sits on the property of an Amish family but since the farmhouse was further down the lane, I assured him it wouldn’t be awkward.

I had taken several pictures of the community’s first temporary schoolhouse (here) but for some reason, I never took a picture of this particular schoolhouse.

The outside has changed a little–part of the porch is now enclosed and a second smaller building sits on the gravel area where I used to park my car.

I took the picture above, then to my husband’s horror, I tried the door of the schoolhouse. As I’d guessed, it was unlocked. I figured that if by chance someone came to investigate, I’d wind up in a nice chat with an old friend, or at the least I’d meet a member of the community who’d joined since my teaching days. My husband didn’t even get out of the car to retrieve me, he just sat, appalled, wondering how he came to be driving a getaway car for a schoolhouse snoop.

Because school wasn’t in session, much of the personality was missing–no charts or children’s artwork on the walls, no left-behind coats or lunchboxes. It lacked that comfortable lived-in look. Still, the room was remarkably unchanged.

Oh, the old blackboard…. During the course of the day, we’d use the entire length of this same blackboard for arithmetic problems, poetry to memorize, and all the other assignments and announcements. I used one of those gadgets that mark five lines with chalk at the same time, so the young scholars could practice their penmanship.

Two my favorite things in the schoolhouse were the penmanship charts and the pull-down vintage map of the United States attached to the top of the blackboard. The penmanship charts were hand-lettered, and included the alphabet in German, their first language. The vintage map came from me. I had found it in a closet at my house, a leftover from the previous owner and donated it to the school.

This little desk bookshelf, where I kept all my teacher copies, was a gift to me. I left it to my successor and am glad to see all the teachers since have done the same.

No one ever stopped in to check on me or unfortunately, question my husband about trespassing. But after so many years, I was glad to get a peek into my old schoolhouse.