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| One-room schoolhouse in Plymouth Notch, VT. (July 2025) |
Whenever the grandchildren are here, they come alongside and share in activities that I love. We cook and bake, keep house, read books, sing hymns, and do school. There are a great variety of old-fashioned things to do here at the old homeplace.
The children are always happy when I suggest they get out the instruction books for drawing. I give them white paper, pencils, and crayons. They practice drawing comics and landscapes. They make miniature books, pretend-restaurant-menus, and write adventure stories.
I produce blank index cards, rulers, and scissors. They enjoy making their own flashcards and decorative items. One of the little ones invented a little club and designed membership cards, just for fun, using the index cards.
I select old textbooks from the bookcase and hand them out to the little ones. These are McGuffey Readers, Ray's Arithmetic, and old history books. We read, make up spelling tests, copy lessons, play math games, and linger over the fascinating entries in the history books.
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| Some of our old school books, still in use after 30 years. |
I have a packet of reproducible math drill sheets. I have had this packet ever since my own children were little. It is stored inside the original envelope and holds the answer book inside. I use these papers to make copies of worksheets for the children. The youngest ones use an abacus as they start the process of doing these fun math games. From the youngest to the oldest, they all enjoy the challenge of solving multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction problems.
Often, in the quiet of the afternoon, many of us rest on couches and chairs and read books while someone plays the piano.
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| Piano and Christmas song book at our house. |
The piano bench holds song books and instructional materials to teach beginners how to play. My piano was a generous gift, received some years ago, for which I am so grateful! Personally, I have no idea how to play, but I love to practice with the little booklets. My grandchildren love to learn, at their own pace, while I sit nearby and listen. This afternoon, one of my older grandsons played (using both hands), a lovely melody with beautiful notes from the Christmas book. Hearing him play O, Come All Ye Faithful was such a peaceful and beautiful way to pass the afternoon.
We have board games, blocks, puzzles, lawn games, and a variety of old-fashioned toys. The children also help me sweep, set the table, clean the kitchen, vacuum carpets, and do their part to keep house neat and orderly while they are here. Whenever we run low on treats, I have helpers to bake cookies and cake and serve to the others as we enjoy the blessing of homemade food. As we work, we talk and smile. We help with the baby, serve those who are tired, and remind one another to watch our manners and show kindness and patience. The children work right along with me as we go about our ordinary days at home.
I have kept all my school supplies and books and expect them to remain in continued use from generation to generation, here at the old homeplace. This is just a little school at home which, for as long as I am living, will always be open for my precious family.
Blessings
Mrs. White
From the Archives -
The Blessing of Home - Retired from the World.
"There is No Ambition" - Simplicity of Old Fashioned Homemaking.
The Inspiring Example of D.L. Moody's mother - Poverty in the 1800's.
- To find out more about this blog, or Mrs. White, please visit our About page. -
Help For Homeschooling:
Seeking a Thrifty and Simple Life: Encouragement for Christian Homeschooling by Mrs. White
Paperback, 112 pages
As you read this book, I hope you get a sense that, no matter what is going on in the world, every home can be a homeschool.
6 comments:
What a beautiful picture you paint of time your beloved grands! I only see mine in the Summer and it is nothing like this. They are glued to their tablets, each preferring the unnatural world to the natural one. Last year was different, though, before they had tablets. We found out that Grandpa was a natural artist and had the best time drawing our "armies" of zombie chickens, dragons, werewolves and vampires. Not the content I would have chosen but they were enthralled with the activity that went on for hours! We baked Christmas spritz cookies and read books. This year it was a lot of me cooking by myself....and I cook everything from scratch. I feel there is a wide chasm between my life and the life they lead with their parents and other grandparents.
Thank you for sharing this idyllic Summer with Grandma. What a cherished memory to reminisce during quite moments.
Our first and foremost source of wisdom can only come from our home life. May we always teach our children and grandchildren the value of God's precepts. Blessings, Mrs. White!
This was just lovely to read! I remember my third grade teacher keeping a box of pictures she cut out from old magazines...if we finished our school work early, she would direct us to the box where we could pick out any picture we wanted and write a story or poem about it. It was my favorite thing to do!
You paint a lovely picture of contented and happy children enjoying learning with Grandma. Many folk seem to believe that education only takes place in school, but it is easy to recognise children who have families that actively engage with them and encourage them to learn.
This was so wonderful to read. Your blog is always such a blessing to me, I look forward to each post!
What a delightful picture of you and your grandchildren sharing in family times, times they will remember with affection. Writing stories was a great favourite of mine as a child too! Keeping booklets and papers will always come in useful for craft work.
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