We rang the bell at Boogersburg School!

Tomorrow is a momentous day for me, it will be my 30th First Day of School!  To mark the occasion we traveled back in time to experience what going to school in 1877 would be like.  Boogersburg School is a one room school house in Patton Township.  It was built by Moses Thompson a Centre Furnace Iron Master and was one of several schools he had built in Nittany Valley.  Children would attend Boogersburg School for 1st through 8th grade, boys seated on one side of the room and girls on the other.  There are three different sized desks to accommodate the range of students, the small desks have slate and chalk to write with while the larger ones are equipped with ink wells.  Docent educators bring the school of the 19th century back to life.

We were greeted by a female schoolmaster dressed in period clothing. She ushered M to a desk and instructed her to take our her slate.  The smallest desk in the room was a perfect fit for M, she was thrilled!  The teacher then told us about what going to school at the schoolhouse was like.  We saw a 19th century backpack and lunch box, which instead of being decorated with superheroes was merely a leather strap and metal pail.  We learned about filling a quill with ink and was given a recipe for making our own ink out of berries so we could practice at home.  M asked where the toys were and was shown to the coat room where she found jump ropes, bean bags, horseshoes and marbles.  She also found a basket full of sticks to feed the pot belly stove dominating the center of the school room.  The teacher then asked her what happened at her daycare when she broke the rules and explained that the children at the Boogersburg School would get hit with a paddle or made to stand in the front of the room with their nose held against the blackboard if they misbehaved.   M agreed that not getting to pick a prize from the prize box was a much better alternative!   She then became the teacher and instructed us to write the alphabet on our slates and had us recite our letters out load as we wrote them.  When I did not show her my slate right away she had me come to front of the room and put my nose against the board  - I'm beginning to understand why her stuffed animals do not want to play school anymore! After reading the list of school rules which included, "Be silent during classes" and to make sure you washed your feet at the end of the day we said our goodbyes and were told not to miss looking in on the outhouse to see the copy of the Sears Roebuck catalog which served as toilet paper.