Early American one room schoolhouse living historical reenactment activities

Hello my friends of the Omschool! Have ever wanted to live in the olden days of American history? What if I told you I could "time travel" you back there so you could experience it? Here's a DIY guide for students, teachers and homeschool parents to create your own "One Room School House" experience. I created this Early American history unit 40 years ago! And I've been adding to it since in my museum docent role and historical re-enactor. It was designed around the living history or cultural immersion model.  Think Laura Ingalls and Little House on the Prairie. 

The original "day in a one room schoolhouse" in 1986 was held at Walden Green Montessori school. We dressed in costume, ate period correct foods and did lessons like they would have in a "dame school." Then I was able to elaborate on it, by renting a one room schoolhouse from our local Blandford Nature Center Interpretive history facility for our homeschool group. That's an extra special treat but you can just as easily do this unit as an in-school field trip in the classroom or outdoors at any park. For years, I did hosted a dame school at our Grand Haven "Feast of the Strawberry Moon" voyageur encampment. on Harbor Island. The lessons are adaptable. Here is the procedure to  set up a one room schoolhouse. 

Get parents/ homeschool families involved 

Alert parents that you are going to host a "day in a one room schoolhouse" activity. Request volunteers to help you create an environment, share artifacts and prepare an Early America picnic lunch. I invited some teen girls in our homeschool group to create roles as teachers. 15 was the age many young women began teaching. And they couldn't be married back then so onboarding teenagers is perfect. The girls totally loved the experience. They did a fantastic job, coming up with things I hadn't thought of. And, if you're homeschooling, it gives the older kids a chance to participate as teachers not just students. 

Set a specific time period and region

The one room schoolhouse will look different depending on which place and century you set it in. If you're going back to the 1600s before the revolutionary war, the "school" will be a "dame school." These were taught by women out of their homes and just for very young children, usually not boys. Women weren't considered intelligent enough to educate boys back then (😕). The more traditional one room schoolhouse (like Laura Ingalls taught in) was the Monitorial or ladder school. This one works the best for a large group. Here's a breakdown of education systems in US history. 

Colonial–Early 1800s Informal tutoring and Dame Schools (private/home-based).

1840s–1850s Transition to Graded Elementary Schools; birth of age-based classes.

1870s–1890s Establishment of public High Schools as the next tier after primary school.

1920s Inclusion of Kindergarten and Junior High as common rungs on the ladder.

Create period correct costumes 

Assign each student to make his costume. Kids can get as fancy as they want but simple is fine too. I The simplest are overalls and flannel shirts for boys. Girls can wear long skirts and blouses and straw hats if available. They can go barefoot if parents allow. Or you can get more creative and make drawstring breeches with white muslin chemise-style shirts gathered at the neck. Tell students that these would be worn as nightgowns too, by boys and girls.  A simple skirt pattern is to sew a "channel" of folded over fabric and run a ribbon or string through it. They don't even need to sew it. Just pin in place. Remind them that there was no money to waste and clothing was about function rather than style (despite the romanticized version you see in "period dramas.") Here are some free printable historical costume patterns. 

Lunch Menu

This was the favorite part next to recess! I left this to the parents and they did a bang up job! In my first one room schoolhouse I aimed it toward a New England school and served clam chowder and cornbread with fresh seasonal berries. You can also serve  

• hard-boiled eggs
• round sourdough bread
• homemade butter (made in school as a lesson plan, see recipe below)
• crackers (hard tack)
• cheese
• pickles
• apples
• nuts that grow locally
• jerky 

Beverage would be water with dipper but remind kids that many illnesses are waterborne and grow in impure water. So often times people turned their water into a mild ale to sanitize it. (the kids version could be ginger ale or "sarsaparilla." Serve lunch with cloth napkin, checked tablecloth and mason jar glasses. If kids can procure metal lunch pail that would lend authenticity. 

What to bring to school 

Along with a lunch, children should bring a quill pen or twig pencil, 10 little pebbles, "journal" or slate and hornbook (if desired). Here are instructions for creating each of these. 

• How to make a quill pen. These are quite frustrating to use so warn children ahead of time. 
• Make twig pencils. These are easier to make and use. Just burn the end of a twig and when the charred part runs out, stick it in the fire again. 
• Make ink from berry juice or from soaking walnut hulls. Here are some DIY ink guides. 
• Make simple journals using brown paper grocery bags as parchment paper. Fold a cover. Insert several pieces of paper bag, punch holes and tie with twine. In times past, vellum was used but vellum is freakishly expensive. 
• How to make a hornbook. These are reusable books you can write on and erase.
• Slates were commonly used, too. Make slates by spray-painting chalkboard paint on pieces of wood. 
• Coal scuttle "chalkboard." Abraham Lincoln did his homework by scratching on a coal scuttle. You can simulate this by rubbing chalk or ashes on a flat piece of wood. 
• pebbles will be used for counting and math

Teaching the lessons

If you will have teenagers teach, assign each girl a subject and time slot that she will teach that subject. Each lesson should be simple and last no longer than 15 to 20-30 minutes. Popular early American school subjects included: 

• penmanship
• spelling
• nature study
• drawing, geography,
• arithmetic
• civics
• dictation
• recitation
• reading.  Some ideas we've used include:

Here are some sample lessons. 

  --copy a proverb from Poor Richard's Almanack by Benjamin Franklin (here's a copy to download and print free)

--trace a map. Here are free printable early American maps. 

--figure sums using rocks  

--make butter (basically you just shake whipping cream in a glass jar till it forms a butter mass, but here's a full how-to recipe guide to making butter with kids)

--explore a fur pelt, taxidermy (stuffed) animal

--draw a tree

--recite a poem (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge or Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Wreck of the Hesperus" were commonly used.)

Common textbooks used were in early American schools included

• the McGuffey Readers series. 
• Spencerian Handwriting/Penmanship 
• Ray's Arithmetic
• Harvey's Grammar
• History/Civics Under God. You don't need to purchase textbooks if you can borrow from your local library or historical society. 

Teacher costume

 Teachers should create a simple historical costume for the day. Local history museums or community theater guilds may have costumes to rent or borrow. The costume can be as simple as a long skirt, blouse, bonnet and shawl. The girls who participated in my one room schoolhouse events had a wonderful time preparing their lessons and creating their costumes. It was a great experience for all of us.

One room schoolhouse schedule

Write the schedule on a chalkboard. Begin the day with the pledge of allegiance, prayer and a song. "Good Morning to You" was a popular one. 

Early American games

• Tag and Running Games: Tag, hide-and-seek, and "snap the whip" were popular, requiring no equipment.
Rolling Hoops: Children rolled wooden or metal hoops with a stick, often racing them.
Battledore and Shuttlecock: A forerunner to badminton, played with wooden paddles and feathered shuttlecocks.
Quoits: A ring toss game using rope, leather, or metal rings, similar to modern horseshoes.
Ninepins: A, Dutch-imported, table-top or ground bowling game with nine pins

Visit this link for games kids played in colonial America. Here are some more early American games suggestions.