A School for the Amish
Aren’t we fortunate to have Amish families moving into our beautiful Belgrade area for awhile now? Their horses and carriages remind all of us about “the way life should be,” especially as we zoom too fast along our two lane roads around the lakes.
Our son Matthew purchased two copies of The Amish School by Sara E. Fisher and Rachel K. Stahlof for me at Feldman’s Used Bookstore in Menlo Park, CA. What a find for me to read and share the second copy with a brand new teacher in our family recently. Check Re-Books in Waterville for this 1986 paperback full of wisdom.
I bought my Truman biography by David McCullough at Re-Books one summer when there was great debate about who should be nominated for Vice President. Sound familiar? Reading the selection of Truman by FDR helped me understand current politics a little bit better.
After my public school teaching experience of 30 years in Maryland, I have a renewed appreciation of common sense Amish teachers and parents and students. From Garrett Park Elementary in Montgomery County, MD, we had second grade field trips to Lancaster, PA Amish country to meet children at their farms and enjoy an enticing meal of seven sweets and seven sours plus shoo-fly pie. Parent volunteers were eager to get on the bus with my students and learn and enjoy an Amish meal.
Not until I read this short book did I know that the Supreme Court had sided with the Amish on a schooling issue. Not until reading this common sense approach did I realize an hour for lunch was designated every school day, even though some kids ate in three minutes. Plenty of free, fun time provided for every student.
The reason I gave one of my copies to our new teacher in the family is because an entire chapter of this book explains that the Amish had two schools for special needs students. The Amish do not believe in competition either, so all students feel welcomed and loved in school.
The masters degree new teacher in our family explained how she handled her 17 students with half of them having special needs. I listened and learned from her about current Virginia public schools. I read and learned about Pennsylvania Amish schools and how they met the needs of their special students.
Young or old, we can all learn a thing or two when it comes to teaching our young children. The Amish made a difference in the Pennsylvania public schools. Written by a public school teacher who became a teacher in an Amish school. Both authors offer old and new ideas that benefit all learners.
So look for a book at Re-Books in Waterville or upstairs on Main Street for a brand new published paperback or magazine or wherever learning something new appeals to you. The one-room or two-room schoolhouses accomplish so much. Abe Lincoln only attended one for less than two years. His father demanded much labor out of his son, depriving Abe from schooling. And look where Lincoln landed in history? I propose that Lincoln’s mother provided much of what Amish teachers do to this day…
Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era by David Herbert Donald is another history to look at and think about. We discussed this fine historian in the garden behind what was The Spring Art gallery on Main in Belgrade Lakes Village. Remember those history teachers who showed up? Lincoln lovers all.
Lois Lenski’s Shoo-Fly Girl has also become a classic children’s book.
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