Monday, August 26, 2013

ONE ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOLS STILL EXIST--by Mary Connealy


My guest today is multi-published, best-selling Christian author, Mary Connealy. What a treat. 

ONE ROOM COUNTRY SCHOOLS STILL EXIST by Mary Connealy


I went to a one-room Country School. My cowboy husband went to one. Our four children went to one. One room country school houses aren’t all buried in the distant past. In Nebraska, and other rural states, they still exist.


In fact the school my children attended had Connealys in it going back five generations, to the founding of the school. We live a long way out. My children drove 15 miles every day to high school. When the distances are great, it is wonderful to have a school nearby.

Our whole school

Our school, at its largest in my children’s years, had 13 students. The numbers dropped as low as five students. My oldest daughter started school with one boy in her grade. By eighth grade she was alone in her grade.

We had computers and the internet. In fact we had a computer for every kid in school.We took great field trips, get one mom to drive and off we’d go. We often had museums almost to ourselves.
We had up-to-date text books and access to videos and all the supplies any school has.

I loved it. It was a mile down the road to school every morning, they often road their bikes. 

I had a huge amount of influence in that school, something that is very unusual in a school today where parents are invited in under very controlled circumstances only. The teacher became a good friend and we made a great team educating my children.
 
This is a picture of Nebraska Governor Kay Orr, a supporter of Rural Schools, who came for a visit. The little blonde girl facing the governor in this picture is my daughter.

There was no shirking in class. If you’re alone in your grade no one’s gonna slip through the cracks, no matter how hard they try. 

The school my children went to is closed now, but there are still rural schools in Nebraska and other states. In remote areas it just makes sense to educate a child near home. I feel blessed that my children had this experience. 
~~ 

 
Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys.She is a Carol Award winner, and a Rita and Christy finalist. She is the author of Fired Up, just released book #2 of the Trouble in Texas series. She is a contributor to A Bride for All Seasons, a novella collection with Robin Lee Hatcher, Margaret Brownley and Debra Clopton. 

Find Mary online at:


Follow her on Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryconnealy




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