Chaperon Extraodinare?

So the field trip went on as planned in spite of the threat of some ugly and wet weather. The day certainly was starting out to be questionable indeed, at least as far as I was concerned.

There were four class rooms going on the trip... two third grade and two fourth grade. I find out that one of the teachers is out because she's got jury duty and she's the person of contact for the trip and that another is out sick. Then Jake's teacher is telling me that there's a chance that myself and the other chaperon could be left to ourselves because there is a student that sometimes requires special care/attention due to a condition. Running through my mind... let's hope that doesn't happen... not only for my sake, but for the student's as well.

I cautiously make my way towards the class room door and everyone just looks... and I suspect wonder... who's the big guy with the buzzed head and the long white chin spinach and the "weird" eye and the skeleton (Jack Skellington) sweatshirt?

"Are you Jakob's dad"? "Yup..." One girl came to me and introduced herself and told me that she was Jake's BFF. I then had another come to me and tell me that she was Jake's secret admirer.

Then it was where are the buses? When are they supposed to be here? Are they coming round back or in the front? It was semi-chaotic. They (the buses) did arrive on time and their arrival marked a trip to sending everyone to the bathroom and out to load up.

By the time that everyone was loaded up and we were ready to roll, it had become quite steamy, in the bus, so windows started to open... which was alright until we started the actual rolling. It started to raining fairly hard and it started coming in the bus... alas, we had to close them for fear of drowning.

Okay, windows up, getting steamy again and it's pouring outside but at least we're on our way... just as soon as we cross the train tracks, the tracks with the train blocking the road.

As you might suspect... it's been a great number of years since I've been on a school bus. Good to know that with all the advances we've made in the auto industry over the last 30ish years that buses have managed to steer clear of it. Oh, the seats are different from what I remember, but the ride's still the same. I also remember a day that the driver actually had to pull/push a handle/lever to open and close the bus door now it's a button. Ahhh... there's the technology.

Luckily the rain subsided before we got to our destination... Naper Settlement.

Our first stop was the one room schoolhouse. The "teacher" never broke from character. It was good too since she made the kids form two lines... boys and girls. She also made them curtsy and bow. Girls were granted entrance first followed by the boys. I heard a number of the boys grumbling why they had to wait for the girls. Didn't have the heart to tell them that they better get used to it.

Once in the room with the girls on one side and the boys on the other... with each desk having a slate, piece of chalk and a book from which we were all made to read a verse. First was the girls and then the boys.

It was explained to us, before we headed on in, that in the school house there was 1st through 8th grade in there and the teacher had to teach to all grade levels. Though perhaps big for my age, I (along with the other chaperons and teachers) were told that we were the 8th graders... little did she know that's about as far as I've advanced... educationally that is.

All in all, the trip was good and if the kids paid attention, they might've actually learned something along the way. I did. It's that 8th grade education put into action. One little quick tidbit I will share is that back in the day, you had to pay to get your mail, not pay to send it like we do today and that it cost $.25 for a single piece of paper. She went on to explain that for every additional sheet, it was $.25. She then asked the kids what it would cost to send three... "$.75" Four? "$1.00" Five? A momentary pause... "$1.25" She then asked if they thought that was a lot of money to send five sheets? Most kids said no. She then proceeded to tell them that at that time, you could get an acre of land for a $1.25.

She also talked about how people would get creative in order to save money. They would write a letter top to bottom and then turn the paper 90 degrees and write over what they had already written. Then they started to write top to bottom and then rotate the paper 180 degrees and continue by writing "in between the lines" so as to use all the space on the paper. This is where the phrase reading between the lines came from.

She also talked about how a quarter became a quarter. Back in that time, they had silver dollars (that incidentally were made in Mexico) that they would cut into quarters... they didn't have multiple coins back then as we do today, so they would literally use a quarter of the silver dollar. So a quarter in that day was actually a pie shape.

She continued to tell how if you cut the quarter in half, you'd have 12.5 cents. Then the dollar would be in eighths... hence the term "piece of eight". Also, she said (I think) that an 1/8 was also a bit... either that or it was 1/16. I can't imagine cutting a silver dollar into 16 pieces. AND... you could cut the coins yourself. They did have a system in place where it was done by weight.

Pretty fascinating stuff.

Well... that's it for now, I've done my "educational duty" for the day.

KEIYH