You Learn A Lot of Stuff in Kindergarten or There 'Bouts! I Sure Did!
Does anyone really remember Kindergarten? Really? Here's something I found helpful in bringing up a few long lost memories - start singing some of those long forgotten old school songs. A good one starts..."School Days, School Days, Good Old Golden Rule Days! Reading and writing and arithmetic....sung to the beat of a hickory stick" - this is where I start making up words! I have improved in many ways since Kindergarten, but, alas, not in my singing skills!
Back in the day....Texas small town public schools did not offer kindergarten classes, but there was always a kindergarten class at the Baptist Church where much of my childhood learning started.
One thing I know for sure is that I already had a little boy friend before the first day
of school! This is a picture of my adorable first boy friend, Bobby, and me. We were playing out on an oil field lease in east Texas.
Here are a few things I remember learning in Kindergarten or there 'bouts!
- Girls - should always sit with legs together and feet on the floor. This is hard to do, even today!
- Say "thank you" and "please".
- Respect anyone older - meaning parents, teachers, preachers, store keepers, aunts, uncles, grandmothers....anyone older than you.
- How to use chalk on a big old blackboard. Never did learn how to keep the chalk dust from getting all over me!
- Never talk with your mouth full, eat all your food & chew with your mouth closed. Some kids don't have good food to eat. I was never sure why chewing with my mouth closed helped those poor kids.
- How to hold the big fat yellow pencil and carefully shape the A, B, Cs.
- Don't ever run in the hall or class room. I really liked running down the halls - not sure why it was wrong...but you could get in trouble for this!
- Raise your hand to speak.
- How to take a nap on a towel on the hard floor.
- Always bring a clean hankie - there were no Kleenex tissues.
- How to sing lots of cool songs - I never did get the hang of singing completely on key or carrying a tune - not even to this day.
- Mostly I just had lots of fun!
Did I really learn all of the above in kindergarten? I must have, as I have always known these things!
I loved school from the first day and always loved my teachers. It was special to get a big red check mark on a 
paper I had colored or written letters or numbers. This made me feel really smart. I love school to this day....and never fail to get something out of every class I sign up to attend. School is what you make of it....even kindergarten! I remember well that old "School Days, School Days" song and sang it later with my daughters, and then my grandchildren.
BTW - I do remember getting kicked out of kindergarten, not mine, but my oldest daughter's classroom. It was difficult for me to leave her each day. Not difficult for her to leave me - no, it was hard for me to leave that tiny little blond girl who looked just like her blond haired Dad, who had died recently just before she started kindergarten. The teacher was really nice to me, inviting me to stop in any time, but suggesting that perhaps I should go on home for now. I was the Mom who furnished all the cookies, planned all the parties, and did play ground duty....after all, I would do anything to get back in that class room!
Blogging recently in the Back to School ActiveRain Contest....brought back childhood memories...but schools are really different now in this very different world. At times I wish for the simple days.....the days before each child had to have a groovy pricey back pack and tons of school supplies. We just showed up sparkling clean and with our hair combed.
I soon learned that my favorite part of the day was coming home to my Mom and talking about the school 
day with her. She always had homemade cookies for me and fresh squeezed juice. Sometimes she would have a bag of the homemade cookies that I could take to school the next day, which made me a pretty popular kid. I told her all about what I had learned and she would hug me and tell me that she missed me. I would teach her the songs I had learned that day and we would giggle when we got the words wrong. The perfect end to the day!
One thing I do know and carry with me daily is that those were the best of days, simple days filled with love and awe of what the day would bring. How I would love to experience the "coming home time" with my precious Mother again.....I miss her and the good young times!
Best lesson learned is to make each day a good day....build lots of memories.....enjoy the moment! Of course, I did not know this until much later....but the lessons started back in the day, in a small modest home, in a Baptist Church Kindergarten class, in a small town, in east Texas!
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