When I started school it was not consolidated until I entered the sixth grade. Yep, I went to a one room school house for my general area which had maybe 30 students at the most from grades 1 through 8. There was no such thing as preschool and kindergarten. A diligent parent taught their children their numbers, letters, basic reading skills and some writing before they even started school.

I walked to school the majority of the time which was about one mile one way. The school had a coal stove to keep us warm during the cold days. There was a shed on the school grounds to store the coal and maybe some other school needs. There was out door privies. No indoor bathrooms in that school. The outdoor recreation area had swings, teeter totter, and a few other pieces of recreational equipment. There was maybe a 2 acre field for ball games and a basketball hoop mounted on the shed wall.

When the teacher started teaching on a higher grade level than I was I paid attention to the higher grade level picking up bits and pieces of their studies. Penmanship was a must back then to keep your letters and words legible. The chicken scratch you see today is horrid. I learned my letters using the Palmer method.