What was it like to go to school in colonial times?

New England schoolhouses did not have desks or chairs. Students sat straight on hard, backless benches. Because teachers were not well trained, students spent most of their time reciting and memorizing lessons. Most lessons did not teach students to think, just imitate.

What was school like in colonial times?

Older children were educated at home or in a local schoolhouse and were taught to read the Bible. New England colonists were Puritans, and their education centered around religious life. In the Middle Colonies, children could be taught at home or in a schoolhouse with other children from the same religion.

What was life like in the colonial times for kids?

Children were expected to help with a share of the family's work. Boys helped their fathers and girls did chores at home. By a time a girl was four she could knit stockings! Even with all the work they did, colonial children still found time to have fun.

How did the England colonies feel about education?

In the New England colonies, the Puritans built their society almost entirely on the precepts of the Bible. The Puritans, in particular, valued education, because they believed that Satan was keeping those who couldn't read from the scriptures.

What was school like in 1776?

Actual schools were found mainly in cities and large towns. For most other people, education meant a tutor teaching a small group of people in someone's home or a common building. And the school year was more like a school season: usually about 13 weeks, says USC historian Carole Shammas.

Early Colonial Schools

How did colonial children have fun?

Even though colonial kids worked hard, they still found time for outdoor fun, like swimming, fishing, and flying kites.

How is school in colonial times different from today?

A child's education was anything but “standardized” during America's colonial era, which spanned most of the 17th and 18th centuries. The modern institution of the public school—a free, tax-supported education for all children—didn't get a foothold in America until the mid-19th century.

What did children do in the 13 colonies?

In all the colonies, kids played with balls and bats and marbles and dolls. They played tag. In the south they played lawn bowling. In the north, they played shuffleboard.

How were children educated in 1700s?

The South, overwhelmingly rural, had few schools of any sort until the Revolutionary era. Wealthy children studied with private tutors; middle-class children might learn to read from literate parents or older siblings; many poor and middle-class white children, as well as virtually all black children, went unschooled.

What are the 13 colonies for kids?

In 1776 the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Britain. The names of the colonies were Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.

What did people do for fun in colonial times?

Shooting and woodchopping competitions were popular, and, making the most of two important forms of colonial transport, boat races and horse races became common forms of entertainment.

What was life like in the 13 colonies?

Much of colonial life was hard work, even preparing food. But colonists found ways to mix work with play. They also enjoyed sports and games. For most of the 1700s, the colonists were content to be ruled by English laws.

What did boys do in colonial times?

Boys often spent four to seven years as apprentices in order to learn a trade. A young man would often work long hours for no pay while he practiced a skill such as blacksmithing. A few girls had apprenticeships in crafts such as weaving, but most often girls learned to cook, take care of the home, and raise children.

Did girls go to school in colonial times?

Both boys and girls would go to Dame School, where they would learn to read and write. However, in colonial times, most people did not believe girls needed further education. Girls learned enough reading, writing, and arithmetic to be able to study the Bible and manage family finances.

Did Colonial girls go to school?

Kids were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Mostly boys attended school. Girls were taught at home.

What were colonial school punishments?

What happened when children misbehaved in colonial times? They were punished harshly. They got whipped or they were hit by a switch (a birch branch). If they forgot their lessons, they had to sit in the corner with a dunce cap on their head.

What was school like in 1700s?

The curriculum was based on classical languages and literatures, but reading, arithmetic, and writing were also taught. The English school evolved in the eighteenth century as a popular alternative to the Latin school.

Who was allowed to go to school in the 1700s?

Only young men were allowed to pursue higher education. Although there were a few opportunities for girls to receive a more extensive formal education in the colonial period, most families kept their daughters at home to learn how to run a household and to be a dutiful mate for her future husband.

How did school work in the 1700s?

In 1600s and 1700s America, prior to the first and second Industrial Revolutions, educational opportunity varied widely depending on region, race, gender, and social class. Public education, common in New England, was class-based, and the working class received few benefits, if any.

What did girls do in the colonies?

Women trained girls to be wives and mothers by having them help around the house. Girls helped with cooking, preserving food, caring for children, cleaning the house, washing clothes and gardening. They milked cows, churned butter, and made cheese. Girls' work was important to cloth making.

What toys did kids play with in colonial times?

They made dolls from cornhusks and rags. Leftover wood and string could be used to make spinning tops. Hoops from barrels could be used in races and other games. Many times the children made up their games and needed no equipment at all – they improvised with what was around the farm they lived on.

What age was considered an adult in the 1700s?

Although children were expected to act as an adult by the time they were 11 or 12, they may have been working from as young as 6 or 7. But legally, people were not considered adult until they were aged 21.

Did colonial schools have recess?

In colonial times, kids sometimes had fun at school. They played with clay marbles, soldiers, dolls jump rope and more. Back in colonial times the didn't have gym, art or music. They did not have recess like we do, but they got to play outside in a field.

Why didn't all children go to school in the colonial era?

For many, formal schooling was simply unnecessary. In the Middle Colonies there was even less government intervention. In Pennsylvania, a compulsory education law was passed in 1683, but it was never strictly enforced. Nevertheless, many schools were set up simply as a response to consumer demand.

What did colonial schools teach?

The schools paralleled the British two-track system. If poor children went to school at all it was the elementary level only. These students learned to read, write, basic computation, and religious instruction.