More Early School Years

Although Garden Valley was a small community, I found it very unusual that I went to school with lots of Lindas - Linda Ho..., Linda Al..., Linda Ed...., Linda La....,  Linda Wa..., Linda Mo..., and Linda Do... (last names hidden because all of them are still living and could possibly be reading this).  After all, when I was in high school there were less than 100 students in all twelve grades.  In fact there are four of them in the school picture I posted last time (third and fourth grade), two in the front row and two in the back.

School was always easy for me.  My elementary teachers were wonderful (my third and fourth grade teacher was sister to the first and second grade teacher, Mrs Harp), strict and thorough.  They taught phonics, drilling us until we could sound the letters in our sleep, and my spelling shows this.  I remember the countless hours of circles, slanted loops, humps and wavy lines as I practiced my long-hand writing (now called cursive by my grandkids).

All those hours of study made me a good writer, and looking at the diary that I kept in my senior year and all the journals I've found from different times in my life that is true, but don't ask me to write (hand write) a diary or even a letter today.  The lack of using a pen or pencil for anything more than a quick note or a grocery list.  And I've read lately that teachers now days are spending fewer and fewer hours per week teaching our children penmanship and failure to write well often results in reduced math and literacy skills.  

Years of office work on computers and emailing friends and families have led to a deterioration of my handwriting skills.  I lack the ability to think free flow and writing it by hand, so used am I to editing as I go by my digital communication these days.  Admit it, typing is fast while handwriting is slow.

So back to my school years, my favorite class was English and as long as I can remember I wanted to be a teacher - preferably an English teacher.  I had three aunts who were teachers (my father's older sisters and his youngest brother's wife) so I thought this would be how I would love to spend my life, molding young minds.  I suppose my school mates would remember me as the bright but shy, heavy-set girl that was always willing to help with homework for anyone who asked.  And because I have six brothers, I've always been able to get along with guys better than the girls, whether in school, in my careers, or in clubs and organizations.  The guys always seemed to think of me as 'one of the boys.'  It could also be because I was kind of a tom-boy.