ABC’s and school work for the Amish children

    It is a little after 7 a.m. and our five oldest children have just left for school. Only five more weeks and then the doors will close for another term. Meanwhile here at home 13-year-old Elizabeth is rapidly finishing her seventh-grade level home-school work. She is done with reading and vocabulary and is almost finished with spelling.
    She has done a very good job in home-schooling and plans to complete
her eighth grade year here at home also.
    Friday husband Joe didn't have any work at the factory and he will
also be off this whole week. Work seems to be slow everywhere. The
Good Lord, however, will provide if we keep our whole trust in Him.
With Joe being off on Friday and it being too wet to plant more garden
we decided to take the day off and visit school. The local public
school encourages parents to come visit and see how the children are
doing in their studies. Joe and I along with Elizabeth, and our two youngest, Lovina and Kevin, all went to the school to visit. We made
the three mile trip with our buggy and horse Ginger. (Editor's note:
Some Amish children attend public schools, others attend "one room"
Amish parochial schools. Churches give Amish parents wide latitude in
choosing which one to send their kids to)
    First we visited Joseph's classroom where they were studying the stages of a caterpillar as it turns into a butterfly. They have some caterpillars and cocoons in the class and are watching the stages.
    Three year old Lovina was excited to look at the butterflies. She just
can't wait to go to school. She is always writing or coloring and
singing her ABCs (and only misses one or two letters). It should not be a problem to send her to school.
    We then visited Loretta's first grade class during their reading lesson. Later in the day, Loretta's class came out to our horse and
buggy and wanted us to explain how everything worked. Some didn't realize we had mirrors and brakes on the buggy. The children were curious about the horse and wanted to pet her, but Ginger isn't used to a classroom full of kids so we had everyone stand back a bit.
    Next we went on to Benjamin's second grade class and he was excited
to show us the little plants they are growing in cups by the windows.
    Benjamin saved seeds from our pumpkins last fall. He keeps asking me
how soon he can plant them in the garden. He did a good job planting
my yellow onion sets for me this year. We then went on to Verena's third grade class where they were doing an what is called an SRA, which they read a short story and then answer questions about the short story. I well-remember doing that in school also. We helped
some of the students who needed help and before we knew it was time
for lunch.
    We ate the school lunch of pizza, peas, salad bar, sherbert and milk with all five of the children. Oldest daughter Elizabeth ate with her friends and enjoyed visiting with them again. It took Lovina and Kevin awhile until they were finished eating. They really enjoyed the lunch, especially the chocolate milk and sherbert. After we were done with lunch we went out to recess with all the students. It was interesting
to see them play. Lovina and Kevin had so much fun with the slide, swings, and playground equipment. I hope someday we can get a swingset for the children. It would keep the little ones entertained a long
time.
    After we left the school we went to sister Emma and Jacob's house.
    Jacob put new shoes on our horse Ginger. Children came off the bus at Jacob's and we stayed there for supper, with fresh dandelions being on the menu. We've enjoyed quite a few meals of dandelions already. The blossoms are
coming out fast and then that makes the greens too bitter to eat.
    So pretty soon dandelions will be done for another year. My rhubarbs
are really growing and I think I have enough for rhubarb pies. Joe keeps asking when I am going to make some.
    My aunt always bakes this pie for the Coblentz reunion, which is the
recipe I will use to make some soon.

RHUBARB CUSTARD PIE
1 pint of milk
1 teaspoon flour
3 beaten eggs
1 /2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups rhubarb, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400. Heat milk just until warm. Rub flour smooth with
enough water to make a paste. Add this to hot milk. Pour upon eggs
mixed with sugar and
salt. Cover bottom of unbaked pie shell with finely chopped rhubarb.
Pour custard over rhubarb. Bake slowly never letting it boil at 400
for 10 minutes then 350 for about 30 minutes.