Mom Was My Teacher
Remember the 1940's? Young girls were taught needlework, housework and cooking! They were being prepared for their role as wives and mothers of the 1950's. My mom did a good job of trying.
Sewing Learning to sew a seam on a treadle machine usually had me in tears and Mom's patience gone, but I learned. Embroidery was introduced when I was about six years old. It is a skill I still enjoy today. Gone are the knots I couldn't get undone and the mistakes Mom pointed out to me as I burst into tears. But I learned.
Cooking Mom and I together in a kitchen usually spelled temper tantrums. But I learned the basics.
Baking I was taught to bake a cake from scratch as cake mixes hadn't been introduced. A sour cream chocolate cake was the first cake I ever learned to make. The sour cream was milk that had soured and curdled. I can't duplicate it today because milk doesn't sour the same way. The lesson included creaming the sugar and shortening, beating in the eggs, SLOWLY adding the flour and cocoa, and beating the batter until it was perfect. This was all done by hand as the electric mixer either didn't exist yet or Mom and Dad couldn't afford one. My worst memory from my childhood baking experience is the time I dropped the cake on the floor when I took it out of the oven. This was wartime--every ingredient in that cake was either rationed and/or expensive. Mom cried.
Housekeeping I had to set the table PROPERLY. Other household chores were the normal ones we still do today except the vacuum sweeper was not run by electricity nor was there a dish washer or a garbage disposal. Lord how I would have loved the Swiffer. I argued but I learned.
Laundry I could operate the old-time washing machine with the wringer. Mom also made sure I knew exactly how shirts, sheets towels, whatever were hung on the line properly. Remember, everything was cotton, some of it was starched, all of it was dampened before ironing--no steam irons. Things scorched easily -- I learned.
Preschool Mom (and Daddy also) taught me the love of reading. Daddy read me a book every night at bedtime. My favorite was Black Beauty. Mom usually read to me at that dreaded nap time. At the age of 3, I had my children's books memorized to the point that Aunt Annie was convinced I could actually read.
I went to kindergarten knowing how to tie my shoes. I could identify all of the colors. I also knew my name, address, and telephone number. I could print my name. I realize this is no surprise for today's children as they learn those skills in preschool. My preschool was done sitting with my mom at the dining room table and I didn't even know it was home school. It was playtime.
I do thank God for the things my mother taught me.
