Go (Way) Back to School – in 1880!

Ok, back to school may be all about new backpacks and laptops, and a broadcast address from the president.

But here at the High Desert Homestead ranch, where it is the year 1880, we're talking chalkboards, ink wells and being dropped off by a horse-drawn carriage. (News from president Rutherford B. Hayes could take weeks to reach the classroom.)

Schoolmarm Ruby Borden is welcoming back students on the Western frontier.

She shows young children how to use the chalk and slate. Older children who know how to write in cursive use the dip pen.

"Using a dip pen is not as easy as you might think," Ruby says. "You must hold the pen just right to get the ink to flow. The ink dries quickly in our climate, so one must be quick and use a light hand to glide over the paper."

Just like teachers today, Ruby loves to see children excited about what they are studying.

"I hope they will become good, voting citizens, successful in their chosen path and kind to those around them," she says.

She doesn't like disciplining misbehaving students, but that's a whole different scene.

"If I have to punish them, I make them sweep the floor, empty stove ashes, or wash the writing slates," Ruby says. "If that doesn’t work, I make them clean the outhouse. That does work. I also send notes to parents of children who misbehave."

So, all you modern students, come down to the homestead and try out the dip pen, chat with our schoolmarms and peruse the 1880 American and world maps (quite different than today). Our mustangs, chickens and goat are there too, waiting for students to come back to school!