Last week the whole school spent a day at Ferrymead. We wanted to give everyone a "real life" experience about what it is like to face challenges on a daily basis and to have to use initiative, courage, resilience, creativity and perseverance to overcome them.
I was so thrilled with the ways in which the children took on the roles and completed the tasks.
There was competition and bartering but also team work.
One of the lasting memories is of how they sat in total silence eating morning tea after the 1800's "teacher" reminded them that "children should be seen and not heard."
Our lunch was a chunk of crusty bread, a slab of cheese, a home baked biscuit, crisp apple and home made jam. It was delicious and very filling. Just the kind of sustenance needed for a day of manual labour.
Some of the junior children had been at school for four days and we took them off to this adventure. They coped so well with having to adapt to new expectations and with having to solve problems without the help of technology.
The boys will never admit it but they loved playing dress-ups too.
I was so impressed by the levels of total concentration as the children had to learn tasks that they may not have seen before. Some had the notion that the goal was to scrub the washing board clean rather than the clothes.
The idea of small boys being lifted into the oven to clean it once it was cool did not appeal to anyone. Thank goodness times have moved on. I would never have survived.
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