Parents revive the one-room schoolhouse in two rural Missouri communities

The Homestead School’s main room serves as the school's primary 
gathering space. (Photo by Kaitlyn McConnell, The Daily Yonder)

Ozark parents are going back in time to the old one-room schoolhouse concept, hoping that the past offers the best lessons on how to educate the hearts, minds and spirits of children.

"This seemingly old-timey form of schooling is reemerging in rural areas where families seek a different education for their children," reports Kaitlyn McConnell for The Daily Yonder. "Technology is very limited, and value is placed on personal character, work ethic, relationship building, and a foundation of faith in the primarily Christian region."

Starting around the end of the Civil War until the 1940s, the one-room schoolhouse was "the bedrock of rural Ozarks communities. Kids focused on learning basics that were taught by one teacher in one room," McConnell explains. The trend is re-emerging as "smaller – or at least more localized – is seen by some as better."

Not every new one-room schoolhouse runs exactly the way they did in earlier times; instead, their structure is meant to "channel close-knit classes, ideals, and beliefs – religious and lifestyle – that their leaders feel are important to instill in younger generations," McConnell reports.

Neighborhood Christian Schools serves about 40 kids from kindergarten through high school in Hutton Valley, Missouri, following the old philosophy. "The day is broken into periods that focus on traditional subjects," McConnell writes. "Kids from first through sixth grade are in the same room with one teacher. Like a traditional one-room school, more advanced students assist kids at lower levels."

Brenten and Kimberly Blake founded Homestead Schoolhouse about 100 miles west of Hutton Valley in rural Taney County. Their school "takes a more modern approach to 'one-room schooling,’" McConnell reports. "Instead of all being together in one room. . some core classes are broken down more into age or skill. In addition to coursework, the student’s experience includes 'life skills' training to recover rural knowledge, like animal husbandry and home economics."

"Whether it’s salvation or academics or better citizens, the long game is the goal for schools like these to have their impact be long-lasting beyond the core academic subjects," McConnell adds. Kimberly Blake told her, "Success really won’t be measured for several years – to see if you’re really instilling values in students."