Katie's Corner: Learning to live like colonial tweens Katie's Corner: Learning to live like colonial tweens (June 15, 2005)

By Katie Blankenberg

5th-grader, St. Raymond School

Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in colonial times? At St. Raymond School, my fifth-grade class, taught by Miss Courtney Smith, had a day living as colonial tweens. We dressed in colonial-style clothing, worked like colonial kids, and feasted on a colonial lunch.

During Tea Time, colonial moms Anne Ashmead and Lisa Lommel taught us some of the customs from those times. Colonial kids were not allowed to speak until spoken to at the table. Of course, that rule didn't last for long at our table.

We also participated in activities such as candle-dipping, writing with feathers, and making lanterns and platters. In the "Quincy Market" we used our reproduction colonial shillings to buy supplies.

Being a tween in colonial times was hard. For instance, here is a daily list of chores for a typical colonial girl my age: "Mended Mother's riding hood, spun short thread, fixed three gowns, carded tow, spun linen, worked on cheese basket, hatchelled flax, 51 pounds each, pleated and ironed, read sermon, milked cows, spun 50 knots of linen, made broom from Guinea wheat straw, spun thread to whiten, set a red dye, made fresh hominy, carded two pounds of wool, spun harness twine, scoured pewter, polished candlesticks, paid a visit to an elderly neighbor, served 3 meals ... and daily school work."

So the next time you feel overwhelmed, think of what life was like before us. Personally, I prefer cleaning my room to scrubbing pots and kettles.

For a peek into the world of a colonial tween girl, I recommend reading "Phoebe's Secret Diary." For tween boys, I recommend "The Bloody Summer of 1742." Both are written by Joyce Blackburn.

These books are journal entries of colonial kids. In reading these books, I found that our chores and way of life were very different, but our thoughts and views regarding our parents, brothers and sisters, and life in general were very similar.
Katie Blankenberg, 11, lives in Menlo Park.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.