JEAN ANSWERS QUESTIONS

Thank you for the questions.  I agree with Elmer, we need questions to give us an idea of what you would be interested in.

School has started again.  Someone asked about their being a separate entrance and seating in the school.  There is no separate entrance.  The girls and boys go in the same entrance to the school.  Now the school that Susan goes to has more than one entrance / exit, but that was put in for fire reasons.  But the children can come in and out of both of them.

The children are not separated in who goes in and out the door first.  It usually the boys that are out first and the last ones in.  They are out first because they want to be the first out.  They are the last in because they would rather play outside than go to school, sometimes.

When they stand for singing in school, it is usually the boys in the back and the girls in the front.  It is based on height and tone.

For seating, I will tell you what is in our school.  I don't know what all the other Old Order Mennonite or Amish do.  Grades 1 thru 6 sit alphabetically by last name, then first name.  Grades 7 and 8 sit with girls in the front and boys in the back.  It is sort of an honor that they are in their last years of school.  Of course if the boys get to be a problem, she makes the boys and girls switch seats so the girls are in the back and the boys seated in front of them.  The boys don't like that.

When the go on field trips, the girls are in the front and the boys are in the back.  The older children are to help keep an eye on the smaller children.

One place there is a difference is when they have a picnic or a parent brings lunch to school.  Before being served, they pray over the meal, usually a silent prayer and the teacher asks one of the older boys to offer a prayer aloud.  When the meal is served, the boys are served first, then the girls.

In our meeting (church) the babies and small children sit with their mother.  Both boys and girls until they behave in church, know the prayers, can sing the songs, etc.  If their mother has passed, then they sit with a grandmother, aunt, or an adult friend.  Should there not be any of those, then the child sits in the back of the men's seats with their father.

The children want to be learn what they are suppose to because they want to sit with their friends.  Some learn faster than others, just like in school.  When they are about 10, they can sit with their friends.  Girls sit behind the ladies.  Boys behind the men.  They have to be baptized before they can sit with the adults.

Be With God,
Jean