I wake up it’s another day, I’m ready to teach the young ones. I jump out of the warm soft bed since I know the children will arrive soon and will make my day happier. Since I lost my husband I count on the children to bring me happiness. I then get dressed, I put on a long black dress with a grey cloak and a white apron. Both my cousin and I teach at a dame school which is the equivalent to a kindergarten. It is in our house at the edge of Williamsburg. My name is Emma Baker, I’m a 22 year old widowed woman and my cousin Amity Cartwell is a 19 year old widowed woman. My cousin Amity and I both love the children who come and participate in the school, we love each and every one of them even though some of them are more trouble than others.

In our household we have very little paper since it is expensive. We also have ink but rarely use it, since the ink and the paper are for the privileged. When we teach, we mostly use chalkboards and shells to write with. We also teach from the Hornbooks and the English Primer. The children come into our front part of the house and bring firewood so we can supply them with a warm environment. The families of the children pay us in grain and corn, and this helps us to live. We sit them down all on benches and start teaching. While we teach them, they practice their letters and numbers. While they are doing this, we do our housework. There is always laundry and cleaning to do. The children are always asking us questions, so we teach while we do our chores. This takes up most of the day. On Mondays we discuss the Sermon to make sure that the children were listening.

“We will now learn about numbers,” I say, taking out the English Primer. I swiftly flip the page and read out “A number is a word or a symbol that represents a specific amount or quantity. You can add, subtract, multiply, divide and do so much more. Numbers go on forever, there is never an end. Today, we’re going to learn the basics, adding.”

I continue my lesson while Amity helps the children with their questions. While she is helping I do some chores and prepare the snacks. After about 4-8 hours the children will leave and Amity and I will continue our work until bedtime. We are so happy to see all the children getting along and helping each other. We try to teach the boys as much as we can so they can continue their schooling and have a good job one day. The girls will work as housekeepers or become a schoolmaster just like us. The slave children are better off because they can read and do basic math. Some of the Native Children may go on to Hampton College, so they will need to pay more attention and learn more complex things. The European girls won’t move up to college, but many of the wealthier boys will go to College of William and Mary.