How pioneer children get to school?

Answer 1

They didn't go to school. As a pioneer child they walked alongside the wagons on the movement west. As they walked they would pick up buffalo chips for the campfire, and hunt for eggs from the birds in the grasslands. The older children looked after the youngest and older boys would help their father. Often the father's would die as they crossed and the oldest boy took his place. There is one story about a family of 6 going to Oregon. As they crossed a flooded river the father died and much of the families things were lost. They still had their wagon so kept going. The mother had a baby on the trail, buried a child, and lost the wagon over a cliff in the Rockies. The mother and the children walked the rest, of the way with nothing more than what they wore. They did make it to Oregon. Once a family was settled they often were alone for miles so there was no school. Parents taught their children to read and do some math. If they ended up in one of the small settlements or fort there could be school. California gold rush towns did have schools when families finally showed up. The children of the 1800's had many responsibilities to help the family in daily chores, cooking, hunting, making butter, sewing, feeding horses, chickens and collecting eggs, mend fences, helping with the wash, and getting water. Even the youngest had a job.