08/26/2026
August is , where the goal is to help parents ease their new kindergarteners into the idea and schedule of school before the classes actually start. Back in 1891, the Carver Free Press printed an article that’s more of the reverse of the idea behind Get Ready for Kindergarten Month – getting the parents ready. The following is the oldest currently indexed article about kindergartens in Carver County:
Carver Free Press - January 29, 1891
The Kindergarten
There is no village in the state the size of Carver that can boast of a Kindergarten, but when we visited that institution the other day it became clear in our mind, that the parents of small children do not sufficiently understand the benefits derived in a school of this kind. Kindergarten means a garden of children, and Froebel, the inventor of it, meant to symbolize by the name, the spirit and plan of treatment. Every mother knows how hard it is to meet the demands of a child too young to be taught to read, but whose opening intelligence and irrepressible bodily activity are so hard to be met by an adult. The Kindergarten is the training ground for such children, where they learn their lessons in a playing manner. But it would be useless for us to say more. The best way to learn the methods of a Kindergarten is to visit one and see the teacher with her pupils at work or at play.
Miss Elise Muehlberg, the teacher at our Kindergarten, informed us that she would be perfectly willing to give any child a free trial tuition for one week. Parents should avail themselves of this opportunity and send their little ones to the Kindergarten for one week; if thereafter they don’t like it they can retain the children.
