A one-room schoolhouse classroom was most likely similar to your own. The teacher's desk, on the other hand, may have been on a raised platform at the front of the room, and there would have been a wood-burning stove because there was no other source of heat. The bathroom would have been in an outhouse outdoors. Students would have taken their seats in rows of wooden desks or chairs. There were only about 8,000 schools in America in 1820. So if you went to school then, you probably learned in a one-room schoolhouse. The rooms could be small -- some were only 20 feet by 30 feet -- but they usually had a window and a door. Some had loft spaces where teachers could store materials that could be used during class time such as books or puppets. Almost all children in early America attended school until about age 12 when many parents began sending them to learn a trade. Children who didn't work outside the home often got a practical education from their sisters or mothers. There were very few colleges in America before the 19th century so most people learned through trial and error or by watching others. Schools began to close their doors in the 1880s due to low enrollment and high costs. By 1900 only 350 schools remained open across America. But by 1920 those numbers had more than doubled to 755 schools. And today almost every child in America is educated in a school building built since 1980!