In the Little House books, specifically These Happy Golden Years, Laura teaches school for three terms before she marries Almanzo. She is proud of this fact as her mother, Caroline, taught for only two terms before she married Charles. She got her first teaching certificate on December 10, 1882 and was offered her first teaching job at the same time.
Laura taught school terms in between her own attendance as a student at the school in De Smet. She taught in traditional pioneer one room schoolhouses where there were a variety of students all attending school in the same room.
The Brewster school, which was Lauras first teaching position in early 1883, was actually the Bouchie school but Laura changed the name due to the incidents she described in the book while boarding with the Bouchie family. The schoolhouse was located 12 miles from De Smet and Almanzo travelling each week to bring Laura home on the weekends was the beginnings of their serious courtship.
