PERU – A typical autumn day in school for Hannah Mikkonen, Jeffrey Colpitts and Thomas Brenner is most atypical when compared to pupils attending school elsewhere.

That’s because the trio and nine other youngsters attending the Heritage School – a one-room schoolhouse on Route 108 in Peru – regularly excuse themselves from class to go outside and sell pumpkins and squash.

“When someone drives into the yard, out they go to wait on customers,” said teacher Vickie Kuhl of Rumford.

Kuhl said the concept of teaching children mathematics and weights and measurements like this, bolsters what they learn from textbooks.

“It’s good because the kids can see useful applications for math. It also makes it more fun for them,” Kuhl added.

In addition to math and weights, the students, who are in first through eighth grades, have also learned customer skills and how to count out change.

“I don’t really like math, but I like adding the money and bringing pumpkins to customers’ cars,” said Mikkonen, 12, of Peru. “I like weighing pumpkins. I think it’s fun.”

The produce is harvested from the adjacent Colpitts family farm at 1062 Auburn Road and money made from sales helps pay their taxes and house improvements, said Marilee Colpitts.

Colpitts, who founded the school and also fills in as a teacher, said this is the third year that Heritage School students, family members and volunteers have helped harvest crops.

This year was a great year for pumpkins, she said, because they harvested between 4,000 and 5,000 of the popular orange gourds.

“Last year was a bad year because of the drought. We didn’t have much pumpkins and sold out in two weeks,” she added.

In addition to weighing, selling and lugging pumpkins of all sizes, the students also sell Indian corn, buttercup and acorn squash, pumpkin and traditional gourds, corn stalks, honeycombs, and maple syrup in between lessons.

“I like weighing pumpkins and selling stuff because it’s a fun way to do math,” said 10-year-old Jeffrey Colpitts.

Brenner, 9, of Livermore, agreed.

“It’s a good way to learn math,” he said Thursday. “Just yesterday, I learned how to use a scale where you have to slide (weights) across top and bottom rails. We have a lot of pumpkins and they all weigh different amounts.”

Matthew Sist, 15, of Mexico, said he enjoys learning about the customers, one of whom bought 20 pumpkins from him one day.

“I also like getting to go outside during the middle of class,” he added.

Jeffrey Colpitts’ twin brother, David, said customers have also tipped the youths for lugging pumpkins or bushel baskets out to their cars.

But while they can count out change and determine costs based on weight, David said three of them struggled one day to figure out how to split a dollar bill tip amongst themselves.

The school and a yard lined with bright orange pumpkins is located at 1066 Auburn Road (Route 108), just down from the Worthley Pond Road intersection.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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