"SCHOOL MOM"

I loved watching this today on DVD with the deleted scenes back in. A little more special.

What a marvelous scene when Caroline walked out of that school................................

Love, love, love that episode!

So there were deleted scenes added back into this one? I have only seen this episode twice, once on youtube a few months ago, and now on the remastered DVDs. I didn't notice any new scenes, but I'm not that familiar with this one yet to necessarily notice them very well.

This is another one of my favorite episodes! I love how Caroline took over the teaching job when Miss Beadle was hurt.... Of course Harriet had to make sure that Caroline wouldn't show favoritism since her own girls were in the school.... After Harriet asked that, Caroline decided on the spot that she would teach! That was great.

I also loved how Caroline helped Abel gain the confidence to come back to the school. Everything was working so well, and then of course Harriet came into the school and destroyed everything that Caroline had been doing. I love how after Caroline walked out, and quit as the teacher, Harriet decided to teach. When it is time for school that morning, Harriet rings the bell, but there aren't any kids there for school. Nellie and Willie come out of the school, and Harriet asks them "Didn't you tell the children that I was going to teach today?" Then Nellie and Willie reply, "We did... that's the trouble!" I love that scene!

I would have to say the ending was the best part, when Caroline talked to Abel again. I love how she used the same sort of mentality that Abel had about going back to school, to show him that he could go back, and that he could learn. It was great when he read for her at the very end, and she got to see all her hard work paying off! Very nice ending!

Just finished watching this one (that I had recorded some time this week on COZI-TV). Love, love, love this episode so much. I was crying my eyes out.

The accident with Miss Beadle didn't even look like a stunt double, and some things I've been reading elsewhere about this episode indicate that perhaps Charlotte Stewart did her own stunt - but wouldn't that have been an extremely dangerous stunt?

Dirk Blocker portrays Abel so well! I think Caroline should have probably realized a bit more quickly that he couldn't read, but anyway, that was some dramatic tension there in that first scene when she asked him to read before he ran out. I also like how she chastises Laura for calling him "Dumb Abel" - I think it's good to see that even the Ingalls children are not automatically little angels and that they also need to be taught right from wrong.

I love it when Ma goes and talks to Abel and sees how talented he is as an artist and how she convinces him to come back to school. But even more, I love so much how she comes up with the plan for all the other students to help Abel learn to read. But of course Mrs. Oleson has to come along and ruin things just when they were going so well. I think that the method Caroline was using was like how I learned to read - phonics. And I think this would be a great way in a one-room schoolhouse for helping all newer students learn to read. True, the whole class cannot indefinitely be kept behind just to help one or two students, but there's no harm in them spending a few days or even an hour or so a day helping - and I think that by them helping others, they are learning some very valuable lessons. Maybe it would even inspire some of the students to want to grow up to teach others.

Even if Mrs. Oleson has a legitimate complaint, she should never have barged in there like that in front of the students to air her grievances with Mrs. Ingalls' style of teaching. And she should never have called any student "dumb" and especially not in their hearing! But the one good thing about what she did is the way that Caroline responds. Karen Grassle's acting in this scene is so perfect - you can sense her anger even in the way she writes the words "compassion" and "understanding" up there on the chalkboard - especially with that final "g" of "understanding" which she makes a long "tail" on. It's like her anger is being taken out on the chalkboard. Love it! And especially love how she says that Mrs. Oleson doesn't know the meaning of those words!

Also so sweet is the way that Caroline talks with Abel and convinces him that both he and she should go back to the school. And when Abel reads the "thank you letter" to Caroline at the end, well, that's just the icing on the cake. I'm so happy that Abel learned to read - I wish his character had been a recurring character. Wouldn't it have been great to see him in future episodes?