Imagine you’re a ten-year-old California Indian living in a mission around 1800. What is your life like? How do you spend your days?
Life follows a strict schedule. The mission bells tell you when to get up in the morning and when to go to sleep at night. They also tell you when to start work, when to eat, and when to go to church.
Instead of living with your family, you sleep on a mat in a dormitory. You probably do not go to school. Instead, you spend your day working hard in the fields, kitchens, laundry, or another part of the mission. There are no stores to buy things, so people at the mission grow their own food and make their own clothing, soap, candles, leather, and metal tools.
