Through tracing in detail the story of schooling for three individuals, this article provides a rich description of the way that education impacted on the lives of many Maori between the early 1900s and the year 2000. Although there is extensive research on the historical colonising effects of schooling on Maori and te reo Maori (the Maori language), this article approaches these effects by bringing them alive and illustrating them in the everyday lived experience of women from three generations: my mother, myself, and my daughter. Through this method, the article maps in evocative detail the important historical period between the banning of Maori language in schools and the renaissance of Maori language teaching and speaking in schools.