The Old German Script

I recently deciphered and translated several 200-year old German church records for a customer researching her family history. I jumped at the chance to translate documents that few people can read today. The documents were not originals, but copies from microfilm, making the thick ink even less legible. I soon figured out that the records were all written by the same person. If I could decipher one, I could read the rest. Making the task even harder was the fact that some expressions were in Latin.
But how was I able to read the records at all, when so few people nowadays are able to do so? Years ago, my mother told me that we learned to write it in first grade. The old German script has not been in use since 1941, but since our teachers were older, they were still teaching it by the time I entered school.
During my recent trip to Germany my friends confirmed that we did indeed learn to write "Schönschrift" in first grade. Unfortunately, my notebooks from those years have not survived. At least the knowledge did.