In Kuo's extended family, the more than forty children belonging to her generation, starting at age three, were instructed by an elderly teacher in the family's private schoolroom, where they studied the Three Character Classic, the Thousand Character Classic, the Four Books, and the Five Classics, practiced calligraphy, and learned how to compose in literary Chinese, before going on to junior high school at age fourteen.
郭家誠字輩四十多個子弟，從三歲起，一律在自家書房跟著老先生從三字經、千字文開蒙，再讀四書五經，寫書法，作文言文，直到十四歲才走出書房，以同等學力報考初中。