PART V
LESSONS AS INSTRUMENTS OF EDUCATION
I. THE MATTER AND METHOD OF LESSONS
Parents must reflect on the subject-matter of instruction--Home the best growing ground for young children--Three questions for the mother--Children learn, to grow--Doctoring of the material of knowledge--Children learn, to get ideas-- Ideas grow and produce after their kind--Scott and Stephenson worked with ideas--Value of dominant ideas--Lessons must furnish ideas--Children learn, to get knowledge--Diluted knowledge--Dr Arnold’s knowledge as a child--Literature proper for children--Four tests which should be applied to children’s lessons--_Résumé_ of six points just considered 169
II. THE KINDERGARTEN AS A PLACE OF EDUCATION
The mother the best _Kindergärtnerin_--The nursery need not therefore be a kindergarten--Field of knowledge too circumscribed--Training of a just eye and faithful hand-- ‘Sweetness and light’ in the kindergarten 178
III. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS OF THE KINDERGARTEN
The childhood of Tolstoi--_The Story of a Child_--What we owe to Froebel--Requirements of a person--Nature as an educator-- Danger of undervaluing children’s intelligence--We all like to be humoured--Teachers mediate too much--Danger of personal magnetism--‘Kindergarten’ a false analogy--‘Mother-games’ too strenuous for a child--The society of his equals too stimulating for a child--Danger of supplanting Nature-- Importance of personal initiative--Parents and teachers must sow opportunities--‘Only’ children--The child should be allowed some ordering of his life--_Helen Keller_--Miss Sullivan on systems of education--The kindergarten in the United States--Mr Thistleton Mark on the kindergarten-- Dr Stanley Hall on the kindergarten 182
IV. READING
Time of teaching to read--Mrs Wesley’s plan--The alphabet-- Word-making--Word-making with long vowels, etc.--Early spelling--Reading at sight--The reading of prose--Careful pronunciation--A year’s work--Ordinary method 199
V. THE FIRST READING LESSON
(Two mothers confer) 207
VI. READING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND
Learning to read is hard work--Knowledge of arbitrary symbols--These symbols should be interesting--Tommy’s first lesson--Steps--Reading sentences--Tommy’s second lesson--Unknown words--Like combinations have different sounds--Moral training in reading lessons 214
VII. RECITATION
‘The children’s art’--Memorising 222
VIII. READING FOR OLDER CHILDREN
The habit of reading--Reading aloud--Limitation--Reading to children--Questions on the subject-matter--Lesson-books-- Slipshod habits; Inattention--Careless enunciation 226
IX. THE ART OF NARRATING
Children narrate by nature--This power should be used in their education--Method of lesson 231
X. WRITING
Perfect accomplishment--Printing--Steps in teaching--Text- hand--_A New Handwriting_--How to use 233
XI. TRANSCRIPTION
Value of transcription--Children should transcribe favourite passages--Small text-hand--Double-ruled lines--Position in writing--Desks--Children’s table 238
XII. SPELLING AND DICTATION
A fertile cause of bad spelling--The _rationale_ of spelling-- Steps of a dictation lesson 240
XIII. COMPOSITION
George Osborne’s essay--An educational futility--Lessons in composition--Teaching that is a public danger--‘Composition’ comes by nature 243
XIV. BIBLE LESSONS
Children enjoy the Bible--Should know the Bible text--Essential and accidental truth--Method of Bible lessons--Picture illustrations--Bible recitations 247
XV. ARITHMETIC
Educative value of--Problems within the child’s grasp-- Demonstrate--Problems--Notation--Weighing and measuring-- Arithmetic as a means of training--The _A B C Arithmetic_-- Preparation for mathematics 253
XVI. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
A basis of facts--Eyes and no eyes--Principles--To be comprehended by children--As taught in a village school 264
XVII. GEOGRAPHY
Educational value of--As commonly taught--Geography should be interesting--How to begin--What next--Maps--What general knowledge a child of nine should have--Particular knowledge-- Definitions--Fundamental ideas--Meaning of a map 271
XVIII. HISTORY
A storehouse of ideas--‘Outlines’ mischievous--So are most history books written for children--Early history of a nation best fitted for children--Some old Chronicles--Age of myths-- _Plutarch’s Lives_--History books--Dates--Illustrations by the children--‘Playing at’ history 279
XIX. GRAMMAR
Grammar a difficult study--Latin grammar--English grammar a logical study--Two grammar lessons 295
XX. FRENCH.
M. Gouin’s method--The ‘Series’--How does the child learn? 300
XXI. PICTORIAL ART, ETC.
Study of pictures--Should be regular--A picture talk--Drawing lessons--Children have ‘Art’ in them--Clay modelling--The piano and singing--Handicrafts and drills 307
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