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Chapter XIV BIBLE LESSONS  Children enjoy the Bible.—We are apt to believe that children cannot be interested in thep.248Bible unless its pages be watered down—turned into the slipshod English we prefer to offer them. Here is a suggestive anecdote of the childhood of Mrs Harrison, one of the pair of little Quaker maidens introduced to […]

Chapter XIII COMPOSITION  George Osborne’s Essay.—“What a prodigiously well-read and delightful person the Reverend Lawrence Veal was, George’s master! ‘He knows everything,’ Amelia said. ‘He says there is no place in the bar or the senate the Georgy may not aspire to. Look here,’ and she went to the piano-drawer and drew out a theme of

Chapter XII SPELLING AND DICTATION  Of all the mischievous exercises in which children spend their school hours, dictation, as commonly practised, is perhaps the most mischievous; and this, because people are slow to understand that there is no part of a child’s work at school which some philosophic principle does not underlie.        

Chapter XI TRANSCRIPTION   Value of Transcription.—The earliest practice in writing proper for children of seven or eight should be, not letter-writing or dictation, but transcription, slow and beautiful work, for which the New Handwriting is to be preferred, though perhaps some of the more ornate characters may be omitted with advantage.          Transcription should be

Chapter X WRITING  Perfect Accomplishment.—I can only offer a few hints on the teaching of writing, though much might be said. First, let the child accomplish something perfectly in every lesson—a stroke, a pothook, a letter. Let the writing lesson be short; it should not last more than five or ten minutes. Ease inp.234writing comes by practice; but

Chapter IX THE ART OF NARRATING Children Narrate by Nature.—Narrating is an art, like poetry-making or painting, because it is there, in every child’s mind, waiting to be discovered, and is not the result of any process of disciplinary education. A creative fiat calls it forth. ‘Let him narrate’; and the child narrates, fluently, copiously, in ordered

Chapter VIII READING FOR OLDER CHILDREN  In teaching to read, as in other matters, c’est le premier pas qui coûte. The child who has been taught to read with care and deliberation until he has mastered the words of a limited vocabulary, usually does the rest for himself. The attention of his teachers should be fixed

Chapter VII RECITATION ‘The Children’s Art’           On this subject I cannot do better that refer the reader to Mr Arthur Burwell’s Recitation.[1] This book purports to be a handbook for many teachers in elementary schools. I wish that it may be very largely used by such teachers, and may also become a family handbook; though many

Chapter VI READING BY SIGHT AND BY SOUND   Learning to read is Hard Work.—Probably that vague whole which we call ‘Education’ offers no more difficult and repellent task than that to which every little child is (or ought to be) set down—the task of learning to read. We realise the labour of it when some

Chapter V THE FIRST READING LESSON[1] (Two Mothers Confer)           “You don’t mean to say you would go plump into words of three or four syllables before a child knows his letters?”          “It is possible to read words without knowing the alphabet, as you may know a face without singling out its features;