Inquiries and Answers i8i 



next-at-hand ; beginning at home, I should pur- 

 sue the exploration, and try to educate the child 

 by the process. 



How shall I make a start? 



Persons hesitate, fearing that they will make 

 a mistake. A teacher asked me the other 

 day where he should begin with nature-work. 

 He had been considering the matter for two or 

 three years, he said, but did not know how to 

 undertake it. I replied, Begin ! Head end, 

 tail end, in the middle — but Begin ! There are 

 two essential epochs in any enterprise — to begin, 

 and to get done. 



For the first lesson, choose the natural object 

 that you know most about. Every teacher has 

 sufficient knowledge of one subject to afford one 

 good nature-study lesson. The second lesson 

 will take care of Itself. 



If you are a principal, supervisor or other 

 administrative officer and are thinking of start- 

 ing off a movement In all the schools in a city 

 or a commissioner's district or In a county, first 



