Inquiries and Answers 173 



any more than you would teach grammar with- 

 out language. 



But if the child choose the material, the sub- 

 ject will lack continuity: what then? 



Nature is not consecutive except in her 

 periods. She puts things together in a mosaic. 

 She has a brook and plants and toads and insects 

 and the weather all together. Because we have 

 put the plants in one book, the brooks in 

 another, and the bugs in another, we have come 

 to think that this divorce is the logical and 

 necessary order. 



If all the things mentioned above are taught, 

 then the life of the brook will be the thread that 

 ties them all together (p. 45). It is well to 

 introduce the pupil to a wide range of material, 

 in order to increase his points of contact with the 

 world. 



Then would you give no heed to continuity? 



How much or how little the continuity will 

 depend on the teacher and the circumstance. 

 With children, the temptation is to have too 

 much rather than too little continuity. First of 

 all, we must develop the child's experience. 



