Inquiries and Answers 181 



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 



