CHAPTER XX 



PROGRESS BY AVOIDING REPETITION 

 {Extracts from a letter.) 



Whole classes are taken out on clear days to the woods, 

 fields, stream, hillsides, and gorges to observe and enjoy 

 Nature. When out on these rambles they collect various 

 things of interest and bring them back for further study. 



In this study we aim to connect it with other studies in 

 such a way as to give added life and meaning to them. 

 These excursions, wheat, corn, trees, etc., are made the 

 themes for compositions. Thus we give the children some- 

 thing to write about that they have seen and experienced — 

 the only theme that a child can tell of intelligently. Nature 

 poems are learned and recited in connection with the objects 

 studied. Nature songs are sung in school. These composi- 

 tions written by the children are neatly written out and 

 kept in a composition book. The books are passed on from 

 grade to grade each year, so that each teacher may know 

 what has been done by the grade she has during previous 

 years, and thus avoid repetition, which kills interest. This 

 method enables us to progress in the subject from grade to 

 grade. 



My aim is to teach those things which have some influence 

 upon our lives in some way or another. Thus we study 

 plants and animals useful to man, also plants and animals 

 which, directly or indirectly, are a detriment to man's in- 

 terests. 



The aesthetical, ethical, and religious growth comes with 

 contact, but is not directly alluded to, for preaching kills. 

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