346 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:8— Nov., 1918 



herself. It makes the other work more interesting. In fact 

 every lesson becomes a nature-study lesson more or less. 



The season guides me somewhat as to the right time to take up a 

 subject. When some special interest has been manifested in 

 anything, it is a good time to take up that subject. Only experi- 

 ence has taught me the right way to present a subject. You must 

 study conditions and the attitude of your pupils. Feel your way 

 and proceed carefully or your efforts are lost. I have failed when 

 I have required lessons studied from books." 



"I am a great lover of nature myself, and I naturally delight in 

 teaching little children to love her. I think that nature-study 

 has had and will have more to do in forming good, clean lives 

 for the men and women of tomorrow than any other subject ever 

 taught in the common schools. It is also helping to solve the 

 problem of keeping the boy on the farm. The farmer of the future 

 will have a greater knowledge of the wonders of the great out-of- 

 doors than his parents had. He will have time when plowing or 

 doing other work on the farm to examine weeds, insects, birds, 

 and other natural objects, and will stop to think whether or not 

 they ars injurious. 



As to the right time to take up the topic — whenever specimens 

 are brought in, is the time to discuss them-. If a question is 

 asked on some nature-study or agricultural problem, it should be 

 answered at once if possible. It should certainly not be shoved 

 entirely aside. In this case the interest of questioner and listeners 

 may be lost. In my school, if something is brought in with which 

 we are not familiar, we search for all information we can find on 

 the subject. All other school work is improved because of this. 

 If called from their work to observe perhaps a bird feeding on some 

 near-by tree, the children return to their other work with keener 

 minds." 



"I teach the lesson by asking questions and supplementing 

 answers by explanation. Whenever we can, we find our answer 

 from the specimen. On many succeeding days I ask who remem- 

 bers that special plant or bird or insect and what they can tell 

 about it. There is always great interest. I believe that the 

 person who compels pupils to learn long descriptions of natural 

 objects or who reads pages of uninteresting description to them, 



