AGRICULTURE FOR SOUTHERN SCHOOLS. 3 



USE OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL. 



In connection with most of the lessons suggestions are made for 

 illustrative material to use in the classroom. The instructor should 

 go over the course early in the year, as much of this material must be 

 gathered in season or secured from a distance. 



DISTRIBUTION OF TIME AND CREDIT. 



In the preparation of the outline it has been assumed that there 

 will be in the school year 36 weeks of five days each. Periods of 45 

 to 60 minutes, three days each week, are to be spent in the classroom, 

 and time equal to two hours a day, two days in the week, in field 

 trips, practicums, and home-project work. One hundred and four 

 lessons are given, leaving four classroom periods for examinations 

 or reviews. In the course in soils and crops the remainder of the 

 time is divided equally between the laboratory and home projects. 

 In the course in animal husbandry relatively more time is left for 

 home work. As many practicums may be worked out at home to 

 greater advantage than at school, credit should be given for such 

 work when evidence is given ihat it is properly done. Work in- 

 volving skill in farm operations is suited especially well to home 

 practicums. Credit for home work should be allowed on the same 

 basis as that given for practical work at school — ^that is, two hours' 

 work for one hour credit. 



THE IIOME PROJECT/ 



In the course in soils and crops time equal to 36 double periods, 

 or 72 hours, is left for the student's individual project. This ap- 

 proximates the time needed to produce an acre of corn, hence, grow- 

 ing an acre of com may be required of the student before he is given 

 credit for the course. It is even more necessary to adapt practicums 

 and projects to the needs of the student and the community than it 

 is to adapt the work of the classroom. All students in the course 

 may not be able to grow an acre of corn, but it may be possible for 

 them to grow some other crop. Projects should be provided for 

 students who do not live on farms, as they are in special need of 

 practical instruction. Where the school owns a farm it may be pos- 

 sible for all such students to work out their projects at the school, 

 or if they can secure work upon a farm which may be connected in 

 a definite way with their course, credit should be given for such work 

 as a substitute for a home project. 



1 See U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 346, Home Projects iq Secondary Courses 

 in Agriculture. 



