Kindergarten at home; a kindergarten course for the individual child at home

Contents

PAGE

Preface 9

Introduction 13

Preface

A child who has reached the age of four or five seems to demand some kind of "busy work" and almost any makeshift is usually resorted to in order to provide occupation for him. More often than not, such occupation takes the form of instruction in his A, B, C's, long before he is ready or fitted for it ; but, as Froebel says, "The A, B, C of things must precede the A, B, C of words," and the kindergarten exactly fills this need, providing instead of haphazard work and play, systematic training of the child's powers and faculties * As the successful man is one who "does things," so also is the successful child one who "does things."

Although there is no doubt of the great value of kindergarten training for every child, yet on account of the inaccessibility of good kindergartens in all but the largest cities, the difficulties in the way of sending small children out to school, the expense, etc., comparatively few can avail themselves of the advantages and privileges that such a training affords. It is therefore

* Popular expressions such as "powers and faculties," though not strictly psychological, have, for the sake of simplicity, been used throughout the book. 9

PREFACE

to bring the kindergarten to the child in his own home that the following pages are written.

The task thus set is in some respects manifestly impossible by the nature of the case, as the central idea of the kindergarten is social, not individual, and yet, in spite of this, many of the kindergarten activities by some adaptation and elimination can be made applicable even to a single child. The games and songs that take an important place in the kindergarten's activities, for the most part can only be employed successfully with a number of children and are therefore here omitted and, likewise, the "Mother-Play," for in sj)ite of its name it presupposes an appreciation of the symbolic which the average mother does not possess and being the most metaphysical of all the kindergarten activities, needs a teacher with a deep insight into Froebel's ideas to rightly interpret it. On the other hand, however, maternal instinct may usually be relied upon to do the right thing where a method based on a philosophical system might go wrong. Nature, or evolution, or whatever it may be, has mercifully provided the means for arriving at its proper ends without a conscious method. Mother-Play, therefore, such as "Falling, Falling," "Birds in a Nest," "The Little Gardener," "The Knight and the Good Children," etc., finds its counterpart in the romping, cuddling and traditional finger plays like "Pat-a-cake," "Pease-porridge-hot," "This-little-pig-

PREFACE

went-to-market," etc., which it is assumed most mothers know and employ without any conscious appreciation of their deeper significance.

Though many kindergartners will consider it little short of sacrilege to tamper in any way with the inspired teachings of their prophet, this attitude is certainly mistaken, for there is no sense in depriving parents of half a loaf simply because they cannot have a whole. What the child loses, however, from lack of association with his fellows is in part at least offset by the compensating advantages which are found in the individual attention, interest and care which a single child receives.

As a child so situated will hardly have more than a year of such work at best, the lessons are planned for the year preceding regular school work, that is, for a child five to six years of age, and the course is designed so that a minimum of special kindergarten apparatus will be required and the expense be moderate.

A list of materials needed is given in the Appendix. The few special supplies that cannot be obtained about the home or locally may be secured from the kindergarten houses mentioned.

Introduction

It is not the purpose of this book to go into the theory and philosophy of the kindergarten as such information might be more embarrassing than helpful, yet in order that the parent may intelligently carry out the instructions which are given in the following pages, a very brief explanation of kindergarten methods and principles is first necessary.

Possibly the two most characteristic words which give the key to the kindergarten idea are "Gifts and Occupations." Friedrich Froebel, the originator of the kindergarten, designed a progressive series of objects: — balls, blocks, tablets, sticks, etc.; which are called "gifts" from the fact that they are given the child for directed play and from which he is to obtain both concrete and abstract ideas of form, color, motion, size, direction, number, etc. These ideas are to be gained by directed play with the "gifts" and by arranging them in various orders to represent concrete objects — "forms of life" as they are called — such as houses, bridges, cars, tables, soldiers, etc., and in abstract color and form designs — called "forms of knowledge" and "forms of beauty." The "occupations" are forms of constructive

INTRODUCTION

work with different materials, — needle and thread, paper and paste, mats and strips, etc., with which the child is to make various concrete objects and abstract designs. In short, he is to be taught "to do things" and to "learn by doing."

There are about ten gifts and as many occupations, though some kindergartners have added more; and the distinction between the two is not always clearly drawn. Strictly speaking, the gifts are those objects which do not lose their original form by use but may be employed over and over again, such as beads, blocks, rings, etc. The occupations, on the other hand, give to the material a fixed form, such as modeling, painting, weaving, etc. The gifts are arranged in the order — solids, surfaces, lines and points — from the whole to its parts (analytical) ; the occupations in the reverse order — pricking, embroidery, paper cutting, modeling — from the parts to the whole (synthetical). Some of them, hoAvever, are not as practicable or valuable as others, esi3ecially in the hands of the untrained teacher, and hence are here well omitted, as they do not justify the expense of the special "apparatus" necessary. For instance, the first gift consists of half a dozen worsted balls of as many different colors suspended from a frame by colored strings. The chief ideas to be obtained from this gift are provided for in the ball play which — unintelligent if you like — it may be safe to say every child has had, the ball

INTRODUCTION

being the first, the simplest and the most universal toy of childhood. The second gift consists of three blocks — a sphere, cube and cylinder — and most of the lessons to be learned from these are gained in the lessons with the enlarged beads which are made in these shapes. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth gifts consist of different shaped blocks for building, and the ordinary building blocks which almost every child possesses — heretical though it may be to say so — answer somewhat the same purpose.

In all kindergarten work some fundamental principles should be most carefully observed. These principles should not be considered mere prefatory platitudes. They are the most vital things in kindergarten training and on whether they are observed or neglected depends the value of the course. If the mother accepts them passively and hastens on, if she does not take them deeply to heart, the child may come through the kindergarten course worse off than he entered, but that will not be the fault of the kindergarten, nor of the child, but the crime of the teacher in neglecting just what is here put first and distinctly labeled that there may be no mistake nor excuse for any.

The kindergarten forms habits — habits of work and habits of mind. If the following principles are rigorously inculcated the habits will be good, if not they will be bad. It is obvious that no habits are better than bad ones, hence, better no kindergarten than a kindergarten in which these principles are not followed.

1. Obedience: The child should be taught habits of obedience, instant and unquestioning. Don't listen to persuasion, argument nor excuses. Don't temporize, threaten nor repeat.

2. Order: Each day he should set everything in order and put away each thing in its proper place after finishing.

3. Neatness: He should keep all his work spotless. Clean hands are necessary. Smudged, soiled or crumpled work should be done over.

4. Accuracy: He should always be required to be as accurate and exact as the limitations of his age and skill will permit. If careless or slipshod work is accepted, the teacher will get nothing else and it will grow worse.

6. Concentration:

" One thing at a time and that thing done well Is a very good rule as many can tell."

The entrance of the cat, the fall of a book, the ring of the door-bell should not be allowed to distract his attention from the matter in hand.

7. Investigation: The inquiring state of mind natural to the child should not be discouraged, and the parent should not be too quick to assume that his spontaneous flow of questions is all idle. When, however, he has asked a question, he should be made to answer it himself, if by a suggested train of thought he can be led to do so, or to wait for and understand the answer if given him.

8. Originahty, Invention, Imagination : Imitation is the natural first stage but a "copy-cat" he should not remain. The kindergarten child who said enthusiastically that his head was "just busting with inventions" had entered into the proper spirit of the work.

9. Truthfulness: Children are naturally liars in the sense that they naturally make-believe. Do not discourage their romancing, but have them offer their fairy tales as fairy tales and not as deceptions.

10. Independence : It is much easier to help the child than to help him to help himself. With a touch here or a stroke there the teacher could instantly set him straight or get him out of many a difficulty, but she should restrain her itching fingers and make it a matter of pride with him to be able to say, "I did it all myself."

If these principles are borne in mind and observed, the course given in the following pages will not only be Work and Play, the Work will be Play and the Play will be Work — work of a kind which makes character and a solid foundation for future education.

The child's work and play should be of two kinds — the first Directed, the second Undirected.

The Directed Work and play should take place at regular daily periods, as suggested below, and during such periods the mother should follow Froebel's motto,

"Come, let us live with our children." If she can give the whole of such time to the child, so much the better, but she should at least introduce him to what is to be done and keep a supervising eye on his work thereafter. Indeed, the proper way is for her to work out each lesson herself as directed, before giving it, as well as with the child while giving it. She will then be prepared for any difficulties and obstacles that may arise.

If you do not possess a child's table and chair, saw off legs of a stand or table and a chair to child's size. The table should be about 22 inches high, the chair about 12 inches. The top of the table should be marked into inch squares by scoring horizontal and vertical lines with a knife an inch apart, or better still, covered with oil cloth already marked into squares. This may be obtained from the kindergarten houses mentioned in the Appendix.

Have child observe a definite program each day, say % hour or more at 9 o'clock for directed work and play ; then an hour intermission, then another lA hour or more of directed work.

The plans of directed work are given in the following daily outlines, and as a rule each lesson takes up one gift and one occupation. As the lessons are finished they should be checked off to keep track of the point reached and to show what has been done. They should be taken up in order as they are progressive in difficulty, one thing from each of the series of gifts and occupations being completed and then the series repeated, with a little more advanced work each time. In this way the games and occupations never grow stale, as the same kind of work is not repeated too often, and then a new and advanced phase is taken up, so that the child progresses in skill and develops in power.

In this connection it may be remarked that it is never safe to take any knowledge for granted or assume that the child knows even the simplest thing he may be supposed to know. A searching cross questioning will often uncover the most unbelievable ignorance. Such elementary notions as right and left, square and oblong, opposite and over, may be understood but then again they may not be. Ask the child to open the left hand drawer of your desk or point to all the square things in the room and you may have a surprise. "Of course he knows, or ought to know" you will say, but does he ? Many grown-ups are hazy as to what a cylinder really is.

The start of each day's lesson should be a review by question and answer of the points brought out in the preceding lesson and also the one similar in the preceding week. If some of the occupations, such as weaving and sewing, cannot be finished at one sitting, they should be completed, not on the next day, but the next time this occupation is given in the lesson outlines. If the child is very young, some of the work may have to be postponed till he is older or more developed, and such omitted work should be left unchecked and returned to later. On the other hand, some of the checked work may prove so interesting that the child may be ready and willing to repeat, which is, of course, allowable. But the mother should resist the temptation to pick and choose, especially out of the order, or for the reason that one gift or occupation is less interesting than another. It is a valuable lesson for the child to learn that he must take the lean with the fat, the work as well as the play. The regular lessons should, however, be interrupted for the special occasions for which lessons are provided at the end, and these lessons for Thanksgiving, Christmas, St. Valentine's day, Washington's birthday, and the child's own birthday substituted.

The method of presenting the work as outhned is suggested for the first lessons to give the idea for conducting them and those that follow. Children and conditions vary so widely that it would be useless or worse to give the precise method for every lesson.

In general the lesson should take the form of a conversation between the parent and child, not merely directions by the former. By question and suggestion the child should be encouraged to draw strongly on his imagination and tell a story as he plays. In all the play with the gifts, other than abstract designing, he should be encouraged to imagine the things he arranges represent something in real life, no matter how crude or far fetched the resemblance may be. This, indeed, is what he will naturally do, for a child's imagination will invest the most sordid thing with vital interest. The old astronomers who saw in the stars likenesses of men and animals and named the constellations the "Great Bear," "Orion," "The Bull," were little children in this. Everyone knows the finger play in which while you illustrate you say, "Here is the church and here is the steeple, open the door and see all the people." This is the idea the pupil should be encouraged to carry out in his play with the gifts. For instance, "Here is a line of soldiers marching two and two and here is the captain in a red coat; here comes the band in blue coats and here are the wagons," etc., all made out of the sticks and beads. This is to develop his imagination and language sense and is of the greatest importance. The highly literal modern toy, in which nothing whatever is left to the imagination, is very pleasing for a time, but lacking in educational value. It stunts the growth of the imagination, as there is no opportunity nor incentive given for its development and, through lack of exercise, that faculty becomes atrophied. If the child in later life is to find "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones," if he is to think deeply, see below the surface, originate and invent, this is the time and way to make the beginning. Genius has been defined as the ability to imagine things that do not exist, and certainly wit is nothing but unexpected flashes of the imagination in seeing associations that are not obvious.

Besides developing his imagination this method should also train his language sense and provide opportunity for forming proper habits of speech. The indiscriminate use of the word "it" to indicate a cube, a sheet of paper, or any other object with a specific name, and makeshift expressions like "thing-a-ma-bob," "this-a-way" should be strictly tabooed. Such expressions are either the result of lazy mindedness or ignorance. The former should not be tolerated, the latter should be enlightened. Neither should the parent avoid the use of apparently difficult words so long as the ideas for which they stand are clear. It is all very well to use expressions like "standing up" and "lying down" when first describing vertical and horizontal lines, but the specific terms are no more difficult to learn once the idea is understood than words like "yesterday" or "to-morrow," for which we should not think of substituting such cumbersome expressions as "the-daybefore-this-day" or "the-day-after-this-day."

From the foregoing and the first developed lessons which follow, the method of procedure should be understood so that, except in special cases, it will only be necessary in succeeding lessons to give the outline of the work to be done, leaving the parent to supply the conversation and other life-giving details, without which the skeleton is nothing but dry bones.

A word of caution may not be out of place. Withal, the teacher's attitude should be sensible and virile. There is too much of a tendency among kindergartners to sentimental maunderings about "little birdies" and "dear little ones" and the use of such diminutives and terms of endearment. "Little" and "Dear" are the two most overworked words in a certain kind of kindergarten course and kindergarten literature, and this perhaps, more than anything else, has brought the kindergarten into disrepute and made it a subject of too often merited jokes. To the mascuhne mind at least "a dear Httle triangle" and "little Mr. Cube" are simply idiotic driveling. The teacher should be sympathetic without sentimentality, the pupil self-respecting, not silly.

The Undirected Work and Play is provided for in the last chapter which suggests all sorts of activities not entering into a regular kindergarten schedule and these games and occupations the child may take up at any time. A child's interests are naturally fickle and transitory, and he will soon tire of the most elaborate toy. The secret of keeping up interest is contained in this injunction, "Never give him more than one thing at a time and do not even tell him of the next till all the possibilities of the first are exhausted." Save your ammunition; husband your resources. In this way his interest may be kept ever fresh and new.

1. Take the large wooden colored "beads" made in second gift shapes, that is, in the form of spheres, cubes and cylinders, and distribute them in three boxes putting all of one shape in each box. (Form of beads) .

In this lesson give child the box of spheres and ask him to pick out a red bead (say "a ball") with his right hand, then another red bead with his left hand, and so on, using the hand he is directed to use and so distinguishing between the right and left till he has taken all the red beads out of the box. This is to drill him on right and left and the color red. Each of the colors is taken up and studied one at a time and then in combination. As he picks them out ask him what other things are the same color. For instance, he might say fire, a rose, his lips, ribbon, rubies, etc. Let

n his thoughts wander for a moment over the whole universe, picking out fantastic as well as obvious things that are red, but have him bring his mind back to the matter immediately in hand the instant he is told to do so (obedience). Then ask him to string all the red balls to form a "necklace" which he may wear hung about his neck when completed. Call the beads rubies ; and like Solomon or an Eastern potentate he may dazzle the household with his crown jewels.

2. Give the child a piece of clay and have him divide it into pieces about the size of a bead. Then have him roll each piece in his hands to make a lot of spherical beads (preliminary notion of the simplest and yet most complete of solid forms). These he can readily convert into cherries by inserting a piece of match stick m each or better still a bit of twig.

1. By way of review of points brought out in preceding lesson, ask child questions about right and left and red, then give him the box of cubical beads and ask him to pick out all the yellow beads as directed in preceding lesson. Ask him what other things are j^ellow, as was done in the case of the red. Then ask him to string all the yellow cubes to form a necklace of topazes. Ask him what difference he finds between the behavior of these beads and the spherical ones (investigation). He will notice that the little cubes are not as elusive as the spheres, they do not roll off the table but "stay put."

2. Give the child a piece of clay the size of an egg and have him roll it into as perfect a ball (sphere) as he can (accuracy), while you make one at the same time. Ask him questions about it and have him also ask questions while he is modeling the ball into shape, — "What other things are round (spherical) like a ball?" — an orange, the sun, etc. Then, asking him to do as you do, raise the ball above the table and drop it, flattening one side slightly. Then have him pat the top of the sphere with his fingers, then press the right side flat, then the left and finally the front and back to form a cube. Avoid touching his cube as much as possible and have him follow the directions as you tell him, so that he may learn to know the meaning of right and left, top and bottom, front and back (direction). Ask him what things have a similar shape — a box, a house, a lump of sugar, etc.

1. Review the color yellow and differences between spheres and cubes, etc., learned in preceding lesson. Then give the child the box of cylindrical beads and ask him to pick out all the blue cylinders. Ask him what other things are blue, as directed in lesson 1. Then ask him what difference he finds between the behavior of these beads and the spherical and cubical beads he has already had. He will notice that these beads poured out on his table do not run away as much as the balls but, on the other hand, are not as steady as the cubes — in other words that they seem to be related to both the spheres and cubes in the way they behave. Have him notice which ones roll — those resting on their curved face, and which stand still — those resting on their flat face, and he should then see that the cylinder, like the sphere, has a curved face and hence will roll like the sphere when it rests on this face, but that it also has two flat faces like the cube and hence will act like the cube — stand still — when it rests on either of these faces. Have him string all the blue cylinders — rollers — to form a necklace of sapphires.

2. Give the child a piece of clay the size of an egg and have him first form it into a sphere, then by rolling it on his table in one direction till elongated and flattening the ends make it into a cylinder. Ask him what things have a similar shape — a drum, a mug, a rolling pin, etc.

1. Review the color blue and the characteristics of the cylinders related to the sphere and cube, learned in preceding lesson.

Then give the child the box of tablets (seventh gift) , and ask him to pick out a square. Ask him how this is different from the cube. Make a fresh cube of m clay and cut a thin slice off one side. The child will see that the square is really one face of a cube. Ask him what other things in the room are square, and have him distinguish between square and oblong. Ask him how many corners it has and how many edges. Then give the child 2 square tablets, both dark or both light, counting them out as you do so — "one, two." Ask him how many squares he has, then what other things he has two of — 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 arms, 2 legs, etc. (first ideas of number) . Tell him that these are called "pairs" but two tablets are called a "couple." Ask him to name other things that are couples but not pairs. Ask him to arrange the tablets on his table in as many different positions as he can. Some of the possible arrangements are shown on page 31.

Work alongside of him for the present, making the designs with your own set of materials, and having him copy (imitation) , as long as he has no ideas of his own, but encourage him to originate and make his own arrangements (invention) as soon as possible. Then have him do the same with 3 squares and save the best design.

2. Give the child the box of gummed parquetry papers and have him pick out 3 squares, one red, one yellow and one blue. Tell him that these are the 3 most imj^ortant colors and are therefore called "first" ^(primary) colors.

Ask him what they are made of — paper — and what paper is made of — usually of wood pulp. Great forests are being cut down and ground up to make paper for newspapers, magazines and books. The finer writing papers are made of linen rags. Ask him to arrange them in the centre of a mounting sheet in the form preserved above, then paste, being very careful not to soil nor discolor the right side of the parquetry in pasting nor the mount (neatness). Tell him if he does it very carefully indeed, he might give it to his father or grandmother (thought of others) .

1. Review the points learned in preceding lesson and then pick out for yourself 4 square tablets, 2 light and 2 dark, counting them out as you do so and have the child do the same for himself. Ask him how many dark ones he has, then how many light, and how many m m m altogether. Ask him to arrange these squares in as many "forms of beauty" (designs) as he can, making the same design yourself either before, at the same time as, or after him and save the best.

2. Give the child the box of parquetry papers and ask him to pick out 2 yellow squares (light) and 2 hlue squares (dark), arrange them in the centre of a mounting sheet in the form preserved above and paste. Ask him how paste is made — of gum from the sap of a tree or, usually, of flour and water boiled together.

1. Continue to review the preceding lesson each day without further direction.

Pick out 5 square tablets all dark, counting them out as you do so and having the child do the same. Ask him to arrange these squares in as many "forms of beauty" as he can. Make the first two suggested below, then ask him to suggest other variations, and follow his lead. He should early be taught what is known as the law of balance or sj^mmetry (or Opposites) in "forms of beauty" — that is, that the right and left side should be similar, or the top and bottom, or both. This he may learn by being told always to keep the opposites alike; when he adds to one side always to add in a similar way to the opposite side. Ask him which of the arrangements he likes best and save it for putting into a permanent form in the parquetry.

2. Give the child the box of parquetry papers and have him count out five hlue squares, arrange them in the centre of a mounting sheet in the form preserved above and paste.