When it is impossible to send the child to such a school as this,
something may be done by supplementing the ordinary school by some
of these procedures. The clay jar, the crayons, and the paints have
already been suggested, and with the parents' interest in the child's
studies, helping him to model and paint things which he studies at
school, he will instantly show the good effect of the home training
and encouragement. As for field trips, the regular Sunday walk, or
evening stroll, may be made to take its place. If you think that you
do not know enough to teach your child on these walks, give him then
the privilege of teaching you. He will work the harder in order to
rise to the occasion.
[Sidenote: Physical Culture]
As for physical culture, if your school is without it, your barn, your
parlor, and your lawn may supply it in some sort. In the barn may be a
trapeze; there is already the ladder and the hay-loft; on the lawn may
be a swing, trees to climb, and the tennis court. In your parlor may
be a little home dancing school, where for a half an hour or so, the
children march, skip, or two-step to music of your making. In the wood
shed may be a carpenter's bench with real tools, where he may work and
get some of the good of manual training.
[Sidenote: Showy Accomplishments]
Accomplishments, meaning thereby showy things that children do for
the edification of guests, are of doubtful value. It is pleasant, of
course, to have your little girl play a piece or two on the piano to
entertain your visitors, but it is not nearly so important as health
and strength, and a cheerful temper. Sometimes all three of these are
sacrificed to the two or three hours' practice a day. Often, too, this
extra work after school hours--work full as monotonous and nervous
and uninteresting as the school work itself--is just what is needed
to transform a healthy young girl into a nervous invalid. This is
especially true, if she undertakes, as she usually does, to study
music when she is about thirteen years old--the very time when, if
wise physicians could regulate affairs to their liking, she would be
taken out of school altogether and required to do nothing more than a
little light housework every day.
[Sidenote: Natural Talent]
Of course, if she is naturally musical some kind of help and sympathy
must be given her in her attempt to master the piano or violin or to
manage her own voice. But while she should be allowed to learn as
much as her unurged energies permit her to learn, she should not be
required to practice more than a very small amount, say half an hour
a day. The bulk of her musical education should be acquired in
the vacation time, when she can give two hours a day without
overstraining.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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