The three brief courses in home-making outlined in this Manual have been
especially prepared for use in elementary rural schools. They are in no
sense complete outlines of the subjects with which they deal; rather,
they indicate a few of the important phases of food study, sewing, and
the care of the home with which the pupil in the elementary school
should become familiar. The underlying thought for each problem should
be: "Will this help the pupils to live more useful lives, and will it
lead to better conditions in their homes?"
The lessons are purposely made simple, and the plans are definitely
outlined, so that even the inexperienced teacher may be able to achieve
a certain measure of success. The experienced teacher will find in them
suggestions that may be of value in the further development of the
course.
The teacher who desires to use this course will necessarily have to
adapt it to her own community, and it is hoped that she may be able to
do this with but little alteration. While conditions of living and
choice of foods differ in various parts of the Province, the general
principles of nutrition, the rules of sanitation, and the methods of
cooking and serving are much the same for all.
Owing to the difficulty of securing time on the programme for frequent
lessons in home-making, each of the courses has been limited to twenty
lessons. Some teachers may not be able to have a greater number of
lessons during the school year, and they may find it well to carry the
three courses through three successive years. In other schools, where
more frequent lessons can be given, it may be well to offer all three
courses during one year. The courses in cooking and the care of the home
can be advantageously combined, as many of the problems in both are
related. The lessons in sewing may be given on another day of the week,
or it may be well to give them early in the year, to be followed, later,
by the cooking lessons. Thus an opportunity will be furnished for the
making of the cooking aprons and the hemming of the towels.
It is most desirable that periods of at least forty minutes should be
provided for all the practical lessons. Longer periods will be necessary
for some of them, such as the preparation and the serving of a meal. If
no practical work is undertaken in the lesson, a forty-minute period is
sufficient.