EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE
PROPOSED WINTER SCHEDULE OF HOURS IN THE "CHILDREN'S HOUSES"
Opening at Nine O'clock--Closing at Four O'clock
9-10. Entrance. Greeting. Inspection as to personal
cleanliness. Exercises of practical life; helping one another
to take off and put on the aprons. Going over the room to see
that everything is dusted and in order. Language: Conversation
period: Children give an account of the events of the day
before. Religious exercises.
10-11. Intellectual exercises. Objective lessons interrupted
by short rest periods. Nomenclature, Sense exercises.
11-11:30. Simple gymnastics: Ordinary movements done
gracefully, normal position of the body, walking, marching in
line, salutations, movements for attention, placing of objects
gracefully.
11:30-12. Luncheon: Short prayer.
12-1. Free games.
1-2. Directed games, if possible, in the open air. During this
period the older children in turn go through with the
exercises of practical life, cleaning the room, dusting,
putting the material in order. General inspection for
cleanliness: Conversation.
2-3. Manual work. Clay modelling, design, etc.
3-4. Collective gymnastics and songs, if possible in the open
air. Exercises to develop forethought: Visiting, and caring
for, the plants and animals.
As soon as a school is established, the question of schedule arises.
This must be considered from two points of view; the length of the
school-day and the distribution of study and of the activities of life.
I shall begin by affirming that in the "Children's Houses," as in the
school for deficients, the hours may be very long, occupying the entire
day. For poor children, and especially for the "Children's Houses"
annexed to workingmen's tenements, I should advise that the school-day
should be from nine in the morning to five in the evening in winter, and
from eight to six in summer. These long hours are necessary, if we are
to follow a directed line of action which shall be helpful to the growth
of the child. It goes without saying, that in the case of little
children such a long school-day should be interrupted by at least an
hour's rest in bed. And here lies the great practical difficulty. At
present we must allow our little ones to sleep in their seats in a
wretched position, but I foresee a time, not distant, when we shall be
able to have a quiet, darkened room where the children may sleep in
low-swung hammocks. I should like still better to have this nap taken in
the open air.
In the "Children's Houses" in Rome we send the little ones to their own
apartments for the nap, as this can be done without their having to go
out into the streets.
It must be observed that these long hours include not only the nap, but
the luncheon. This must be considered in such schools as the "Children's
Houses," whose aim is to help and to direct the growth of children in
such an important period of development as that from three to six years
of age.
The "Children's House" is a garden of child culture, and we most
certainly do not keep the children for so many hours in school with the
idea of making students of them!
The first step which we must take in our method is to _call_ to the
pupil. We call now to his attention, now to his interior life, now to
the life he leads with others. Making a comparison which must not be
taken in a literal sense,--it is necessary to proceed as in experimental
psychology or anthropology when one makes an experiment,--that is, after
having prepared the instrument (to which in this case the environment
may correspond) we prepare the subject. Considering the method as a
whole, we must begin our work by preparing the child for the forms of
social life, and we must attract his attention to these forms.
In the schedule which we outlined when we established the first
"Children's House," but which we have never followed entirely, (a sign
that a schedule in which the material is distributed in arbitrary
fashion is not adapted to the regime of liberty) we begin the day with a
series of exercises of practical life, and I must confess that these
exercises were the only part of the programme which proved thoroughly
stationary. These exercises were such a success that they formed the
beginning of the day in all of the "Children's Houses." First:
Cleanliness.
Order.
Poise.
Conversation.
As soon as the children arrive at school we make an inspection for
cleanliness. If possible, this should be carried on in the presence of
the mothers, but their attention should not be called to it directly. We
examine the hands, the nails, the neck, the ears, the face, the teeth;
and care is given to the tidiness of the hair. If any of the garments
are torn or soiled or ripped, if the buttons are lacking, or if the
shoes are not clean, we call the attention of the child to this. In this
way, the children become accustomed to observing themselves and take an
interest in their own appearance.
The children in our "Children's Houses" are given a bath in turn, but
this, of course, can not be done daily. In the class, however, the
teacher, by using a little washstand with small pitchers and basins,
teaches the children to take a partial bath: for example, they learn how
to wash their hands and clean their nails. Indeed, sometimes we teach
them how to take a foot-bath. They are shown especially how to wash
their ears and eyes with great care. They are taught to brush their
teeth and rinse their mouths carefully. In all of this, we call their
attention to the different parts of the body which they are washing, and
to the different means which we use in order to cleanse them: clear
water for the eyes, soap and water for the hands, the brush for the
teeth, etc. We teach the big ones to help the little ones, and, so,
encourage the younger children to learn quickly to take care of
themselves.
After this care of their persons, we put on the little aprons. The
children are able to put these on themselves, or, with the help of each
other. Then we begin our visit about the schoolroom. We notice if all of
the various materials are in order and if they are clean. The teacher
shows the children how to clean out the little corners where dust has
accumulated, and shows them how to use the various objects necessary in
cleaning a room,--dust-cloths, dust-brushes, little brooms, etc. All of
this, when the children are allowed _to do it by themselves_, is very
quickly accomplished. Then the children go each to his own place. The
teacher explains to them that the normal position is for each child to
be seated in his own place, in silence, with his feet together on the
floor, his hands resting on the table, and his head erect. In this way
she teaches them poise and equilibrium. Then she has them rise on their
feet in order to sing the hymn, teaching them that in rising and sitting
down it is not necessary to be noisy. In this way the children learn to
move about the furniture with poise and with care. After this we have a
series of exercises in which the children learn to move gracefully, to
go and come, to salute each other, to lift objects carefully, to receive
various objects from each other politely. The teacher calls attention
with little exclamations to a child who is clean, a room which is well
ordered, a class seated quietly, a graceful movement, etc.
From such a starting point we proceed to the free teaching. That is, the
teacher will no longer make comments to the children, directing them how
to move from their seats, etc., she will limit herself to correcting the
disordered movements.
After the directress has talked in this way about the attitude of the
children and the arrangement of the room, she invites the children to
talk with her. She questions them concerning what they have done the day
before, regulating her inquiries in such a way that the children need
not report the intimate happenings of the family but their individual
behaviour, their games, attitude to parents, etc. She will ask if they
have been able to go up the stairs without getting them muddy, if they
have spoken politely to their friends who passed, if they have helped
their mothers, if they have shown in their family what they have learned
at school, if they have played in the street, etc. The conversations are
longer on Monday after the vacation, and on that day the children are
invited to tell what they have done with the family; if they have gone
away from home, whether they have eaten things not usual for children to
eat, and if this is the case we urge them not to eat these things and
try to teach them that they are bad for them. Such conversations as
these encourage the _unfolding_ or development of language and are of
great educational value, since the directress can prevent the children
from recounting happenings in the house or in the neighbourhood, and can
select, instead, topics which are adapted to pleasant conversation, and
in this way can teach the children those things which it is desirable to
talk about; that is, things with which we occupy ourselves in life,
public events, or things which have happened in the different houses,
perhaps, to the children themselves--as baptism, birthday parties, any
of which may serve for occasional conversation. Things of this sort will
encourage children to describe, themselves. After this morning talk we
pass to the various lessons.