| BENNIE McCOY | ADDISON SHIRLEY |
| Aged 8 | Aged 9 |
| Dries dishes | Takes out ashes |
| Makes fire | Gets eggs |
| Pulled up sunflower stalks | Gets coal and kindling |
| Milks (some) | Feeds horses oats (15 head) |
| Gets in coal and kindling | Cleans out barn |
| Gathers eggs | Milks cows sometimes |
| Brings in wood | Drives cattle |
| Carries ashes out | Harnesses up |
| Smashes big coal for stove | Hunts eggs |
| Turns churn | Waters horses |
| Feeds cats | Dries dishes |
| Gets chicken feed | Cooks (eggs, pancakes, coffee) |
| Feeds sitting hen | Sets table |
| Helps catch calves | Fries apples and bakes them |
| Gets clean hay for chicken nests | Peels potatoes |
| Clears table | Fries potatoes |
| Turns windmill[3] | Feeds chickens |
| Slops hogs | Carries slop to hogs |
| Kills flies | Drives to town |
| Fixed his hand cart | |
| JOHNNIE MAHONEY | LOVILO MURRAY |
| Aged 6 | Aged 5 |
| Feeds pig | Opens gate for calves |
| Hunts eggs | Gets kindling |
| Waters horse | Gets coal |
| Told where sow and her new pigs | Takes care of baby |
| were when no one else could | Closes chicken-house door |
| find them | Carries wood |
| Minds baby | Dries dishes |
| Hunts firewood | Leads horses to plow |
| MAY MAHONEY | ALEEN MURRAY |
| Aged 11 | Aged 7 |
| Bakes bread | Washes and dries dishes |
| Washes dishes | Sweeps floor |
| Minds baby | Does simple ironing |
| Gets coal and water | Gets wood, water, and coal |
| Gathers eggs | Closes chicken-house door |
| Makes cake | Dresses baby |
| Gets cows | Tends baby |
| Waters horses | |
| Pumps water | SUSIE MARCKINO |
| Sewed a doll petticoat | Aged 13 |
| Sewed sleeves in waist for little brother | Cooks meals |
| Scrubs | Washes dishes |
| Irons | Scrubs |
| Cooks meals | Irons |
| Peels potatoes | Sews—made a waist and a baby |
| Takes out ashes | dress |
| Dusts | Gets coal |
| Sweeps | Feeds chickens |
| Makes beds | Goes for horse |
| Airs bedding | Brings water |
| Milks cows | Gets hay and feeds horses |
| Feeds calf | Builds fires |
| Hays horses | Turns churn |
| Builds fires | Polishes stoves |
| Turns churn | Cares for young chickens |
| Feeds chickens | Dusts |
| Feeds sitting hens | Salts horses |
| Sets and clears table | |
| Washes range | ROSIE MARCKINO |
| Polishes cutlery | Aged 6 |
| Does light washing | |
| Prepares vegetables | Gets water |
| Did dishes with four-year-old sister when all else were gone | |
| A general little helper |
A Letter from Mrs. E. H. Belknap, Marion County, Oregon
I believe intensely in an education that teaches the boy or girl not only how the book says to do a thing, but how, by actual experience and practice, that thing is best worked out and brought to perfection....
In this district we have used home credits for two years. First, in order to make this a success, the teacher must believe in it, and must be a worker. We have given credits for everything from plowing to washing the baby for breakfast. As a result we have the little girls dressing their own hair for school, the older ones cooking breakfast, washing, ironing, etc. The boys plow, milk, clean stables, cut wood, feed horses, do all kinds of work for credits; doing it, they have become interested in it, and before they knew it a habit has been formed of doing things at the right time in the right way. It is truly wonderful what these children do. Some of them walk three or four miles, and still earn hundreds of credits in a week. Some of my girls milk as many as eight cows twice a day, and the boys plow and harrow acres of ground. They do the work gladly, too.
Monday mornings we give out blanks to be filled out, signed by parents, and returned the following Monday morning. We always go over the cards carefully. I call the names aloud, and the pupils report quickly. If extra work has been accomplished I always try to praise the effort. It is a happy hour when the reports are rendered.
At first we agreed that when any pupil earned six hundred or more credits he should be entitled to a holiday. Thousands of credits have been earned, but no one has asked for the holiday! Frequently, when the pupil has been ill, or forced to miss a day, he has asked that the credits be applied to blot out the absent marks, and this has always been granted.