The order of lessons is optional, also the amount of work each should include, unless this is specially stated.
Many lessons are suitable for rural schools, which have no equipment except what the ingenuity of the teacher may provide. In such schools, the teacher may perform the practical work, while the class observes.
Throughout the lessons, there is the difficulty of presenting scientific facts to immature minds in a way that will be simple and clear. The use of technical language would often assist the expression, and this is apt to be unconsciously employed, but there is danger of such forms of speech not being intelligible to the pupils; the teacher should therefore choose her words carefully. Technical terms may be taught, but this is not advised in Junior classes, unless really necessary. If the facts are intelligently related to the experiences of the pupils, that is all that is desired.
Temperatures, as indicated by Fahrenheit thermometers, have always been given, as this scale is best known in the home.
Since this Manual is designed for teachers, few recipes have been furnished. The books of reference which are appended will supply these and additional information on the subject.
CORRELATION WITH OTHER SCHOOL SUBJECTS
One of the benefits of placing Household Management in a Course of Study is that it relates the knowledge gained in school to the home life.
The Household Management teacher has great opportunity for this correlation. She should be more than a teacher of household duties. She should lead the pupils to see the importance and necessity of mastering the other school subjects. Wherever interest in these subjects has already been established, this interest will form a basis for development in many Household Management lessons.
Then, too, the teachers of other subjects should, as far as possible, work with the Household Management teacher in relating their instruction to the operations and requirements in the home. If the teachers co-operate in planning their lessons, the pupils will receive a deeper impression of the facts learned in each subject and will have an increased interest in the work, through seeing how one branch of knowledge is related to another.
The following will show how some of the subjects are related to the class work of Household Management: