Buy three copies of some well-printed simple stories; put one copy aside, and cut up the other two, pasting the sheets on drawing-paper, alternate pages face down, so that you get one complete copy out of the two books.
Now cut up, line by line, and then word by word, the first little story, and put the words in a small tray or box. Perhaps it is, “Thank you, pretty cow.” So now print on your blackboard two or three of the words—cow, milk, pretty, the child earnestly watching and listening while you say the words very distinctly, giving the component sounds as clearly as you possibly can.
Then hand him the tray, and let him pick out the words and name them as you have done. Proceed in the same way with a few more words of the story, printing them as you go in a column on the board, and when he knows them up and down, in and out, the great moment has arrived. Your heart will beat as you put the little book—the copy that was not cut up—into his hands. He can read, so much at any rate, quite readily.
Note that there must be no spelling; it is “look and say.” Next day you take word-building with the box of letters, and a fine game you have, based on the words learned the day before. Add letters and syllables in every way you can think of, always giving sounds, not names; let the boy read, copy, take from dictation these new words for a happy twenty minutes. He is now learning to spell, that he may be able to write with the sound signs. Go on like this, reading one day, word-building the next, till several sets of little books have been used up.
Let him dramatize the little stories and poems whenever you can; take parts with him, thus laying the foundation of real, live reading aloud, without any disfiguring mannerisms or self-consciousness. His stock of words grows apace—ten a day will give over three thousand in a year—and little by little, as opportunity offers, the more complex sounds in our language and its puzzling irregularities are unfolded and made familiar. Thus reading, elocution, spelling, writing, all advance together.
The study of Nature should go hand in hand with the study of books. Children love the outdoors—the trees, the flowers, the grass,—all living things. Nature trains the special senses, awakens the powers of observation, and creates a love of both the beautiful and the useful.
THE CHILD’S PICTURE GRAMMAR—NOUNS AND VERBS
A NOUN IS THE NAME OF ANY THING—A VERB TELLS WHAT A NOUN DOES OR IS DONE TO
| THE HORSE STOPS | THE FISH SWIMS | THE BOY HOPS | THE BIRD SKIMS |
| THE RAIN FALLS | THE BABE CRIES | THE MAN HAULS | THE BEE FLIES |
| BALLOONS RISE | ACORNS DROP | THE WOMAN BUYS | AIRGUNS POP |
| THE CART IS DRAWN | THE HOOP IS ROLLED | THE SHEEP IS SHORN | THE LAWN IS ROLLED |
| THE DOG IS LED | THE PIG IS DRIVEN | THE LION IS FED | THE PRIZE IS GIVEN |
| THE FIRE BURNS | THE WATER FLOWS | THE BOAT TURNS | THE TRAIN GOES |