TRIALS OF SCHOOL AT HOME

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22570, 25 February 1948, Page 4

TRIALS OF SCHOOL AT HOME

npHE approach of March 1 and the return of Gisborne children to school and regular school work heralds the end of a svstem of teaching, which, to say the least, has been somewhat irregular. O One group of mothers hired a governess and sent their children off to a friend’s house each morning. © Several took turns with their neighbours at, having “school in.” ©Some had school outside „under trees. © Others conducted it indoors wherever mother could keep an eye on the scholars. © Some had elastic hours. If the children got their work done by bedtime, well and good. Others said no play until lessons were done, and others again took it alternately in the afternoon and the morning. There were unusual goings on in some of these "schools." Whoever heard of a teacher playing on stilts with the pupils? One of tlm "dvantages of having a mother for a teacher for one family is that mother—in between cooking meals —has joined in the eames at playtime, including stiltwalking. Blessedly, some of the older ones have been able to worry along without asking many ctuostinns. The younger ones have tried writing in ink, learning their tables, and spelling by the phonetic system, which leaves their parents completely bewildered. There have been one or two awkward moments when neither mother nor father has been able to supply a convincing answer, but on the whole it has been an interesting, if not easy, time. Children have no doubt gained an increasing respect for their mothers and the amount of work they can cope with, and, after their own attempts, parents are full of praise for school teachers.