THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA 
 AT 
 
 :LES
 
 Mabel C 
 
 FEEDING HER BIRD 
 , aged 12, Algona, Washington
 
 SCHOOL CREDIT 
 FOR HOME WORK 
 
 BY L. B. ALDERMAN 
 
 CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 
 
 PORTLAND, OREGON 
 
 FORMERLY SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC 
 INSTRUCTION, STATE OF OREGON 
 2.&&-2L 3 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 
 
 <be fltocrsi&e press Camtmtige
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY L. R. ALDERMAN 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 JEfje (ber*tot JJrcss 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 U . S . A
 
 Education 
 Library 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 
 MY FATHER AND MOTHER 
 
 Who made their boys happy partners in the 
 work of the home and farm
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IT has been a surprise and a delight to me, 
 as this book has been in progress, to learn of 
 the many different ways that people have 
 worked out these home credit plans. It has 
 been as if I could see into many happy school- 
 rooms. Letters from mothers and fathers 
 boasting of the accomplishments of their 
 children, have brought to me a little glow 
 from the hearthsides of many homes. A 
 father brought his boy or rather the boy 
 brought his father up to see me and talk 
 over what the boy was doing at home. The 
 father boasted of the boy's fine garden, his 
 big pumpkins, his watermelons that would 
 attract the neighbors. Johnny almost burst 
 the top button off his vest with pride as his 
 father praised him and patted him on the 
 head. After this happy meeting, the father 
 and the son got on the high wagon seat and 
 rode home; and as I saw them going down 
 the street, I could imagine what they talked 
 about. Such glimpses help to make a school
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 man's life worth while; and I have had many 
 of them as I have been writing this book. 
 
 For the fact that this book exists at all, I 
 am indebted to my wife, who has helped me 
 with every part of it, and to Mr. and Mrs. 
 C. C. Thomason, of Olympia, Washington, 
 who believed in the book from the first. Mrs. 
 Thomason has also done much work on the 
 book; she has gathered all the illustrative ma- 
 terial, visiting many schools and writing many 
 letters. She and my wife have done most 
 of the organizing of material, and have gone 
 over the manuscript together. To Miss 
 Fanny Louise Barber, of the Washington 
 High School, Portland, I am grateful for her 
 careful reading and revision of several chap- 
 ters. I owe thanks to Mrs. Sarah J. Hoagland, 
 of Belt, Montana, for the true and vivid 
 stories she has sent me; and I am thankful 
 to all the home credit teachers, with whom 
 we have been corresponding, for their pains- 
 taking answers to our letters, as well as for 
 the valuable plans that they have originated. 
 
 L. R. ALDERMAN. 
 
 PORTLAND, OREGON, 
 November 16, 1914.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION 1 
 
 n. MARY 7 
 
 III. THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL .... 11 
 
 IV. WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE ALGEBRA? . 24 
 V. HONORING LABOR 34 
 
 VI. HABIT-BUILDING 39 
 
 VET. THAT OTHER TEACHER AND THAT TEACH- 
 ER'S LABORATORY 46 
 
 VIII. STELLA AND SADIE 53 
 
 IX. A STORY AND LETTERS FROM TEACHERS . 60 
 
 PART TWO 
 
 I. ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS . . 71 
 II. HOME CREDIT IN HIGH SCHOOLS . . . 156 
 
 APPENDIX 167 
 
 INDEX ...... . 177
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FEEDING HER BIRD Frontispiece 
 
 SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 12 
 
 PICNIC LUNCHEON, SPRING VALLEY .... 20 
 
 JOE m THE GARAGE 28 
 
 WORK CREDITED AT SCHOOL 36 
 
 EARNING HOME CREDITS 42 
 
 O. H. BENSON POTATO CLUB 88 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL BOYS IN RAILROAD SHOPS . . 156
 
 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME 
 WORK 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 2.<&32L 3 
 
 The child is a born worker; activity is the law of his nature. 
 
 FRANCIS W. PAKKER. 
 
 THIS book is simply the narrative of the 
 working-out of an idea. The idea first came 
 to me from memories of my own home, where 
 tasks were assigned to us children and were 
 made to seem important. With my father, 
 the work was always carried on in the spirit 
 of a game, and the game could be made as 
 interesting as any other game ; in the mean- 
 time something was being done that was 
 worth while. Among many other memories 
 there comes one of our laying a rail fence 
 by moonlight, after a freshet had taken the 
 other fence away; when the game was to get 
 the line completed before the moon went 
 down. I can still see father laying rail on 
 rail, and enjoy his glowing enthusiasm at
 
 2 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 our accomplishment. The fence still stands. 
 Besides seeking to make the work interest- 
 ing in itself, father had a device to put a 
 value on time for his boys by giving us free 
 time after the tasks were completed to do as 
 we saw fit. 
 
 The desire, after I became a teacher, to 
 put myself in the enviable position of my 
 father as an inspiring influence with children, 
 was the motive that took my thoughts out of 
 the schoolroom into the homes of my pupils. 
 Should not the school be simply a group of 
 people come together for improvement, with 
 the teacher as their best friend, ready to 
 discuss and promote everything that seems 
 worth while? We found it easy to talk at 
 school about the things the children were 
 concerned with out of school. One spring my 
 pupils carried home, from our little boxes at 
 school, cabbage plants and tomato plants to 
 become members of their families for the 
 summer. Later we had a county school fair 
 for the exhibition of the children's clear jelly 
 and fine bread and vegetables and sewing and 
 carpentry. The schools were trying to recog- 
 nize "the whole child."
 
 INTRODUCTION S 
 
 This book is written in the hope that par- 
 ents, teachers, and children may be helped 
 to work together more joyously and harmo- 
 niously on the real problems of life. 
 
 When I was teaching in the University of 
 Oregon in the spring of 1910, 1 wrote and had 
 published in the Oregon papers the following 
 article: 
 
 We all believe that civilization is founded upon 
 the home. The school should be a real helper to 
 the home. How can the school help the home? 
 How can it help the home establish habits in the 
 children of systematic performance of home duties 
 so that they will be efficient and joyful home help- 
 ers? One way is for the school to take into account 
 home industrial work and honor it. It is my con- 
 viction, based upon careful and continuous obser- 
 vation, that the school can greatly increase the 
 interest the child will take in home industrial work 
 by making it a subject of consideration at school. 
 A teacher talked of sewing, and the girls sewed. 
 She talked of ironing, and they wanted to learn to 
 iron neatly. She talked of working with tools, and 
 both girls and boys made bird houses, kites, and 
 other things of interest. Recently a school garden 
 was planned in a city and one of the boys was 
 employed to plow the land. Seventy-five children 
 were watching for him to come with the team. At 
 last he came driving around the corner. He could 
 manage a team. He drove into the lot, and a hun-
 
 4 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 dred and fifty eyes looked with admiration at the 
 boy who could unhitch from the sled and hitch to 
 the plow; and then as he, " man-fashion," - lines 
 over one shoulder and under one arm, drove the 
 big team around the field, all could feel the chil- 
 dren's admiration for the boy who could do some- 
 thing worth while. And I have seen a girl who 
 could make good bread or set a table nicely get 
 the real admiration of her schoolmates. 
 
 The school can help make better home-builders. 
 It can help by industrial work done in the school, 
 but as that is already receiving consideration by 
 the press and in a few schools, I shall not in this 
 short article treat of it. 
 
 The plan I have in mind will cost no money, will 
 take but little school time, and can be put into 
 operation hi every part of the State at once. It 
 will create a demand for expert instruction later 
 on. It is to give school credit for industrial work 
 done at home. The mother and father are to be 
 recognized as teachers, and the school teacher put 
 into the position of one who cares about the habits 
 and tastes of the whole child. Then the teacher and 
 the parents will have much in common. Every 
 home has the equipment for industrial work and 
 has some one who uses it with more or less skill. 
 
 The school has made so many demands on the 
 home that the parents have in some cases felt that 
 all the time of the child must be given to the 
 school. But an important thing that the child 
 needs along with school work is established habits 
 of home-making. What people do depends as much 
 upon habit as upon knowledge. The criticism that 
 is most often made upon industrial work at school
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 is that it is so different from the work done in the 
 home that it does not put the child into that sym- 
 pathetic relation with the home, which after all 
 is for him and the home the most important thing 
 in the world. Juvenile institutions find that they 
 must be careful not to institutionalize the child to 
 such an extent that he may not be contented in 
 a real home. In my opinion it will be a great thing 
 for the child to want to help his parents do the task 
 that needs to be done and to want to do it in 
 the best possible way. The reason why so many 
 country boys are now leading men of affairs is be- 
 cause early in life they had home responsibilities 
 thrust upon them. I am sure that the motto 
 "Everybody Helps" is a good one. 
 
 But one says: "How can it be brought about? 
 How can the school give credit for industrial work 
 done at home?" It may be done by sending 
 home printed slips asking the parents to take ac- 
 count of the work that the child does at home 
 under their instruction, and explaining that credit 
 will be given for this work on the school record. 
 These slips must be used according to the age of 
 the child, so that he will not be asked to do too 
 much, for it must be clearly recognized that chil- 
 dren must have time for real play. The required 
 tasks must not be too arduous, yet they must be 
 real tasks. They must not be tasks that will put 
 extra work on parents except in the matter of 
 instruction and observation. They may well call 
 for the care of animals, and should include garden 
 work for both boys and girls. Credit in school for 
 home industrial work (with the parents' consent) 
 should count as much as any one study in school.
 
 6 SCHOOL CEEDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 To add interest to the work, exhibitions should 
 be given at stated times so that all may learn from 
 each other and the best be the model for all. The 
 school fairs in Yamhill, Polk, Benton, Lane, 
 Wasco, and Crook Counties, together with the 
 school and home industrial work done at Eugene, 
 have convinced me most thoroughly that these 
 plans are practicable, and that school work and 
 home work, school play and home play, and love 
 for parents and respect for teachers and fellow 
 pupils can best be fostered by a more complete 
 cooperation between school and home, so that the 
 whole child is taken into account at all times. 
 
 After the home-credit schools of Mr. O'Reilly 
 and Mr. Conklin were well under way, I re- 
 ceived many inquiries about the home credit 
 idea. As I was then State Superintendent, I 
 had a pamphlet printed by the State Office, 
 describing the workings of the plan, and had 
 it distributed to Oregon teachers. Fifteen 
 thousand copies were also printed for Mr. 
 Claxton, Commissioner of Education, in the 
 summer of 1912, and distributed by the 
 National Bureau to superintendents and 
 teachers throughout the United States. Since 
 this pamphlet has been out of print there 
 have been many inquiries sent me about 
 home credit, and I hope that this book may 
 answer some of them.
 
 n 
 
 MARY 
 
 The brain and the hand, too long divorced, and each mean 
 and weak without the other; use and beauty, each alone vulgar; 
 letters and labor, each soulless without the other, are hence- 
 forth to be one and inseparable; and this union will lift man to 
 a higher level. G. STANLEY HALL. 
 
 1 THE idea of giving school credit for home 
 work first occurred to me when I was a high- 
 school principal in McMinnville, Oregon, in 
 1901. Often, in the few years that I had been 
 teaching, I had felt keenly a lack of under- 
 standing between school and home. As I was 
 thinking over this problem, and wondering 
 what could be done, I chanced to meet on the 
 street the mother of one of my rosiest-cheeked, 
 strongest-looking high-school girls. I saw 
 that the little mother looked forlorn and 
 tired. There was a nervous twitch of the 
 hand that adjusted the robes about the crip- 
 pled child she was wheeling in a baby buggy. 
 I had frequently noticed that Mary, the 
 daughter, who was one of the very poorest 
 students in her class, was on the streets the 
 greater part of the time after school hours.
 
 8 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 I thought, "What value can there be in my 
 teaching that girl quadratic equations and 
 the nebular hypothesis, when what she most 
 needs to learn is the art of helping her mother? 
 In the algebra recitation next day I asked, 
 "How many helped with the work before 
 coming to school?" Hands were raised, but 
 not Mary's. "How many got breakfast?" 
 Hands again, not Mary's. "I made some 
 bread a few days ago, bread that kept, and 
 kept, and kept on keeping. How many of 
 you know how to make bread? " Some hands, 
 not Mary's. I then announced that the lesson 
 for the following day would consist as usual 
 of ten problems in advance, but that five 
 would be in the book, and five out of the 
 book. The five out of the book for the girls 
 would consist of helping with supper, helping 
 with the kitchen work after supper, preparing 
 breakfast, helping with the dishes and kitchen 
 work after breakfast, and putting a bedroom 
 in order. Surprise and merriment gave place 
 to enthusiasm when the boys and girls saw 
 that I was in downright earnest. When I 
 asked for a report on the algebra lesson next 
 day all hands went up for all the problems
 
 MARY 9 
 
 both in algebra and in home-helping. As 
 I looked my approval, all hands fell again, 
 that is, all hands but Mary's. "What is it, 
 Mary? " I asked. "I worked five in advance," 
 she replied with sparkling eyes: "I worked 
 all you gave us, and five ahead in the book I" 
 
 Since that day I have been a firm believer 
 in giving children credit at school for work 
 done at home. We did not work home prob- 
 lems every day that year, but at various times 
 the children were assigned lessons like the 
 one mentioned, and scarcely a day passed 
 that we did not talk over home tasks, and 
 listen to the boys and girls as they told what 
 each had achieved. The idea that washing 
 dishes and caring for chickens was of equal 
 importance with algebra and general history, 
 and that credit and honor would frequently 
 be given for home work, proved a stimulus to 
 all the children, and especially to Mary. Her 
 interest in all her school duties was doubled, 
 and it is needless to say that her mother's 
 interest in the school was many times in- 
 creased as her heavy household cares were in 
 part assumed by her healthy daughter. 
 
 A few weeks after the first home credit
 
 10 SCHOOL CEEDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 lesson Mary brought her luncheon to school. 
 At the noon hour she came to my desk, opened 
 her basket, and displaying a nicely made 
 sandwich said, "I made this bread." The 
 bread looked good, and must have been all 
 right, for she ate the sandwich, and it did not 
 seem to hurt her. She came again wearing 
 a pretty new shirt-waist, and told me she had 
 made it herself, and that it had cos t_ just 
 eighty-five cents. 
 
 After Mary graduated from high school 
 she went out into the country to teach, and 
 boarded with her uncle's family. Her uncle's 
 wife was ill for a while, and Mary showed 
 that she knew how to cook a fine meal, and 
 how to set a table so that the food looked good 
 to eat. She made herself generally useful. 
 Her uncle came to my office one day and told 
 me that Mary was the finest girl he ever saw, 
 and that every girl like that should go to 
 college, and that he was going to see that she 
 went to college if he had to sell the farm to 
 send her. She went to college, but it did n't 
 take the farm to send her.
 
 Ill 
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 
 
 An excellent result of the absence of centralization in the 
 United States. . . . The widest possible scope being allowed 
 to individual and local preferences, . . . one part of our vast 
 country can profit by the experience of the other parts. 
 
 JOHN FISKE. 
 
 Kindly convey my blessing to that genius of a teacher in 
 Spring Valley, the same to stand good till judgment day. 
 
 WM. HAWLBT SMITH. 
 
 MB. A. I. O'REILLY, in the school at 
 Spring Valley, Oregon, was the first to give 
 systematic, certified .^p^OTF for home work. 
 He originated the idea of having a prize 
 contest for credits, and put care for health 
 and cleanliness on the list of home duties. 
 Dr. Winship classifies new educational sug- 
 gestions as dreams, nightmares, and visions. 
 The remarkable success of Mr. O'Reilly in 
 his home credit school should place his ideas 
 in the "vision" list. 
 
 Spring Valley is a rich farming district in 
 Polk County, Oregon, about nine miles from 
 Salem. Mr. O'Reilly took the school in the 
 fall of 1909. He rented a farmhouse about 
 half a mile away, brought his wife and little
 
 12 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 boys out from Dakota, where he had served 
 as county superintendent, and went to work 
 building up his school. He gained great 
 influence with the boys and girls, and was 
 much respected and thoroughly liked by 
 everybody. 
 
 He noticed that on each big, well-developed 
 farm in the neighborhood there was a great 
 deal of work for the boys and girls to do, but 
 that they did not as a rule do it with cheer- 
 fulness and interest. He wanted, if possible, 
 to change their attitude of mind. So, with the 
 hearty approval of his board of directors, he 
 arranged to give school credit for home work. 
 This was in the fall of 1911. Various tasks 
 that the children ought to do he put into a 
 list, and allowed a certain number of minutes 
 credit for each one. 1 The three children hav- 
 ing earned the greatest number of credits at 
 the close of the nine school months were to 
 receive three dollars each, and the three next 
 highest, two dollars. The money was to be 
 allowed by the school board, and put into the 
 savings bank to the credit of the prize- 
 
 1 The details of Mr. O'Reilly's plan are given in Part Two, 
 pages 73-77.
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 13 
 
 winners. Every one of the thirty-three pupils 
 in the school was enrolled in this new kind 
 of contest. The registering of the credits each 
 morning meant extra work for the teacher, 
 but it brought extra results. The prospect of 
 a bank account for the winners incited the 
 children to learn for the first time something 
 about banks and banking. There was a "we- 
 are-doing-some thing" atmosphere through- 
 out the school. 
 
 In answer to the query of some visitors if 
 this giving of credit for home work did not 
 interfere with school work, Mr. O'Reilly 
 pointed to the record in the county spelling 
 contest, in which his school had earned 100 
 per cent that month. 
 
 The county superintendent, Mr. Seymour, 
 had announced that a banner would be given 
 to his rural schools showing that they were 
 standard schools as soon as they should meet 
 certain requirements. These requirements 
 were well-drained school grounds; school 
 building properly lighted, heated, and venti- 
 lated; schoolhouse and grounds neat and 
 attractive; sanitary outbuildings; walk made 
 to building and outbuildings; individual
 
 14 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 drinking-cups; the purchase each year of one 
 standard picture; thorough work on the part 
 of teacher and pupils; the enrollment of every 
 pupil in the spelling contest; and an average 
 of 95 per cent in attendance. Spring Valley 
 was the first school in the county to receive 
 the banner and become a standard school. 
 
 The county superintendents of Oregon 
 were assembled at Salem in January, 1912, 
 for the purpose of grading teachers' examina- 
 tion papers. They were much interested in 
 what; they heard of Mr. O'Reilly's work 
 at Spring Valley and accepted with great 
 pleasure the invitation of Mr. Seymour to 
 visit the school. As that day in Mr. O'Reilly's 
 school is significant, I wish to quote an article 
 about it written by T. J. Gary, superintend- 
 ent of Clackamas County. Mr. Gary's arti- 
 cle was printed in one of the Oregon City 
 papers in January, 1912. 
 
 Last Saturday seventeen county school super- 
 intendents and the superintendent of public 
 instruction drove through the wind and rain to 
 Spring Valley, Polk County, to attend a parent- 
 teachers' meeting. Why? Because we had heard 
 much of a new plan that was being tried out by 
 the teacher, pupils, and parents of the school in
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 15 
 
 that beautiful valley. Did we go because it was a 
 new plan? No. If we should try to investigate 
 every new plan we would be going all the time. 
 We went because we thought we saw a suggestion, 
 at least, of a solution of two very important prob- 
 lems: "How to bring the school and the home into 
 closer relation," and "How to make the boys and 
 the girls in the country love their home." 
 
 We arrived at the Spring Valley School at 10.30 
 A.M. and observed first a board walk from the road 
 to the schoolhouse door and a well-drained school- 
 yard free from all rubbish, such as sticks, pieces 
 of paper, and so forth. 
 
 Upon entering the room we observed that the 
 directors had made provision for the proper heat- 
 ing, lighting, and ventilation of the schoolroom. 
 On the walls were three nicely framed pictures, 
 the "Sistine Madonna," "The Christ," and "The 
 Lions," all beautiful reproductions of celebrated 
 works of art. The building was a modest one, 
 much like many school buildings we find through 
 the country, but there was about it that which 
 said plainer than words can say it, "This is a well- 
 ordered school." 
 
 Looking to the right, we saw on a partition wall, 
 on the floor, and on the side wall, a variety of arti- 
 cles: aprons, dresses, doilies, handbags, handker- 
 chiefs, kites, traps, bird houses, and various other 
 things made by the boys and girls of the school. 
 At the left in the other corner of the room were 
 loaves of bread, pies, cakes, tarts, doughnuts, and 
 other tempting things prepared by the girls and 
 boys. The writer sampled various edibles, among 
 them a cake baked by Master Z , son of our
 
 16 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 ex-superintendent, J. C. Z . I can cheerfully 
 
 say that it was the kind of cake that makes a man 
 want more. 
 
 These things were all of interest to us, but the 
 one thing we were most curious to know about 
 was the system the teacher had of giving credits 
 for home work; not school work done at home, 
 but all kinds of honest work a country girl or boy 
 can find to do. Pupils were given five minutes 
 credit for milking a cow, five minutes for sleeping 
 in fresh air, five minutes for taking a bath, and so 
 on through the long list of common duties incident 
 to home life in the country. The rule of the school 
 is that any pupil who has earned six hundred 
 minutes may have a holiday, at the discretion of 
 the teacher. If the pupil asks for a holiday to use 
 for some worthy cause the teacher grants it, pro- 
 viding it does not interfere too much with the 
 pupil's school work. 
 
 Space will not permit my giving a more detailed 
 account of the plan. I trust that enough has been 
 given to show the principle involved. The teacher 
 was subjected to volley after volley of questions 
 from the superintendents, but was able to answer 
 all of them with alacrity. The chairman called 
 upon the parents to give their testimony as to the 
 success of the movement. I cannot write here all 
 that was said, but will give two statements as 
 fair samples of all. 
 
 One good motherly-looking country woman said : 
 "Before this plan was started I got up in the 
 morning and prepared breakfast for the family, 
 and after breakfast saw to the preparation of the 
 children for school. Now, when morning comes
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 17 
 
 the girls insist upon my lying in bed so that they 
 may get breakfast. After breakfast they wash the 
 dishes, sweep the kitchen, and do many other 
 things as well as make their own preparation for 
 school. I think the plan is a success. My only fear 
 is that it will make me lazy." 
 
 One father said: "I have two boys one in the 
 high school and Jack, here. It was as hard work 
 to get the older boy out in the morning as it was 
 to do the chores, and as Jack was too young to be 
 compelled to do the work, I let them both sleep 
 while I did it. Now, when the alarm sounds, I 
 hear Jack tumbling out of bed, and when I get up 
 I find the fires burning and the stock at the barn 
 cared for; so all I have to do is to look happy, eat 
 my breakfast, and go about my business. Yes, 
 it is a great success in our home." 
 
 At this point Superintendent Alderman said: 
 "Jack, stand, we want to see you," and Jack, a 
 bright, manly-appearing country boy of fourteen 
 years stood blushing, while we looked our appreci- 
 ation. 
 
 One man told of the many things that his 
 daughter had done, whereupon it was suggested 
 that she might do so much that her health would 
 be in danger. A pleasant smile flitted across the 
 face of the father as he said, "Daughter, stand 
 and let these men see if they think you are injur- 
 ing your health." A bright, buxom, rosy-cheeked 
 girl the very picture of health and happiness 
 arose while we laughed and cheered. 
 
 To the question, "Does this work interfere with 
 the work of the school?" the teacher pointed to 
 the record of the school in a spelling contest that
 
 18 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 is being conducted in this county, and read 
 "100 per cent for this month; 98.12 per cent for 
 last," and said, "No, I find that the children have 
 taken more interest in their work and are making 
 more progress than before." 
 
 When alone, after time for reflection, I thought, 
 "One swallow does not make a summer" and one 
 school does not prove that this is a good plan. In 
 Spring Valley the conditions are ideal, a board 
 of directors who do then* duty, a citizenship that is 
 far above the average, girls and boys from well- 
 ordered homes of a prosperous people, a teacher 
 who would succeed anywhere with half a chance, 
 a wide-awake, sympathetic county school super- 
 intendent, and yet I thought if this is good for 
 the Spring Valley School, might it not be a good 
 thing for all our schools? I have not reached a 
 conclusion, but have had much food for thought, 
 and am more than pleased with my experience and 
 observation. 
 
 What do you think about it, gentle reader? Is 
 it a passing fancy? A fad, if you please? Or is it a 
 means for training boys and girls to habits of 
 industry and to a wholesome respect for honest 
 toil? Will it bring the home and the school into 
 closer relation? And will it cause the country boys 
 and girls to love their homes, to love the country 
 with its singing birds, its babbling brooks, its 
 broad fields and friendly hills? 
 
 There was not a school in the State that 
 responded better to any movement initiated 
 by the State or county than the one in Spring
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 19 
 
 Valley. Every pupil was greatly interested 
 in the boys' and girls' industrial and agricul- 
 tural contest which Oregon carried on that 
 year for the first time. The children raised 
 cabbage plants at school, protected from the 
 cold by a tent that Mr. O'Reilly provided. 
 They planned to sell them to the neighbors 
 in order to get money for seeds, but were 
 sadly disappointed, when they came to school 
 one morning, to find that a cow had broken 
 in during the night and destroyed almost 
 every plant. The owner of the cow paid them 
 the value of the plants, but they were never 
 quite so happy over the fund as they would 
 have been if the plants had been allowed to 
 grow. 
 
 Six weeks before the end of the school year 
 Mr. O'Reilly began making Saturday trips 
 to Salem to arrange for the fair with which he 
 intended to close the school. The merchants 
 subscribed liberally for prizes both for the 
 children's work and for the athletic events 
 which Mr. O'Reilly had planned for the 
 afternoon. A local piano house sent out a 
 piano for the occasion, and an amusement 
 company put up a merry-go-round, and
 
 20 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 stands for lemonade, ice-cream, and all the 
 rest that goes with a first-class picnic. The 
 picnic was held in the grove a short distance 
 from the schoolhouse. Mr. O'Reilly and the 
 neighbors had made a platform for which the 
 children's work formed the background, 
 dresses, bird houses, fancy work, cakes, 
 bread, and other articles, and had made 
 seats of rough lumber for the crowd. And a 
 crowd it was, for the whole county was inter- 
 ested in the Spring Valley School. This was 
 one of the first local fairs in connection 
 with the county school fairs which were held 
 throughout the State, and the awards were 
 also to be made to the children who had 
 earned the most credits in the home credit 
 contest. 
 
 We drove out from Salem in automobiles. 
 On reaching the grove we found it filled with 
 teams tied everywhere, and many automo- 
 biles standing about. Promptly at ten o'clock 
 the school children marched down from the 
 schoolhouse in an industrial parade, carrying 
 things that they had made or raised in the 
 garden. A pretty sight they were, as they 
 took their places on the reserved benches in
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 21 
 
 front, all in their best clothes, most of the 
 girls in white dresses of their own making. 
 
 The Governor of Oregon was there, and 
 made the first address. At the close of his 
 talk, the Spring Valley children sang in voices 
 as clear as the birds, "There is no Land Like 
 Oregon," and were most heartily cheered. 
 After the remainder of the addresses and 
 songs came the most breathless part of the 
 day, the awarding of the school-credit prizes 
 for the year's work. A member of the school 
 board read the list of winners, and took occa- 
 sion to express the appreciation that the dis- 
 trict felt for Mr. O'Reilly's work. He assured 
 the audience that the people of the district 
 considered the plan one of the very finest that 
 they had ever known, for it put the children 
 in the right attitude toward their work, and 
 gave the parents the feeling that they were 
 assisting in the work of the school. Never in 
 the history of the community had there been 
 such a year. 
 
 The judging of the industrial work was 
 then carried on, while the Spring Valley home- 
 credit girls set the long tables for the lunch- 
 eon, which they had prepared without assist-
 
 22 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 ance from their mothers. We all envied the 
 three women up on the platform tasting the 
 cakes, and were glad when the ribbons were 
 pinned on, for we knew then that the dinner 
 would begin. The blue ribbon for cake-making 
 by children under thirteen was awarded to a 
 
 boy, Arthur Z . The governor and I placed 
 
 this lad between us at the head of the table, 
 and he gave us very generous portions of the 
 prize cake. 
 
 This was Mr. O'Reilly's last day with the 
 Spring Valley School. The next year he was 
 chosen one of the rural school supervisors in 
 Lane County, and he is still there making an 
 excellent record. A recent letter from him 
 briefly takes up the later history of his Spring 
 Valley winners in the home credit contest. 
 He says : 
 
 Evangeline J was one of the winners. She 
 
 is doing finely in high school, and still winning 
 prizes at fairs. She leads her class in domestic 
 science in the Eugene High School. She has eighty 
 dollars in the bank, sixty-one dollars and fifty 
 cents earned from prizes. You know the home 
 Credit started her bank account with three dollars. 
 
 Golda B is another. She is attending the 
 
 high school at Sheridan. Her standings are fine. 
 She very seldom has to take examinations. She has
 
 THE SPRING VALLEY SCHOOL 23 
 
 about seventy-five dollars in the bank. Jack S 
 has finished the eighth grade, and is going to 
 attend high school in Eugene this year. His bank 
 account is thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents. 
 
 Mabel S has finished the grades and will go 
 
 to high school in Hopewell this year. Her bank 
 account is thirty-eight dollars. She has a piano 
 her father got her, and is doing well in music. 
 
 Verda R attends high school in Eugene this 
 
 year. The other winners are still little ones, and 
 are attending school in Spring Valley.
 
 IV 
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE ALGEBRA? 
 
 Present interest is the grand motive power. ROUSSEAU. 
 
 An objection to the introduction of new subjects is that 
 children are already overworked in school. There is, however, 
 a precaution against overwork; it is making school work inter- 
 esting to the children. To introduce new and higher subjects 
 into the school program is not necessarily to increase the strain 
 upon the child. If this measure increases the interest and 
 attractiveness of the work and the sense of achievement, it 
 will diminish weariness and the risk of hurtful strain. 
 
 CHARLES W. ELIOT. 
 
 WHEN I was county superintendent in 
 Yamhill County I used to talk much of the 
 home credit plan in local institutes. One day 
 when I was explaining how the plan worked, 
 and how I had given credit in algebra for 
 home activities, a teacher arose in the audi- 
 ence and said he was willing to go almost any 
 length with me, but he thought it was going 
 too far to give credit in algebra for what was 
 not algebra. "Is it not dishonest?" he asked, 
 "and will it not teach dishonesty? Besides, if 
 you give credit in this way for things not al- 
 gebra, what will become of the algebra?" This 
 is an unsettled problem: what will become of
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALGEBRA? 25 
 
 the algebra? True, Mary got more algebra! 
 I put this unsettled question alongside of 
 another. I was arguing for the consolidation 
 of schools in a little district near a larger dis- 
 trict, and had tried to show that consolidation 
 would be much cheaper, and would bring 
 greater advantages, when a man stood up 
 and said that he agreed in general with the 
 plan but that it would not work in this dis- 
 trict, "for," said he, "this district has a cem- 
 etery deeded to it, and if the district should 
 lose its identity, what would become of the 
 cemetery?" As these questions are similar, 
 I put the algebra into the cemetery. 
 
 I believe in algebra, but in order to teach 
 algebra I believe it is first necessary to see to 
 it that the child is in a constructive frame of 
 mind. He should be in harmony with his sur- 
 roundings. When Mary became interested in 
 her home, she was in a mood to work problems 
 in advance. When her home was neglected, 
 her algebra problems were all in arrears. 
 
 Even though we omitted the consideration 
 of the health, the morals, and the working 
 ability of the pupils, the home credit system 
 would be justified as a part of the school work
 
 26 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 because of its revitalizing effect on the regu- 
 lar school work. The teacher who succeeds 
 in touching the hidden springs of youthful 
 interest is doing more for humanity than 
 the man who discovers the much-sought-for 
 method of bringing static electricity out of 
 space. A child, or a man either for that mat- 
 ter, is a dynamo of energy when interested. 
 Many people think that children in school 
 are overworked; in my opinion they are more 
 often underinterested. One little lad of about 
 five, taking a Sunday walk with grown people, 
 told his father that he was very tired, that 
 his legs fairly ached, and that he would 
 have to be carried or else camp right there. 
 A member of the party (I wish I could re- 
 member his name, for he was a good child 
 psychologist) said to the boy, "Why, sure, 
 you don't have to walk. I '11 get you a horse." 
 He cut a stick horse and a switch. The boy 
 mounted at a bound, whipped his steed up 
 and down the road, beating up the dust in 
 circles around the crowd. By the time he 
 reached home he had ridden the stick horse 
 twice as far as the others had walked, and 
 had not remembered that he was tired.
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALGEBRA? 27 
 
 My first trial of home credits convinced me 
 that children would do better school work 
 because of the plan. I have letters from many 
 teachers through the Northwest bearing me 
 out in my opinion. I quote: "It stimulates 
 to better work in school." "The teachers 
 notice an improvement in school work along 
 all lines." "It has helped to make our school, 
 in some respects at least, as good as any in the 
 county, according to the county superintend- 
 ent's own word. A member of the board says 
 the children have never made such progress 
 since the school was built, and all say these 
 children have never made so much progress 
 before." Tardiness is reported to be much 
 less in home credit schools. 
 
 A prominent Western dairyman remarked 
 that arithmetic had always been a hopeless 
 subject for him. He declared that arithmeti- 
 cally he was "born short." A listener in- 
 quired if he had any trouble in keeping 
 accounts, in figuring out the profits on each 
 dairy cow, or in doing other problems con- 
 nected with his farm. He replied very quickly, 
 "No, not at all. I don't have any trouble with 
 anything except arithmetic." Home credits
 
 28 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 take into account the out-of-school mathe- 
 matical activities. So the boy who has meas- 
 ured a cord of wood, laid out a garden plot, 
 figured out the costs, income, and profits of 
 feeding a pig for a year, or solved any prob- 
 lem that conies up on the farm, will be con- 
 sidered to have done something in arithmetic. 
 From Auburn, Washington, comes a story 
 of the effect of giving school credits for gar- 
 age and shop work. Joe, a boy of seventeen, 
 who had attended high school for a year and a 
 half, had earned only three academic credits, 
 and his other work was below passing. The 
 superintendent, Mr. Todd, called a confer- 
 ence with Joe's parents and, to use his own 
 expression, went after Joe "with hammer and 
 tongs." After much discussion, the superin- 
 tendent finally asked the father and mother 
 what the boy seemed most interested in out- 
 side of school. Exchanging a troubled glance 
 with his wife, the father said that as soon as 
 Joe got out of school he rushed straight to 
 Meade's garage. So the superintendent went 
 to the garage, and found that Joe could be 
 taken into Mr. Meade's employment for the 
 afternoons. Again he called Joe to his office,
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALGEBRA? 29 
 
 and said to him, "Now, see here. You are 
 going on with your regular subjects here in 
 school, and in addition you are going to do 
 some work down in Meade's garage. Mr. 
 Meade is going to grade your work and send 
 in his report to me. If you make good there it 
 will help out your record here. You will get 
 pay for your work, too. You have got it in 
 you to make good, and I know you will. What 
 do you think about it? " " I think it 's bully ! " 
 exclaimed Joe. 
 
 Joe had failed in his geometry, but as soon 
 as he took the position at the garage his work 
 in geometry improved. It was about Christ- 
 mas that he began working, and at the time 
 of the report several months later he was 
 doing well in his mathematics. The credit 
 he received from the garage counted toward 
 his marks for high-school graduation. Mr. 
 Meade, incidentally, was very much pleased 
 with his part in the transaction, and sent 
 in his reports with religious regularity. 
 
 Not only Joe, but some half dozen other 
 boys in Mr. Todd's school at Auburn are now 
 " farmed out " in this manner, and work down- 
 town under regular contract. They are mostly
 
 30 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 boys who had lost interest in school, and 
 were at the dropping-out stage. Mr. Todd's 
 plan is similar to the one in use at Fitch- 
 burg, Massachusetts. 
 
 Herbert M , of Minnehaha, Washing- 
 ton, is such a busy boy at home that he does 
 not have time to look at a book after he leaves 
 school. This year, 1914, Mr. W. E. Dudley, 
 the principal of the Minnehaha school, began 
 to give credit for home work and allowed the 
 credits obtained to be applied where most 
 needed. The first month of school this year 
 Herbert's arithmetic grade was below 65 per 
 cent; his last month's grade in the same sub- 
 ject, without adding any credits, was above 
 95 per cent. At first Herbert needed his extra 
 credits applied to his mathematics to obtain 
 a passing grade. But for some cause his work 
 in arithmetic has improved wonderfully. 
 
 If you care to get up at five o'clock and go 
 through the day with Herbert it may open 
 your eyes as to what an industrious boy of 
 fifteen does at home. He is always up early, 
 for before the day's work begins he milks two 
 cows, feeds three "skim-milk" calves and 
 eight head of cattle, pumps water for them,
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALGEBRA? 31 
 
 and feeds nine pigs. He is then ready for a 
 hearty breakfast. One morning in March, 
 Herbert and his father agreed that har- 
 rowing was more important than going to 
 school. So he worked five hours, harrowing 
 four and a half acres. Herbert did not lose 
 credit at school, for his teacher approved of 
 his morning's work, as he knew how impor- 
 tant it was. He was at school before the one- 
 o'clock bell rang, had a game of ball with the 
 boys, and was ready for his lessons of the 
 afternoon. At four o'clock he hurried home, 
 and this is what he did before he went to 
 bed. First, he herded six cows for over an 
 hour, milked two cows, fed his skim-milk 
 calves, got in the wood, fed the chickens, 
 gathered the eggs, cleaned two barns, fed the 
 eight head of cattle, pumped water for them, 
 fed the pigs, and turned the separator ten 
 minutes. 
 
 While Herbert has had some trouble with 
 his arithmetic he does fine work in composi- 
 tion. At the children's fair at Spokane in 
 October, 1913, he won fifteen dollars in cash 
 for the best essay on caring- for a skim-milk 
 calf, and a pair of scales as second prize for
 
 32 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 an essay on how to handle a farm separator. 
 Here are Herbert's prizes for three years: In 
 1911 at the county fair at Vancouver, Wash- 
 ington, he got the second award, a diploma, 
 on his farm exhibit; in 1912 as first prize on 
 farm exhibit he won a trip to the fair at 
 Puyallup; in 1913 at the Clarke County fair 
 he received ten dollars' worth of garden seeds 
 as second prize on farm exhibit, fifteen dol- 
 lars in cash for judging dairy cattle, while 
 together with his parents he won seventy-five 
 dollars for the best adult farm exhibit; and 
 at the children's state contest, 1913, he re- 
 ceived the first prize, fifteen dollars, for the 
 skim-milk calf essay. 
 
 A boy in one of the Portland, Oregon, 
 schools had trouble with his spelling, getting 
 a mark of only 4| on a scale of 10. Soon after 
 home credits were put into use by his teacher 
 he came to her and anxiously inquired if he 
 could help out his spelling grade with a good 
 home record. The teacher graciously assured 
 him that he could. The boy brought in each 
 week one of the very best home record slips, 
 and in some mysterious manner his spelling 
 improved as his hours of work increased. He
 
 WHAT WILL BECOME OF ALGEBRA? 33 
 
 does not need his home record to help out his 
 spelling grade now, for last month he received 
 more than a passing mark, 7f in his weak 
 subject. The knowledge that there was help 
 at hand relieved his nervousness, and gave 
 him confidence.
 
 V 
 
 HONORING LABOR 
 
 She . . . worketh willingly with her hands . . . and eateth 
 not the bread of idleness. Give her of the fruit of her hands; 
 and let her own works praise her in the gates. 
 
 Proverbs xxxi, 13, 27, 81. 
 
 WE are still paying a heavy price for slave 
 labor; for instance, the idea that it is un- 
 dignified to cook has come down through the 
 ages of slaveholding, and has got into some 
 people's blood. The school by taking into 
 account home tasks can make them seem 
 worth while and thus dignify their doing. 
 Many persons do not work because their 
 ideals are made at school, and their heroes 
 are those who did not win honor at labor, or, 
 at least, the labor of these heroes is not 
 emphasized. 
 
 In the case of Mary, the work she did at 
 home transformed her from a heedless girl 
 into a sympathetic helper. She had the idea 
 that too many young people have, that it 
 is more honorable to study algebra than to 
 wash dishes or to cook a meal. The minute
 
 HONORING LABOR 35 
 
 that she saw that they were considered equal 
 she no longer held back from the home work, 
 and when in a constructive frame of mind 
 she not only did the home work but did her 
 algebra too. There is not a normal American 
 boy who shrinks from a piece of work because 
 he thinks it is hard. On the contrary, he likes 
 the man's job, and seeks out the hard things 
 and tackles them. He avoids the things he 
 thinks are not worth while. So it becomes a 
 matter of the child's point of view whether 
 he likes his work or not. Too often it is the 
 case that the child never hears it suggested 
 that there is any merit in home work within 
 itself. He has the idea that he goes to school 
 to get an education, and works at home 
 because he has to. Many parents frankly 
 tell their children that they should study well 
 at school so they can make a living "without 
 working." 
 
 When we give home work its proper recog- 
 nition, and the child comes to understand that 
 there are different degrees of efficiency and 
 skill in doing it, the work will take on a new 
 color. Many are the reports that have come 
 in from parents in home credit districts say-
 
 36 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 ing, "There is nothing left for us to do in the 
 way of chores. The children used to seem 
 indifferent about the work, and did as little 
 as they could. Now the boys get up before we 
 do instead of waiting to be called, rush down- 
 stairs to make the fires, and go at the chores, 
 while the girls go into the kitchen and start 
 breakfast." 
 
 While youth is the time for play, yet chil- 
 dren like to work too. Since we have had the 
 school gardens in Portland we often find the 
 playgrounds vacant, and the gardens near 
 by well filled with children at work. We often 
 hear that children should not have respon- 
 sibilities; yet we find that the successful men 
 of to-day are the ones that bore burdens early. 
 A number of successful business men in Port- 
 land were recently talking together of their 
 boyhood days, and each one said that he had 
 had to assume a great deal of responsibility 
 before he was twelve years old. 
 
 The importance of "percentages," "cred- 
 its," "grades," or "standings" in the minds 
 of school children, especially in the upper 
 grammar classrooms, is surprising to a 
 stranger. Even the drawing teacher is begged
 
 WORK CREDITED AT SCHOOL, WESTON, OREGON
 
 HONORING LABOR 37 
 
 to give marks. "But there are the drawings, 
 arranged in the order of their merit, on the 
 screen. They can see which are the best!" 
 No, they want a mark. "To raise our stand- 
 ings," they say. 
 
 Of course, we all feel that "marks" in 
 school have but a temporary purpose; that 
 they are to furnish a motive to serve until a 
 better motive can be substituted. Home work 
 may be encouraged at first by the wish for 
 "higher standings," or a prize, or a holiday; 
 but many other influences are likely to come 
 in to keep it up. 
 
 This is not the place to discuss the teaching 
 without marks that is practiced in a few mod- 
 ern schools. In most schools the system of 
 giving percentages is firmly established. The 
 honoring of achievement in the schools, by 
 marks or otherwise, has always been a great 
 power in helping the school studies move 
 along. But only part of the available energy 
 has been used. There are vast reservoirs of 
 power which may be put at the service of ed- 
 ucation and which as yet have scarcely been 
 tapped. 
 
 I hope the giving of marks will never be the
 
 38 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 main consideration with those who follow 
 the home credit idea, but rather the giving of 
 honor. Too long have pupils' out-of -school in- 
 dustries been ignored at school as though they 
 were something to be ashamed of. Whether 
 we give formal credit or not, let us give honor 
 at school for home work.
 
 VI 
 
 HABIT-BUILDING 
 
 Habit second nature? Habit is ten times nature. 
 
 THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 
 
 HABITS plus ideals make character. The 
 establishing of right habits in youth can best 
 be done by cooperation of parents and teach- 
 ers. So far as we take habit-building as our 
 aim, education becomes definite and concrete. 
 
 At the close of his famous chapter on 
 "Habit," William James says: 
 
 Could the young but realize how soon they will 
 become mere walking bundles of habit, they would 
 give more heed to their conduct while in the 
 plastic state. We are spinning our own fates, good 
 or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest 
 stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little 
 scar. . . . Let no youth have any anxiety about 
 the upshot of his education, whatever the line of 
 it may be. If he keep faithfully busy each hour 
 of the working day, he may safely leave the final 
 result to itself. He can with perfect certainty 
 count on waking up some fine morning to find 
 himself one of the competent ones of his genera- 
 tion, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out. 
 .... Young people should know this truth in 
 advance. The ignorance of it has probably en-
 
 40 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 gendered more discouragement and faint-hearted- 
 ness in youths embarking on arduous careers than 
 all other causes put together. 
 
 One habit that works for success is indus- 
 try. How easy it is for a bright boy or girl to 
 get through school without acquiring any- 
 thing like a habit of being industrious, even in 
 learning book lessons ! If he is quick-minded, 
 as he has only to keep up with the average 
 child, he needs little or no work to give him 
 a good standing in his class. The alert child 
 often gains all required information by merely 
 listening to the other pupils. Thus we often 
 find failures among those bright pupils whom 
 we expected to find successful, because they 
 did not learn to dig and could do only what 
 came easily. Most occupations demand more 
 than an acquiring attitude of mind. They de- 
 mand vigorous exertion, and the seeing to it 
 that the thing is done. But how is there to be 
 any assurance that the child is forming hab- 
 its of industry if there is not cooperation? The 
 child tells the parent that he has to prepare his 
 lessons and so he gets out of work at home; he 
 makes the plea that he is tired out by home 
 tasks so that he may not be given hard work
 
 HABIT-BUILDING 41 
 
 at school. So he misses the work habit 
 entirely. 
 
 Politeness a show of consideration for 
 the rights and feelings of others is partly 
 a habit. Careful watching by parent and 
 teacher is needed to establish this considera- 
 tion as a permanent attitude of mind. It is 
 with much pleasure that I note that many of 
 the home credit cards bear the items, "Cheer- 
 fulness," "Kindness," "Politeness," "Keep- 
 ing temper," "Doing before told," "Care of 
 language," "Courtesy to parents," and the 
 like. And it is with very great pleasure that I 
 receive letters from parents and teachers say- 
 ing that the attitude of the children in these 
 things is becoming a habit. 
 
 Neatness and personal care are habits that 
 mean much to any one. Some grown people 
 cannot help being neat. Others apparently 
 cannot be neat no matter how much they try. 
 Something is always wrong. It is a habit 
 formed when young, perhaps before the age 
 of twenty. In Mr. O'Reilly's list he included 
 sleeping with window boards in, bathing, car- 
 ing for the nails, brushing the hair, cleaning 
 the teeth, and going to bed by nine o'clock.
 
 42 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Personal care has been given a place on the 
 Portland home credit record l which is now 
 used in some of the schools. Algona, a home 
 credit school about twenty miles from Seattle, 
 uses the Portland personal care section, includ- 
 ing bathing, brushing teeth, sleeping with 
 open windows, going to bed before nine 
 o'clock, and attending church or Sunday 
 school. In looking over the first home credit 
 slips that came in, the Algona principal found 
 that Nettie, a girl of thirteen, had earned just 
 7 per cent out of the 100 per cent given for 
 a perfect record in the personal division. She 
 had earned more than the required two hun- 
 dred and ten minutes for the week in the 
 regular work department at a hard round of 
 preparing meals, washing dishes, sweeping, 
 feeding the poultry, scrubbing, and so forth. 
 But Nettie had slept with her window closed, 
 had not brushed her teeth, had not taken a 
 bath, nor had she been in bed at the required 
 hour. Nettie was obviously unhappy over 
 the grade her card received in comparison 
 with the grades of her schoolmates. Before 
 the next report day she had in some way 
 
 1 For the Portland Home Credit Record card, see p. 120 jf.
 
 HABIT-BUILDING 43 
 
 secured a toothbrush, that effective means of 
 promoting civilization, and had made suffi- 
 cient improvement in her personal care to 
 secure 65 per cent. Her grade for the third 
 week was 72 per cent, and for the fourth, 93 
 per cent. Her fourth week's report showed a 
 hot bath, toothbrushing twice a day, window 
 open every night, and that she was in bed 
 before nine every night but two. What her 
 reform will mean to the entire family it is 
 interesting to conjecture. 
 
 "Be careful about that voice, Ella," 
 directed a teacher. Ella arose at her place, 
 a thin, stooping girl of about thirteen. She 
 read her passage of the lesson in a voice 
 scarcely audible to the visitor across the 
 room. A few minutes later the visitor was 
 looking over some home credit report slips. 
 "Here is a girl who did not sleep with her 
 windows open," she said. The teacher took 
 the blank, studied it a minute, then replied, 
 "This is the first time that child has brought 
 in a home credit slip. Do you recall my re- 
 minding a little girl about her voice? That is 
 the girl, and this card may explain her voice 
 quality."
 
 44 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 All the pupils except two in a little Wash- 
 ington town learned to sleep with their win- 
 dows open. Upon inquiry it was found that 
 one girl could not open her window, as it 
 was made for admitting light only, being 
 built solidly into the wall. In the case of the 
 other child, the parents absolutely refused to 
 endanger their daughter's health by letting 
 her breathe night ah*, no matter how many 
 faddists insisted that it was necessary! 
 
 Some members of a church were discussing 
 the problem of the spirit of incipient immoral- 
 ity that they felt was prevalent among chil- 
 dren in the neighborhood. A home credit 
 teacher showed the speakers a number of the 
 first report cards she had received, which dis- 
 closed the fact that very few of the pupils 
 under her care were ever in bed before nine 
 o'clock. A few months later she took occasion 
 to display again her pupils' home credit cards 
 and with pride pointed out that almost every 
 child was going to bed early, before nine 
 o'clock. "It had grown to be a habit with the 
 children to be up late," she said. "The im- 
 morality talked of was not yet in actual exist- 
 ence among the children, but through their
 
 HABIT-BUILDING 45 
 
 outside evening associates was gradually 
 working itself in. The children had only to 
 be reminded in a substantial way that it was 
 not only desirable for them physically to re- 
 tire early, but that they were to receive recog- 
 nition in their school standing for so doing, 
 and they at once happily complied."
 
 VII 
 
 We are just beginning to discover that the rural school has a 
 fine laboratory for practical educational purposes, in the neigh- 
 borhood environment of the school. With the development of 
 scientific agriculture and domestic arts in many of our modern 
 country homes this laboratory is constantly improving. 
 
 Kansas State Agricultural College Bulletin, 1914. 
 
 THERE is a general idea among teachers that 
 parents will not cooperate with them. This, I 
 believe, is founded upon the assumption that 
 because they cannot, as a usual thing, coop- 
 erate in textbook work they will not cooper- 
 ate hi other things. But both parents and 
 teachers want the same results accomplished. 
 If these are to be attained it means partner- 
 ship work, the parent and that other parent, 
 the teacher, working together; or one might 
 say, the teacher, and that other teacher, the 
 parent, working together. 
 
 I have been surprised to find to what 
 extent parents will cooperate with teachers if 
 given a chance. Mrs. Brown goes to the school- 
 house on a bleak afternoon. She is greeted
 
 THAT OTHER TEACHER 47 
 
 warmly by the teacher, Miss Smith, and given 
 an arithmetic text to follow while the class re- 
 cites. The lesson is on decimal fractions. Now, 
 Mrs. Brown didn't have decimal fractions dur- 
 ing her school days, so the recitation is quite 
 meaningless to her. She is glad when the class 
 is over, and does not find time to visit school 
 again that term. But if she is asked to prepare 
 a luncheon for the picnic at the close of the 
 year, or asked to assist in any social function 
 at the schoolhouse, she spends her time for 
 the school, and is glad to do it. 
 
 In Eugene, Oregon, several years ago I 
 found that the women of the city were en- 
 thusiastic in aiding the schools. Thirty-two 
 women gave up Monday afternoon to teach- 
 ing the girls sewing, while the boys had mil- 
 itary drill. At a social center meeting at 
 Hover, Washington, the suggestion was made 
 that it would be well if one of the mothers 
 would come to the school building occasion- 
 ally to help the girls with their sewing, as the 
 eighth-grade pupils would have to take an 
 examination in the subject in May. So many 
 mothers volunteered to undertake the task 
 that a schedule was made out whereby a
 
 48 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 sewing period could be had every afternoon, 
 and no mother be on duty of tener than every 
 two weeks. 
 
 At Myrtle Creek, Oregon, "domestic art 
 work is carried on in this way: the teacher 
 gives instructions in the work that is to be 
 done; in cooking, for instance, recipes are 
 given, talked over, and written down. The 
 girls then go home, and actually do the work, 
 and make a report to the teacher. They must 
 have the signatures of their mothers for all 
 the work they do. This is managed with a 
 home credit report card. 
 
 Mrs. E. H. Belknap, a progressive rural 
 teacher .near Jefferson, Oregon, said in a 
 recent letter: "We learn how a cow can be 
 fed and cared for, so as to produce the great- 
 est amount of butter fat. That is well, but 
 we regard it of far more value for the boy to 
 go home, apply the knowledge learned, and 
 produce the butter fat. He is now worth 
 something to the world, and able to turn his 
 education into dollars and cents at any time. 
 The girl takes the book, and reads how to 
 make butter. She goes home, tends the milk, 
 churns, and makes the butter, learns how
 
 THAT OTHER TEACHER 49 
 
 really to do the work. She has called the 
 attention of the entire family to the amount 
 and quality of her butter obtained from 
 proper feeding and handling of the cow by 
 the boy." 
 
 And yet it is said that nothing can be done 
 in the small school in domestic science be- 
 cause there is no equipment. In every home 
 there is ideal equipment if we mean the equip- 
 ment the children are to use. If we are pre- 
 paring for life, why not use the equipment we 
 must use hi life? Best of all, in using the home 
 laboratory there is an immediate purpose. 
 None of us can get much out of an exercise 
 when it is done just for an exercise. There is 
 the dinner to be cooked, the bed to be made, 
 the ironing to be done; somebody must do 
 it. And the dinner, the bed, and the ironing 
 are to be put to the test by some one who 
 sees real values. There is no doubt that 
 one of the things schools most lack is pur- 
 pose. 
 
 It might be said that to stimulate a child, 
 to want to do things is only half the problem. 
 "If children do things without expert instruc- 
 tion they may do them wrong, and thus get a
 
 50 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 faulty habit." But I think more than half of 
 the problem is solved when we create the 
 desire to do a thing. The greatest fault of 
 present-day education is that we constantly 
 try to teach a child how to do a thing without 
 his desiring to do it, or even knowing the 
 reason for doing it. On the other hand, I 
 once knew a country girl who had never seen 
 a domestic science equipment, and who lived 
 hi a community where there was no one house- 
 keeper especially noted; yet with her strong 
 desire to be a fine housekeeper she learned 
 something good from each neighbor, and for 
 excellent results, and for economy of time 
 and material, her daily practice would put the 
 average domestic science teacher to disadvan- 
 tage. However I am not arguing that domes- 
 tic science should not be taught at school; I 
 certainly believe it should. But I do claim 
 that it is worth while, and is absolutely ne- 
 cessary, first to create the desire to do the 
 things that are to be taught. To do things 
 without a purpose is like trying to eat without 
 an appetite. 
 
 A pamphlet published by the Kansas State 
 Agricultural College on "School Credit for
 
 THAT OTHER TEACHER 51 
 
 Home Work: The Laboratory of the Rural 
 School," makes these practical points: 
 
 Could there possibly be a more favorable con- 
 dition for teaching Domestic Arts than in the rural 
 school from which the girl goes every evening to 
 a busy home where she is needed to take part in 
 the actual work of housekeeping? It is here that 
 the girl has a chance to put into actual practice 
 the things she has learned at school. Here tfce 
 home has the chance to realize immediately upon 
 the investment it is making hi the education of the 
 girl. If sanitation, ventilation, sweeping and dust- 
 ing, care of the sick, preparation of foods, care 
 of milk, water supply and uses, bathing, care of 
 health, sewing, proper clothing, etc., are taught in 
 our schools, and if the laboratories are in the 
 immediate neighborhood, and the girls and boys 
 must go into them to stay overnight, they should 
 be used. Likewise, the vegetable gardens at the 
 homes should be made the experimental plots for 
 the school, after the best seeds have been selected, 
 best methods of preparing, fertilizing, and planting 
 the soil, best-known methods of cultivation and 
 maturing the crops, have been taught. The actual 
 experimental work should be carried out in the 
 home gardens by the boys and girls. Proper 
 records can be kept, and the boys and girls will be 
 anxious to get back into school, after the out-of- 
 doors summer experiments, to compare reports, 
 and renew another phase of their educational 
 work. 
 
 In agriculture the fields, stock, buildings, etc., 
 about the schoolhouse should be studied and used.
 
 52 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 These are the real agricultural laboratory. The 
 real problems of actual farming are present, and 
 the methods of work and the ways of handling the 
 fields and the stock are the available resources of 
 the school as a part of its actual laboratory. In 
 this connection study the dairy cows, the feeding 
 of cattle, hogs, and horses, types and breeds of 
 farm horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep. In every 
 community there are many opportunities for 
 type studies such as fields of alf alf a or wheat 
 or corn; a dairy herd; valuable and well-bred 
 horses; beef cattle; hogs or sheep; a silo, or types 
 of farm machinery, and farm buildings. 
 
 It is natural for a child to want to assume 
 home responsibilities, but there are many 
 things that interfere unless a special effort is 
 made. The school itself has been a great 
 offender in weaning children from their homes 
 and from natural living. This, of course, is 
 not strange when we consider that the school 
 started out to make lawyers and ministers, 
 and not home-makers. Yet one of the great 
 needs of the time is to make people home- 
 loving, and to have those wholesome habits 
 that come from sharing home responsibilities. 
 Anything is worth while that will make the 
 child once taste the joy of doing a useful thing 
 well.
 
 vm 
 
 STELLA AND SADIE 
 Through ignorance ye did it. Acts in, 17. 
 
 " LET the school go on just as it has. What 
 business is it of the school to meddle with the 
 home work? Of course most children do certain 
 chores at home, but why confuse the work of 
 the home with the work of the school? " 
 
 Have you heard this speech? I have heard 
 it several times. Does justice demand that we 
 know what pupils do outside of school? Must 
 the teacher know home conditions in order 
 to teach efficiently? I have in mind a true 
 story that answers these questions and shows 
 the injustice of teaching children when one 
 knows little or nothing of their home life. I 
 am sure most teachers have had similar ex- 
 periences. 
 
 In a certain schoolroom in a certain town I 
 noticed one day two girls in the same class 
 sitting near each other. The contrast between 
 them was so great that I became interested in 
 them, and found out something of their his-
 
 54 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 tory and circumstances. Stella, the younger 
 one, eleven years old, was a perfect picture 
 of rosy health. Her brown hair was beauti- 
 ful and most becomingly arranged. Many 
 women would have been delighted to wear 
 such furs as she put on at the noon recess. 
 Well dressed and well nourished, she had the 
 look of one much loved at school and at home, 
 one to whom life was all happiness. 
 
 Stella is the only child of wealthy and 
 doting parents. If we should follow her home 
 we should find a well-kept modern house, and 
 we should see that the mother who greets her 
 at the door is just such a mother as we should 
 expect for such a girl. While the evening meal 
 is being prepared, her mother sits beside her 
 at the piano, and helps with her practice, and 
 when the father comes in, the three sing 
 together until dinner is announced. After 
 dinner her mother helps her with her Least 
 Common Multiple and Greatest Common 
 Divisor. They all discuss her composition 
 and then her mother asks her to read aloud, 
 and reads to her. Promptly at nine o'clock 
 she goes to bed in just the kind of room a 
 little girl loves. The windows are opened to
 
 STELLA AND SADIE 55 
 
 the proper width, the heat is turned off, she 
 is kissed good-night, and is told, "Mother 
 loves you, and Father will come in and kiss 
 you when he comes home." 
 
 In the morning at seven o'clock she is called 
 by a very gentle voice, and told it is time for 
 Mother's angel to leave her dreams. Her 
 mother helps her dress, and brushes and 
 braids her hair. " What will Father's sweet- 
 heart have for breakfast this morning?" She 
 will have grape-fruit and a poached egg on 
 toast. After some fitting by the seamstress 
 for a new dress to be added to her already full 
 wardrobe, she is thoroughly inspected and is 
 ready for school. She is given some flowers 
 for the teacher, and is accompanied part way 
 by her mother. She is early at school, her 
 teacher kisses her, pats her cheeks, and 
 Stella is ready for the lessons, the lessons her 
 mother helped her with the evening before. 
 There she is, happy, radiant! 
 
 Now let us go home with the other girl. 
 Sadie is thirteen, but she looks much older 
 notwithstanding her frail little figure. Did I 
 say home? Be the judge. A few years ago her 
 father and her aunt ran away together, leav-
 
 56 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WOtK 
 
 ing the mother with Sadie and two younger 
 children. The broken-spirited mother died 
 after the desertion, and the father and aunt 
 returned, were married, and took possession 
 of the house and the three children. They 
 now have a baby a year old. The family live 
 in a tumbledown house at the edge of the city. 
 On entering the house Sadie receives no greet- 
 ing from her stepmother-aunt, who is sit- 
 ting by a dirty window reading. The child 
 knows what work there is to do, and goes at 
 it sullenly. After the meal, at which she 
 scarcely has time to sit down, she has to do 
 up the work, and then is sent on an errand. 
 When she returns it is nine o'clock and she is 
 hardly able to keep her eyes open. The Least 
 Common Multiple and the Greatest Common 
 Divisor are like Greek to her. After she has 
 tried to study a few minutes, her stepmother 
 disturbs her by throwing her brother's stock- 
 ings into her lap to be mended. When this 
 task is completed, and the potatoes are peeled 
 for breakfast, she goes upstairs. She tenderly 
 draws the covers about her sleeping brother 
 and creeps into bed beside her little sister. 
 Though she is very weary, her starved soul is
 
 STELLA AND SADIE 57 
 
 comforted as she cuddles and kisses her sister 
 before she drops to sleep. 
 
 In the night she awakens, and thinking 
 Harry is again uncoVered she slips over to his 
 bed, like a little mother, and again adjusts 
 the bedclothes. The baby awakens at five 
 o'clock, and Sadie is called and told to make 
 a fire and warm the milk. She then gets 
 breakfast, does the kitchen work, spreads up 
 the beds, sews a button on her brother's coat, 
 braids her sister's hair, and is late at school. 
 
 She came in a few minutes late the morning 
 I visited her room. The class was trying to 
 make a record for punctuality, and had tied 
 another room for first place until this morning 
 when Sadie's lateness set them behind. The 
 teacher was provoked and reproved Sadie. 
 The pupils showed their scorn in many ways 
 and said she was the cause of all but three of 
 the tardy marks of the term. The teacher 
 knew that the principal would ask her why 
 she did not improve her tardy record. The 
 pupils knew that their chances for a half- 
 holiday were spoiled as long as "that Sadie 
 Johnson" was in the room. 
 
 This morning especially the teacher wished
 
 58 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 to make a good showing because she wanted 
 a place in a larger city and hoped that I would 
 recommend her. Arithmetic was the first 
 thing on the program. The principal had 
 boasted of the work of his school in arith- 
 metic. The work went beautifully, for Stella 
 led off with a perfect recitation. The pride of 
 the whole class was evident, the teacher was 
 hopeful. But wanting to see the work of all 
 the pupils, I asked several questions, and at 
 last called upon Sadie. She did n't know, she 
 stood abashed, and showed absolute lack of 
 understanding of the subject. The principal 
 was provoked. The teacher was plainly hu- 
 miliated, and said in a tone that was low, 
 but loud enough for Sadie and several of the 
 children to hear, " The girl is not only lazy, 
 but feeble-minded." 
 
 So it was the whole term. Sadie was tor- 
 tured each school day, condemned by the 
 most powerful court in the world, her com- 
 panions, led by her teacher. And the reason 
 was that the teacher was teaching only the 
 six-hour-a-day girl. One does not have to go 
 to Turkey to see examples of injustice and 
 cruelty. But let us not be too critical of the
 
 STELLA AND SADIE 59 
 
 teacher. She is tender-hearted and sympa- 
 thetic. She weeps over the heroines in books, 
 and has latent longings to be of service in the 
 world. In this case she did not know the con- 
 ditions that made Sadie stupid. If she had 
 been interested in the children's out-of-school 
 work, and had had them tell her about it, she 
 would have known that the frail little un- 
 kempt girl was compelled to do a woman's 
 work at home besides trying to get her lessons. 
 Then she would have seen the tragedy in the 
 child's appealing glance and have understood 
 her. Some people go through life without 
 finding an opportunity to do justice, such as 
 was this teacher's. In ministering to the soul- 
 hunger of this little girl she might have given 
 the service that she had dreamed of giving. 
 It would have been the kind of service that is 
 its own reward.
 
 IX 
 
 A STORY AND LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 
 A STORY FROM NEBRASKA, BY MRS. SARAH J. 
 
 HOAGLAND 
 
 ONE spring found me in Nebraska teaching 
 a school of German and Bohemian children, 
 only two of whom spoke English. I boarded 
 with a German family who lived about a mile 
 from the school. In our walks to and from 
 school I taught the children English. They 
 and their father were born in Nebraska, but 
 at first none of them could speak English so 
 that I could understand it, although I under- 
 stood some of their German. 
 
 The oldest boy ten years old lanky, 
 with awkward gait, and fair, straight-stand- 
 ing hair, had a dogged, sullen look. It was a 
 " home" look, especially when the father was 
 around, but it left when he was trying to tell 
 about birds or other interesting things. His 
 telling me that he intended to work in town as 
 soon as possible gave me a peep into his heart 
 as regarded home. It was not a happy home.
 
 LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 61 
 
 The father often drank, and at such times he 
 was harsh and cruel. The mother was meek 
 and subdued. She never had known how to do 
 good housekeeping. She told me that when a 
 girl in Germany, being large and strong, she 
 had had to work in the fields instead of learn- 
 ing housework. 
 
 The farm was run down; the house was 
 bare and unhomelike. The father's voice was 
 often raised in upbraiding in " Low Dutch." 
 He often had the children rounded up for 
 punishment for starting fires or other mischief. 
 The seven-year-old boy was more efficient, 
 either in the home or out, than the ten-year- 
 old boy. I noticed that he had a better head 
 and intelligence. His efficiency was due to 
 this, not to any better training. 
 
 The mother often cried over the brutality 
 of the father to the oldest boy. I determined 
 to study the situation, and I found a remedy. 
 I learned that the father could do practi- 
 cally nothing in arithmetic. He had attended 
 school for his confirmation a little reading 
 in German being the only apparent result. 
 So I taught the boy arithmetic, and after I 
 had worked with him two hours every night
 
 62 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 for several months, he could do addition bet- 
 ter than his father. It was wonderful to see 
 the pride and dawning respect on the father's 
 face as the boy figured correctly the weight of 
 many wagon-loads of grain lately taken to the 
 elevator. I knew then that the unreason- 
 able whipping would tend to stop. I seldom 
 see a father unreasonable with a boy he can 
 be proud of at school. So the sky was clear 
 for a time. 
 
 But when the press of spring work came on 
 and the father found he could not afford to 
 employ help, he grew moody and was even 
 savage again. He drank, and at times I was 
 afraid of him myself. But I liked the mother. 
 I knew she needed the board money for the 
 children, and I wanted to see the case of the 
 boy to a finish. So I stayed on. The lovely 
 outdoor surroundings, too, made me want to 
 stay. The orchard was beautiful the finest 
 in the neighborhood. The birds sang in a 
 large maple at my window. This was a treat 
 to a flat-dweller. Since then I have ever loved 
 the country. 
 
 I often asked the mother what the father 
 was saying to the oldest boy. I knew as far
 
 LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 63 
 
 as the boy was concerned I could help the 
 matter by influencing him. She said that the 
 father was complaining that the boy was 
 worthless as a worker. For one thing, he had 
 milked and left the milk in the barnyard in 
 order to play. The complaints kept pouring 
 in on the patient mother. The father was 
 working early and late to get abreast of the 
 season's work. He forgot what sleep was, and 
 grew thin and haggard and more and more 
 savage. 
 
 I felt that only some distinct advance would 
 have effect on either father or boy. I asked 
 if the boy could drive a horse. He could n't. 
 He could not work a single piece of the ma- 
 chinery on the farm. That is most unusual 
 in Nebraska, for the light soil can be worked 
 by machinery which a boy can learn to run if 
 he can also guide horses. The father would 
 not teach the boy had no patience with 
 him. So the mother and I made our plans. 
 She approached the father with the question 
 of getting a team and machine for the boy. 
 It happened to be a cornstalk cutter that 
 was needed. The father consented, provided 
 the mother would teach the boy! She had
 
 64 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 done such work, though she was not strong 
 enough to do it this year. 
 
 But I saw her that Saturday toiling in the 
 hot sun, walking up and down the rows, 
 touching up the horses. The boy proved most 
 apt. I soon saw him going up and down alone, 
 still under his mother's eye, however. The 
 boy seemed to grow two years in importance, 
 self-reliance, and ambition in that day's 
 work! This training was kept up out of school 
 hours for some time, and the boy learned to 
 work other machinery, the last thing a corn- 
 planter. 
 
 As soon as the father realized what the 
 boy was doing, he was a transformed man. 
 The knowledge that he had a helper seemed 
 to clear the atmosphere. Before this the boy 
 had always kept out of the father's way. Now 
 he forsook the mother! It was "Papa and 
 me" from that time in his talk. This new 
 attitude made it all the easier for the wife, 
 for it was a relief from what had been her 
 greatest trouble having to stand between 
 the two. 
 
 The father's pride and confidence in his son 
 kept on growing. In many ways he was just a
 
 LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 65 
 
 good-natured big giant, but he turned like a 
 bear on anything that annoyed him. 
 
 I remember the first day the boy stayed 
 out of school to work, how it seemed to me a 
 deciding day in his life. I rarely like to see 
 a child stay out of school, but that day I 
 thought the industrial training much more 
 important than anything I could teach the 
 boy in those hours of school. He came regu- 
 larly after the rush of work was over. 
 
 A SCHOOL IN MONTANA: 
 MRS. HOAGLAND'S FIRST LETTER TO THE AUTHOR 
 
 Last September I heard your lecture on credit 
 being given in school for home work. I have tried 
 it lately after working the children up to grade. 
 I started by getting acquainted with the homes, 
 finding out what the children did and what they 
 could do further. I made inquiries as to whether 
 the children, in their play, left things around for 
 the mother to pick up and so on. The spirit the 
 work is done in counts, too, in credit given. The 
 work must be done pleasantly and cheerfully; the 
 mother must be asked for work; she is not to be 
 hunting the child up to get him to do the work. 
 
 One little girl of eleven made bread from begin- 
 ning to end, never having tried it entirely before. 
 She has an overworked mother. In another home 
 I found the two older children took charge of a 
 teething baby while the mother, an ex-teacher and
 
 66 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 rather delicate, did the housework. The little 
 girl, six years old, could do dishes and otherwise 
 help the mother. In another home the boy has 
 grown to be the pride of his father's heart by 
 forcing the father back into the chair, when he 
 was weary, and doing the chores himself. 
 
 One boy, his father told me two weeks ago, was 
 growing as dependable as his brother five years 
 older, and helped bring the cows, herd cattle from 
 one field to another before and after school and 
 on non-school days. There was much other work, 
 light in itself, but wonderfully helpful to his 
 father, that was taken charge of cheerfully. 
 
 One child's father had a hired man. The boy 
 did but little. He is eight years old and large. 
 While visiting there, I saw his father bringing in 
 coal. I told the boy he would find it necessary 
 to look up work if he cared for credit. His mother 
 visited school shortly after this; I was telling her 
 of the idea and she said she now understood why 
 Bennie had started to clear the table several times, 
 and so on. We had a very happy laugh over it. 
 The boy hunts the eggs, gets in the wood and coal, 
 makes the mash for the chickens, and helps wash 
 the dishes. 
 
 Another child, aged thirteen, has to do much 
 outside work, so she feels good over getting credit 
 for it. It is a kind of pay that makes her days 
 pleasanter. I believe each child richly deserves 
 the credit I have given. The results have been 
 to make the tie between the parents and myself 
 stronger, and I am asked to come back next year. 
 I have seen a gladder, prouder light in the parents' 
 eyes concerning their children. It has helped to
 
 LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 67 
 
 make our school in some respects without a 
 superior in the county, according to the county 
 superintendent's own word. A member of the 
 board says the children never have made such 
 progress since the school was built, and all say 
 these children never have made as much progress 
 before. They are learning, as far as I can teach 
 them, the honor of labor and the beauty of being 
 useful, willing, and dependable. I have had a 
 hard battle to wage here for good, thorough work 
 and application, but the right has won. 
 
 I enclose a report that shows the kinds of work 
 the children are in the habit of doing. 
 
 I am the teacher who spoke to you about the 
 new oats being brought into the dryland country. 
 It is now being introduced into another part of 
 Montana where my homestead is. You will per- 
 haps remember me. Very sincerely, 
 
 MBS. S. J. HOAGLAND. 
 
 BENNIE McGOY ADDISON SHIRLEY 
 
 Aged 8 Aged 9 
 
 Dries dishes Takes out ashes 
 
 Makes fire Gets eggs 
 
 Fulled 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 * Feeds chickens 
 
 Slops hogs Carries slop to hogs 
 
 Kills flies Drives to town 
 Fixed his hand cart 
 
 Probably means turns the power on or off.
 
 68 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 JOHNNIE MAHONEY 
 Aged 6 
 
 LOVILO MURRAY 
 Aged 6 
 
 Feeds pig Opens gate for calves 
 
 Hunts eggs Gets kindling 
 
 Waters horse Gets coal 
 Told where sow and her new piga 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 
 Aged 11 
 
 Bakes bread 
 
 Washes dishea 
 
 Minds baby 
 
 Gets coal and water 
 
 Gathers eggs 
 
 Makes cake 
 
 Gets cows 
 
 Waters horses 
 
 Pumps water 
 
 Sewed a doll petticoat 
 
 Sewed sleeves in waist for little 
 
 brother 
 Scrubs 
 Irons 
 
 Cooks meals 
 Peels potatoes 
 Takes out ashes 
 Dusts 
 Sweeps 
 Makes beds 
 Airs bedding 
 Milks cows 
 Feeds calf 
 Hays horses 
 Builds fires 
 Turns churn 
 Feeds chickens 
 Feeds sitting hens 
 Sets and clears table 
 Washes range 
 Polishes cutlery 
 Does light washing 
 Prepares vegetables 
 
 ALEEN MURRAY 
 Aged 7 
 
 Washes and dries dishes 
 
 Sweeps floor 
 
 Does simple ironing 
 
 Gets wood, water, and coal 
 
 Closes chicken-house door 
 
 Dresses baby 
 
 Tends baby 
 
 SUSIE MARCKINO 
 Aged IS 
 
 Cooks meals 
 
 Washes dishes 
 
 Scrubs 
 
 Irons 
 
 Sews made a waist and a baby 
 
 dress 
 Gets coal 
 Feeds chickens 
 Goes for horse 
 Brings water 
 
 Gets hay and feeds horses 
 Builds fires 
 Turns churn 
 Polishes stoves 
 Cares for young chickens 
 Dusts 
 Salts horses 
 
 ROSIE MARCKINO 
 Aged 6 
 
 Gets water 
 
 Did dishes with four-year-old sis- 
 ter when all else were gone 
 A general little helper
 
 LETTERS FROM TEACHERS 69 
 
 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 break- 
 fast, 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 inter- 
 ested 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 f<5ur 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. / call the names aloud, and the 
 pupils report quickly. If extra work has been accom- 
 plished 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
 
 70 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 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.
 
 PART TWO 
 
 I 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 
 
 UPON the demonstration of the success of 
 the home credit plan in the Spring Valley 
 School I began to hear of other Oregon 
 schools that had taken it up and were carry- 
 ing it on successfully. During the school 
 year 1913-14, three hundred and twenty-five 
 teachers in Oregon and in Washington were 
 giving school credit for home work, while the 
 scheme had been adopted by some schools in 
 other States. 
 
 For the aid of those who may contemplate 
 its use, the outlines of several plans that have 
 been instituted are printed here, together 
 with excerpts of letters we have received, and 
 cards made out by pupils. These reports 
 come from teachers who have used the scheme 
 successfully in various forms. The daily re- 
 port plans are given first, and the letters are
 
 72 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 arranged according to the frequency of the 
 report from the home to the school. 
 
 It will be noted that some teachers use a 
 card that is supposed to last for a whole year, 
 being returned to the teacher monthly as 
 school cards are often returned to the parent 
 monthly; others have cards that are marked 
 daily, and last for only a week. Some teach- 
 ers use a contest plan of awards like Mr. 
 O'Reilly's; others add credits to the average 
 obtained in school subjects; and others do 
 both. The first user of the parent-signed 
 report, Mr. O'Reilly, used no cards, but had 
 the children write little notes with lists of 
 their labors 'every day for their parents to 
 sign. A bulletin from the Kansas Agricul- 
 tural College suggests that pupils should fur- 
 nish the reports themselves over their own 
 signatures. 1 The only record of failure we 
 have was hi a school where monthly report 
 cards were used, and no definite scheme 
 of duties was laid down, merely so many 
 minutes of unspecified labor. I find that 
 children are more interested when then* per- 
 formance of particular duties is recorded. 
 
 1 See Appendix.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 73 
 
 I should never advise the wholesale adop- 
 tion of any one plan, but I would suggest that 
 superintendents and teachers adapt plans to 
 the needs of their districts. Several schools 
 have been reported where an enthusiastic 
 principal has put the plan into operation 
 throughout his school, regardless of the ideas 
 of his teachers. I find that teachers never feel 
 inspiration in a work that they do not want 
 to undertake. Therefore, it would be my sug- 
 gestion that under no circumstances should a 
 teacher be asked to use home credits unless 
 she herself desires it. 
 
 DAILY REPORTS 
 
 The following is the method which Mr. 
 A. I. O'Reilly originated at the Spring Valley 
 School, in 1911-12:- 
 
 Rules of the Contest 
 
 1. No pupil is obliged to enter the contest. 
 
 2. Any pupil entering is free to quit at any time, 
 but if any one quits without good cause, all 
 credits he or she may have earned will be 
 forfeited. 
 
 3. Parent or guardian must send an itemized 
 list (with signature affixed) to the teacher each 
 morning. This list must contain a record of the 
 work each child has done daily.
 
 74 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 4. Each day the teacher will issue a credit 
 voucher to the pupil. This voucher will state 
 the total number of minutes due the pupil 
 each day for home work. 
 
 5. At the close of the contest pupils will return 
 vouchers to the teacher, the six pupils who 
 have earned the greatest amount of time, per 
 the vouchers, receiving awards. 
 
 , 6. Contest closes when term of school closes. 
 
 7. Once each month the names of the six pupils 
 who are in the lead will be published in the 
 county papers. 
 
 8. Ten per cent credit will be added to final 
 examination results of all pupils (except eighth 
 graders) who enter and continue in the con- 
 test. 
 
 9. When a pupil has credits to the amount of one 
 day earned, by surrender of the credits, and 
 by proper application to the teacher, he or she 
 may be granted a holiday, provided that not 
 more than one holiday may be granted to a 
 pupil each month. 
 
 10. Forfeitures dropping out of contest without 
 cause, all credits due; unexcused absence, all 
 credits due; unexcused tardiness, 25 per cent 
 of all credits due; less than 90 per cent in 
 deportment for one month, 10 per cent of all 
 credits due. 
 
 11. Awards the three having the highest cred- 
 its, $3 each; the three having second highest, 
 $2 each. Awards to be placed in a savings 
 bank to the credit of the pupils winning them. 
 Funds for awards furnished by the school dis- 
 trict board out of the general fund.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 75 
 
 List of duties with minutes credit allowed for each 
 
 1. Building fire in the morning 5 minutes 
 
 2. Milking a cow 5 " 
 
 3. Cleaning a cow 5 
 
 4. Cleaning out the barn 10 
 
 5. Splitting and carrying in wood (12 
 hours' supply) 10 
 
 6. Turning cream separator 10 
 
 7. Cleaning a horse 10 
 
 8. Gathering eggs 10 
 
 9. Feeding chickens 5 " 
 
 10. Feeding pigs 5 " 
 
 11. Feeding horse 5 " 
 
 12. Feeding cow 5 " 
 
 13. Churning butter 10 
 
 14. Making butter 10 
 
 15. Blacking stove 5 
 
 16. Making and baking bread 60 
 
 17. Making biscuits 10 
 
 18. Preparing breakfast for family 30 
 
 19. Preparing supper for family . . 30 
 
 20. Washing and wiping dishes (one meal) 15 
 
 21. Sweeping floor 5 " 
 
 22. Dusting furniture (rugs, etc., one 
 
 room) 5 " 
 
 23. Scrubbing floor 20 " 
 
 24. Making beds (must be made after 
 school), each bed 5 
 
 25. Washing, ironing, and starching own 
 clothes that are worn at school 
 
 (each week) 120 " 
 
 26. Bathing each week 30 " 
 
 27. Arriving at school with clean hands, 
 face, teeth, and nails, and with hair 
 combed 10 " 
 
 28. Practicing music lesson (for 30 min- 
 utes) 10
 
 76 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 29. Retiring on or before 9 o'clock 5 minutes 
 
 30. Bathing and dressing baby 10 
 
 31. Sleeping with window boards in bed- 
 room (each night) 5 
 
 32. Other work not listed, reasonable 
 credit 
 
 While it is sometimes more convenient to 
 have printed record slips, it is not necessary. 
 Mr. O'Reilly carried on the grading by having 
 each child write out his home credit work on 
 ordinary tablet paper. The great majority 
 of home credit schools have used the plan in 
 1914 without any printing whatever. It 
 affords the children practice in written expres- 
 sion. 
 
 I give here two sample slips brought in by 
 Mr. O'Reilly's pupils in the first home credit 
 contest in the United States. 
 
 Tora Mortensen 
 
 Jan. 31, 1912. 
 
 Prepared supper 30 
 
 Washed and wiped supper dishes 15 
 
 Made 3 beds 15 
 
 Swept 1 floor 5 
 
 Washed teeth 10 
 
 Was in bed at 9 o'clock . 5 
 
 Total 1 hr. 20 min. 
 
 (Signed) MBS. EMMA SAVAGE.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 77 
 
 La Vern Holdredge 
 
 April 16, 1912. 
 
 Fed chickens 5 minutes 
 
 Gathered eggs 15 
 
 Split kindling 10 
 
 Carried in wood 15 
 
 Swept four floors 20 
 
 Fed one horse 5 
 
 Dried dishes 15 
 
 In bed before nine 5 
 
 April 17, 1912. 
 
 Washed teeth 10 minutes 
 
 Swept three floors 15 
 
 Put up lunch 10 
 
 Total 125 minutes 
 
 (Signed) MRS. HOLDREDGE. 
 
 Superintendent A. R. Mack, of Holton, 
 Kansas, has issued the following plan for 
 daily reports and the issue of credit vouchers 
 monthly, in bulletin form. Notice that the 
 pupil who is paid in money, or in any other 
 way, for home work receives no credit. This 
 card gives a very desirable emphasis to man- 
 ners and personal care : 
 
 Rules 
 
 1. No pupil is obliged to enter contest. 
 
 2. Any pupil entering is free to quit at any time, 
 but if any one quits without good cause, all
 
 78 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 credits he or she may have earned will be 
 forfeited. 
 
 3. Parent or guardian must send daily to the 
 teacher an itemized list with signature 
 attached; this list must contain the record of 
 the work each child has done daily. 
 
 4. At the end of each week the teacher may read 
 the number of credits due the pupil for that 
 week. At the end of each month the teacher 
 shall issue a credit voucher to the pupil giving 
 the total number of credits due to the pupil 
 up to date, for home work. 
 
 5. The pupil in each grade making the highest 
 number of credits each month will receive an 
 added credit of 10 per cent of all credits due. 
 
 6. The school shall be divided into two divi- 
 sions. The boy and the girl in each division 
 in each building receiving the highest num- 
 ber of credits at the end of each half-year 
 shall be awarded a suitable medal. 
 
 7. The boy and the girl in each division in each 
 building receiving the second highest num- 
 ber of credits shall at their own option be 
 awarded a medal or an additional 10 per cent 
 of credits already due. 
 
 8. Ten per cent credit will be added to final 
 examination results of all pupils who enter 
 this contest before November 1, and continue 
 in it until the end of the year. Those entering 
 school after November 1 must enter contest 
 before January 1, in order to receive examina- 
 tion credit. 
 
 9. Pupils entering the contest before November 1 
 or January 1 will be given credit not only on
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 79 
 
 final examination grades, but on monthly 
 examination grades. 
 
 10. In case a pupil enters the contest after Novem- 
 ber 1 or January 1, credits for home work will 
 
 ' a PPty on monthly examination grades only. 
 
 The following schedule has been adopted: 
 
 Grades of 95 to 100, additional credit of 
 half the amount between the grade and 100. 
 
 Grades of 90 to 95, a credit of 3 is given. 
 
 Grades of 85 to 90, a credit of 2 is given. 
 
 Grades of 80 to 85, a credit of 1 is given. 
 
 Below 80, no credit. 
 
 11. Any pupil in the first three grades earning 600 
 credits during a given month may have a 
 quarter holiday. Pupils in the fourth grade 
 must make 700 credits; pupils in the fifth 
 grade must make 800 credits; pupils in the 
 sixth grade must make 900 credits; pupils in 
 the seventh and eighth grades must make 
 1000 credits for a quarter holiday. 
 
 All holidays are at the discretion of the 
 teacher; provided, that the pupil may not have 
 more than one quarter holiday in any 20 days, 
 and provided, that the teacher thinks that it 
 will not interfere with school work. 
 
 In case deportment is below 90 per cent, 
 the holiday will be refused. 
 
 12. Forfeitures 
 
 (a) Dropping out of contest without cause 
 
 forfeits all credits due. 
 (6) Unexcused absence forfeits all credits 
 
 due. 
 (c) Tardiness forfeits 25 per cent of all credits 
 
 due.
 
 80 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 (d) Less than 90 per cent in deportment in 
 one month forfeits 10 per cent of all cred- 
 its due. 
 
 (e) Loss of temper forfeits 5 credits. 
 (/) Bad table manners forfeit 5 credits. 
 
 (</) Impoliteness to elders forfeits 5 credits. 
 (h) Bad language at home forfeits 5 credits. 
 (i) Discourtesy to parents forfeits 10 credits, 
 (j) Unnecessarily soiling clothes forfeits 5 
 
 credits. 
 (k) Unnecessarily tearing clothes forfeits 5 
 
 credits. 
 (0 Report cards kept home 3 days forfeits 
 
 5 per cent credits and an additional 5 
 
 credits for each succeeding day. 
 (m) Forgetting books forfeits 5 credits per 
 
 book. 
 
 13. Once each month the names of the six pupils 
 who are in the lead will be published in the 
 Holton papers. 
 
 14. A pupil who receives compensation for work 
 done, whether he is paid in money or in any 
 other way, shall receive no school credit for 
 such work. 
 
 Credit Slip for Primary to Third Grades, inclusive 
 
 Credits. 
 
 1. Carrying in cobs or kindling 5 
 
 2. Carrying in night wood for kitchen stove 10 
 
 3. Feeding and watering chickens 5 
 
 4. Dusting one room 5 
 
 5. Making one bed 5 
 
 6. Wiping dishes 5 
 
 7. Washing dishes 10
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 81 
 
 8. Setting table 5 
 
 9. Cleaning teeth 5 
 
 10. Combing hair 5 
 
 11. Properly preparing for school (washing face, 
 ears, neck, hands; cleaning teeth and finger 
 nails) 20 
 
 12. Dressing without help, buttoning shoes, etc 5 
 
 13. Going to bed at or before 9 P.M 5 
 
 14. Sleeping with window open each night 5 
 
 15. Dressing younger child and washing its face ... 5 
 
 16. Caring for younger children half-hour 15 
 
 17. Proper use of handkerchief one day 5 
 
 18. Cleaning mud or snow from feet 5 
 
 19. Practicing music lesson 30 minutes 15 
 
 20. Cleaning snow from porch 5 
 
 21. Cleaning snow from walks inside yard, each 
 walk 5 
 
 22. Scrubbing porch 5 
 
 23. Mending stockings, per pair 5 
 
 24. Filling the water bucket 5 
 
 25. Returning report card on first day 10 
 
 26. Returning report card on second day 5 
 
 27. Polishing the shoes 10 
 
 28. Getting home before 4.30 and remaining home 
 
 30 minutes 15 
 
 Other work not listed, reasonable credit. 
 
 Credit Slip for Fourth to Eighth Grades, inclusive 
 
 Credits. 
 
 1. Building a fire in morning 5 
 
 2. Milking a cow 5 
 
 3. Cleaning out a barn 10 
 
 1,4. Splitting and carrying in wood, 12 hours' supply 15 
 
 5. Bringing in kindling 5 
 
 6. Bringing in coal, per bucket 5 
 
 7. Filling water bucket 6 
 
 8. Cleaning a horse 10
 
 82 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 9. Feeding and watering chickens 5 
 
 10. Feeding pigs 5 
 
 11. Feeding horse 5 
 
 12. Feeding cow 5 
 
 13. Blacking stove 5 
 
 14. Making and baking bread 60 
 
 15. Making biscuits 10 
 
 16. Preparing breakfast for family 30 
 
 17. Preparing supper for family 30 
 
 18. Washing and wiping dishes, one meal 15 
 
 19. Sweeping one room 5 
 
 20. Dusting one room 5 
 
 21. Making one bed 5 
 
 22. Scrubbing one floor 20 
 
 23. Making a cake 20 
 
 24. Practicing music lesson half -hour 15 
 
 25. Tending flowers in window 10 
 
 26. Working in garden half-hour 15 
 
 27. Cleaning snow from sidewalk 25 
 
 28. Mending stockings, per pair 5 
 
 29. Washing, starching and ironing own school 
 clothes each week 60 
 
 30. Bathing (each bath) 30 
 
 31. Cleaning teeth 5 
 
 32. Combing hah- 5 
 
 33. Properly preparing for school (washing face, 
 ears, neck, hands; cleaning teeth and finger 
 nails) 20 
 
 34. Retiring at or before 9 P.M 5 
 
 35. Getting up at or before 7 A.M 5 
 
 36. Bathing and dressing baby 10 
 
 37. Sleeping with window open each night 5 
 
 38. Dressing younger child, washing its face, etc. . . 5 
 
 39. Caring for younger child, each half-hour 15 
 
 40. Home study, each half-hour 10 
 
 41. Making pies, 10 credits for the first and 5 credits 
 for each additional pie. 
 
 42. Ironing one hour 30
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 83 
 
 43. Running washing machine one hour 30 
 
 44. Bringing cow from pasture, 2 or 3 blocks 5 
 
 45. Bringing cow from pasture, 8 or 9 blocks 15 
 
 46. Errands down town 10 
 
 47. Carrying clothes 10 
 
 48. Helping prepare the meal 10 
 
 49. Pumping a tank of water 60 
 
 50. Harrowing 2 hours 60 
 
 51. Carrying dinner 10 
 
 52. Churning 20 
 
 53. Dressing a chicken 25 
 
 54. Returning report cards on first day 10 
 
 55. Returning report cards on second day 5 
 
 56. Polishing the shoes 10 
 
 57. Getting home before 4.30 and remaining home 
 
 30 minutes 15 
 
 Other work not listed, reasonable credit. 
 
 General Rule 
 
 For unlisted work credit will be given. One credit 
 will be given for every two minutes' work. 
 
 Mr. N. V. Rowe, the teacher at St. John, 
 Whitman County, Washington, describes a 
 novel plan : 
 
 At first I used a credit card arranged after the 
 order of a meal ticket. The plan was to have the 
 card hold credits enough for one school day of 360 
 minutes, arranged by 5's, 10's, 15's, 20's, 25's, and 
 30's. The idea is all right were it amplified so as 
 to include a school week. The teacher has a punch, 
 and punches or cancels credits as presented. I 
 found this took too many cards for each pupil.
 
 84 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Some brought in as high as 360 minutes in credits 
 each day, and even more than that in some cases. 
 At present I am using a plan similar to a grocer's 
 manifolding or duplicating book where totals are 
 forwarded each day. This saves time and in some 
 ways is better than the ticket plan. 
 
 The results have certainly justified the effort 
 here. (1) It lessens tardiness; (2) it enlists the 
 attention of parents quicker than anything else; 
 (3) it stimulates to better work in school; (4) it 
 creates a wholesome rivalry. I have heard the 
 following objections to it: It requires too much 
 time of a teacher already very busy; and pupils 
 get a holiday when they ought to be at their 
 studies. These objections are weak. The plan 
 certainly has a sound pedagogic principle for its 
 foundation. 
 
 The children get but one holiday a month. In 
 case a pupil is ill or necessarily absent for a day, 
 it is very convenient to allow that as a holiday. 
 This helps the attendance record wonderfully, 
 and is perfectly legitimate, so far as I can see. We 
 have been doing that way all the present year. 
 Bear in mind, we allow such as a holiday only 
 when one has not been allowed already for that 
 particular month. In the register I mark the initial 
 "H" wherever a holiday is granted, and in this 
 way I keep tab. 
 
 At Burnt Ridge, near Alpha, Washington, 
 in Mrs. Venona E. Toman's school, a postal- 
 card photograph is given as a little reward 
 of merit for each 1000 credits earned. Five
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 85 
 
 credits are taken off for coming to school 
 with neck and ears not clean. One hundred 
 and twenty credits are given to the child who 
 washes, starches, and irons her school clothes 
 for the week. Practicing music and studying 
 lessons get ten credits for half an hour; but 
 hard work, like sawing wood and making a 
 garden, gets one credit for each two minutes. 
 
 The following is an excerpt from a letter 
 from the Burnt Ridge teacher: 
 
 I have the children keep their own records, tell- 
 ing them that I want them to learn to do their own 
 business. Then their mothers look over and sign 
 their reports. Without one exception the parents 
 are pleased with the plan. The mothers tell me 
 that the children hurry to get all done they possi- 
 bly can before school time, as they want their 
 credits to increase. One mother said there was 
 more trouble now between her two girls because 
 neither one wanted help than there was before 
 when they wanted help. I require that the work be 
 done cheerfully. One mother said she believed her 
 daughters sang about their work many times when 
 they did not feel a bit like it. I notice myself, and 
 others tell me that it is making a difference in the 
 homes. I think this one of the best features that 
 has been added to the school work. It teaches 
 independence, thoughtfulness, and thrift.
 
 86 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 MORNING AND EVENING RECORD, WEEKLY 
 REPORT 
 
 Marion County, Oregon, uses a card issued 
 by Superintendent W. M. Smith, which pro- 
 vides for a record of daily morning and evening 
 home tasks, and a weekly report. 
 
 This county forms an object lesson in the 
 correct presentation of a subject of this kind. 
 Superintendent Smith first picked out a 
 teacher that he knew had initiative and was 
 able to carry her people with her. He ex- 
 plained the matter to her in detail and kept in 
 close touch with her work. Her success was so 
 pronounced that he thought that it was not 
 necessary to make much effort to extend the 
 plan into the surrounding districts; he knew 
 it would spread of itself. And it did; like a 
 prairie fire, he found it leaping over districts 
 and catching in others, until now it is widely 
 used in the county. The card is the result of 
 much experience and a few conferences with 
 some of Mr. Smith's best people. 
 
 Notice that honesty of record is empha- 
 sized; also observe the details of dairy work 
 and the care of horses :
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 87 
 
 School . 
 
 Home Credit Blank 
 . Dis't No. . .. Teacher . 
 
 Name Age Grade . . . 
 
 Object : To secure the cooperation of the Home and the School 
 
 ....Day of 191.. 
 
 Credits 
 for each 
 
 Monday 
 a.m. p.m. 
 
 Tuesday 
 
 a.m. p.m. 
 
 Wednes. 
 a.m.p.m. 
 
 Thursday 
 a.m.p.m. 
 
 Friday 
 a.m.p.m. 
 
 1 
 
 1. Bath 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Teeth cleaned 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3. No. loaves of bread 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5. No. of meals prepared 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6. Wiped dishes (all for 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7. Washed dishes (all 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 Set the table 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18. No. of fires built 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 Split the wood 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21. Fed the pigs .... .... 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 28. No. cow stalls cleaned 
 29. No. of horse stall* 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TOTAL. 
 
 Reasonable credit may be given for other work. When the answer is Yes or No as 
 in 8 and 9, etc., write 1 for yes and leave blank for no. 
 
 PARENT : As one who insists upon absolute honesty being taught, my signature 
 below certifies that to the best of my knowledge this report is correct. 
 
 I'AllENT.
 
 88 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Oscar L. Dunlap, principal of the school at 
 Salem Heights, Marion County, gives the 
 following explanation of the way home credits 
 were recognized in his school the first year : 
 
 The first month we gave cash prizes; then this 
 was abandoned and we allowed 20 per cent to be 
 added to each of any two subjects, and 10 per cent 
 to any one subject in the monthly tests. We give 
 twelve questions (answer any ten) and those hav- 
 ing 20 per cent allowance need answer only eight 
 questions, and so on. In my room the pupils work 
 harder to earn the 20 per cent allowance than they 
 did to earn the cash prizes; for in this way every 
 one receives a prize. Some think this is a wrong 
 way to give rewards. I was myself in doubt at 
 first; but my pupils have actually worked harder 
 during the past two months than during the six 
 months before we adopted this plan. 
 
 DAILY EECORDS, WEEKLY REPORTS 
 
 In Spokane County, Washington, one hun- 
 dred and thirteen teachers have used home 
 credits during the school year of 1913-14. 
 Superintendent E. G. McFarland became 
 interested in the work that one of his rural 
 teachers started on home credits at the open- 
 ing of the schools in the fall of 1913. Mr. 
 McFarland obtained what information he 
 could on the subject, and then worked out a
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 89 
 
 plan. This made provision for a daily record 
 for five days, and a weekly report. At his 
 institute he presented the project to his 
 teachers, and in January some eighty-one 
 began the work. Others soon followed. 
 
 The Spokane Chamber of Commerce sent 
 out a story of Spokane County's home credits 
 to eight hundred and fifty of its correspond- 
 ents in the United States and Canada. For a 
 while the superintendent's office was flooded 
 with letters of inquiry relative to the plan. 
 This shows the great interest taken every- 
 where in any movement calculated to better 
 the child's school and home relationship. 
 
 At a parent-teachers' meeting in Spokane 
 a committee was appointed to assist the 
 principal of one of the schools in keeping the 
 children off the streets. At that time it was 
 arranged that credit at school should be given 
 to all children off the streets after six o'clock, 
 and to those who did not go to evening 
 parties. 
 
 Below is the Spokane County plan. 
 
 Bulletin for Teachers : Home Credits 
 
 The following are the rules and reward offered 
 for home work. This work is to be done during the
 
 90 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 school week. No one is compelled to enter this 
 contest and the pupil may drop out at any time. 
 
 All work must be voluntary on the part of the 
 pupil. Parents are requested not to sign papers 
 for pupils if the work is not voluntarily and cheer- 
 fully done. 
 
 The rewards for this work are: 
 
 One half -holiday each month to the child who 
 has earned one hundred or more home credits, and 
 has not been absent or tardy for the month; also 
 5 per cent will be added to his final examination. 
 The pupil who earns one hundred or more credits 
 each month but fails in perfect attendance will 
 have the 5 per cent added to his final examination. 
 
 In addition, the board of directors may offer a 
 prize to the pupil in each grade who shall have the 
 greatest amount of home credits, and shall be 
 neither absent nor tardy during the term, or from 
 the adoption of these rules. 
 
 List of Home Credits 
 
 Personal cleanliness 2 Retiring before 9 o'clock 1 
 
 Cleaning teeth 1 Feeding and watering chickens . . 1 
 
 Cleaning finger nails 1 Feeding and watering horses .... 1 
 
 Practicing music lesson ... 2 Feeding and watering cows 1 
 
 Dressing baby 1 Feeding and watering hogs 1 
 
 Washing dishes 1 Gathering eggs 1 
 
 Sweeping floor 1 Cleaning chicken house 1 
 
 Making bed 1 Going for mail 1 
 
 Preparing meal 2 Picking apples 2 
 
 Making a cake 1 Picking potatoes 2 
 
 Making biscuits 1 Bringing in wood for to-day .... 1 
 
 Churning 2 Splitting wood for to-day 1 
 
 Scrubbing floor 2 Bringing in water for to-day 1 
 
 Dusting 1 Grooming horse 1 
 
 Blacking stove 1 Milking cow 1 
 
 Darning stockings 1 Working in field 2 
 
 Delivering papers 2 Going for milk 1 
 
 E. G. McFABLAND, 
 County Superintendent of Schools.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 91 
 
 The following statement is made by Super- 
 intendent McFarland as to the effect home 
 credits had on attendance in 1913-14: 
 
 We attribute the increase in our attendance this 
 year in the schools of Spokane County, outside the 
 city of Spokane, largely to the Home Credit Sys- 
 tem and our certificates for perfect attendance. 
 While the enrollment was 108 less than last year, 
 yet our attendance was 16,712 days more. At the 
 present rate of 16 cents per day, the pupils earned 
 for the county, from the State appropriation, nearly 
 $2700 more than last year. With the same en- 
 rollment as last year the increase of apportion- 
 ment would have reached approximately $6000. 
 
 The credit slip for the school week provides 
 for a daily record of "chores or work done" 
 from Monday to Friday inclusive. It does 
 not contain a stated list of duties; the blanks 
 are to be filled iii by the child. The list of 
 home credits is furnished each district, but 
 the teacher uses her judgment in allowing 
 credit for any chore peculiar to her locality. 
 On page 92 is given one of these blanks with 
 the work itemized. Note the evidence of co- 
 operation between Jessie and her mother. On 
 the mornings when Jessie gets the breakfast 
 her mother dresses the baby, and vice versa.
 
 92 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Home Credit Work 
 
 Dist. No 
 
 Name, Jessie Jones. Age 12. Grade 6th. 
 
 Chores or work done 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thar. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 e 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 
 (Signed) MRS. MARY A. JONES, 
 
 Parent's Signature. 
 
 Here is a letter from a little girl who earns 
 home credits in a grown-up way : 
 
 CHENEY, WASHINGTON, 
 April 27, 1914. 
 
 DEAR MRS. THOMASON: 
 
 I am nine years old, and in the fourth grade. I 
 think I will pass into the fifth grade. I like to go 
 to school. My teacher is Miss Grier. I like her. 
 We get Home Credits in our school. 
 
 I have n't any pets, but I have a little sister and 
 a little brother. They are twins, and were born 
 on my birthday, June 11. Their names are Ruth
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 93 
 
 and Millard. They are awfully sweet and good, 
 and I like them a good deal better than pets. I get 
 credit at school for taking care of them. 
 Your little friend, 
 
 CLARA LOUISE PETERSON. 
 
 Report of Clara Louise for week ending 
 May 1, 1914:- 
 
 Home Credit Work 
 Dist. No. 18. 
 Name, Clara Louise Peterson. Age 9. Grade 4t7i. 
 
 Chores or work done 
 
 Hon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Setting table 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 MRS. J. C. PETERSON, 
 
 Parent's Signature.
 
 94 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Superintendent McFarland has received 
 many letters of appreciation from teachers 
 and parents in his county. One teacher 
 writes : 
 
 The system helps, in bringing the school and 
 home closer together by letting the parents see that 
 we count the practical duties of the house and 
 of the farm of actual value in the training of the 
 child. 
 
 One father is encouraging his three boys to earn 
 more than the required home credits by paying 
 them a small sum of money for each additional 
 five credits. 
 
 Another writes : 
 
 The teachers have noted many cases of much 
 improved personal cleanliness, which in itself has 
 been a welcome reward. Then, you know, im- 
 proved morals go hand in hand with clean bodies. 
 We are taking into account the fact that clean- 
 liness on the part of one child usually forces 
 another to clean up on account of the inevitable 
 contrast. 
 
 A parent writes : 
 
 The home credit system is to my mind one of 
 the most practical features that has been intro- 
 duced into the public-school curriculum for some 
 time. It teaches the children self-reliance, and 
 encourages them to take the initiative when here- 
 tofore they have been indifferent or careless. Its 
 practical help to the parents is inestimable, as
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 95 
 
 children in pursuit of "credits" take innumerable 
 burdens from the parents' shoulders. 
 
 This from another parent: 
 
 Regarding the home credit system of the public 
 school, my sentiment as the parent of two boys 
 attending school is that it is working fine. It makes 
 my boys ambitious to earn as many credits as 
 possible, and this system as laid out leads them to 
 take interest in the practical duties of their home, 
 thereby saving parents many a step, and training 
 the boys for useful work. The home credit system 
 also stimulates punctuality in attending school as 
 well as personal neatness, and regular habits in 
 going to bed at the right time. It seems to me that 
 this credit system to a great extent completes the pur- 
 pose of the public school. 
 
 One teacher in Spokane County has solved 
 the problem of the rural janitor with home 
 credits. Like thousands of other girls teach- 
 ing in country schools, she had difficulty in 
 keeping the schoolhouse clean. Beginning in 
 January she offered school credit for outside 
 work, and she included in her list the care of 
 the schoolhouse. She reports that the room 
 is kept perfectly now. The floors are swept, 
 the woodwork dusted, the blackboards and 
 erasers cleaned, water and wood supplied. 
 This same teacher, Miss Lizzie K. Merritt, 
 says :
 
 96 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 It is not pleasant to work without appreciation. 
 We all know that we make a short job of the unap- 
 preciated piece of work. We cannot expect a child 
 to stay with a thing as long as an older person 
 unless he sees a definite reward. I have found that 
 home credits teach observation, accuracy, and 
 punctuality. 
 
 The following is an excerpt from a circular 
 sent out by Mr. Harry F. Heath, principal of 
 the school at Eveline, Lewis County, Wash- 
 ington, at the beginning of a home credit 
 contest, stating his plan. This makes provi- 
 sion for a daily record for six days, a weekly 
 report, and a voucher: 
 
 Eveline Public School 
 
 EVELINE, WASH., January 5, 1914. 
 
 DEAR PATRON: 
 
 Sometimes, in the rush of classes, we of the 
 school forget about the home life of the scholar. 
 And many times you of the home know but little 
 of what is going on at school. In order to connect 
 more closely for the pupil the influences of both 
 home and school, I am planning this contest in 
 home work for the next four months. 
 
 In order that the contest may be successful, we 
 ask the sympathy and aid of each parent. The 
 parent is the judge of the amount of work done 
 by the pupil, and upon the parent we depend for 
 the accuracy of the reports. Have the pupil pre- 
 pare his or her own list of duties performed, ready
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 97 
 
 for your signature, and make it your duty to see 
 that the lists are accurate at all times, neither 
 more nor less than the actual amount performed. 
 All lists should be dated, and none will be accepted 
 unless signed by you. 
 
 The prizes will not be expensive, and will be 
 given only as tokens of award. The real awards 
 will be realized during the course of the contest 
 as set forth by the rules. 
 
 Then follows the list of credits and the 
 rules. 
 
 A letter from Mr. Heath dated April 21, 
 1914, tells the way in which he carried on the 
 work this year. Mr. Heath says : 
 
 In answer to your request for information about 
 our home credits contest, I am sending some of the 
 circulars which I used at the beginning, and also 
 some vouchers made by the pupils which I use to 
 give out weekly credits. I am also sending some 
 sample slips of credits brought in by some of the 
 pupils. These slips show credits for an entire 
 week, which has proved to be the most satisfactory 
 way to have the slips kept. A notebook kept by 
 me of the weekly and monthly totals, as well as 
 the holidays granted and forfeitures assessed, is 
 all of the record that our system has required. 
 
 Two progressive business men of Chehalis are 
 furnishing inexpensive prizes in the form of books 
 to go to the seven leaders in the contest at its close. 
 Four of the prizes will probably go to boys, but 
 by the rules at least three are to go to girls. I find
 
 98 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 in this community that the boys have much more 
 opportunity to earn credits than the girls. Hence 
 the rule. 
 
 The contest has run for four months and is 
 closing this week. It has been very well received 
 in the community, a number of suggestions having 
 come in from parents in the way of additional 
 credits. One was a request that credits be given 
 for daily reading of the Bible, and the change was 
 made. In my room, which is the highest in our 
 two-room school, practically all of the scholars 
 started, and of the thirty-four at that time in the 
 contest about twenty-five are still enrolled, and 
 the percentage would be larger if some of the 
 beginners had not moved away. 
 
 The contest was tried for a while in the lower 
 grades but was not successful there. We limited 
 the points that might be added to the general 
 average to six in any one month, and most of the 
 live contestants got their six every month. 
 
 I got my ideas of the contest directly from Mr. 
 Alderman's article, which I found in some paper. 
 It has been on the whole very successful, and 
 worth while. When I try this sort of work again, 
 it will be on the plan of regular credits, not in 
 contest form. I believe the Spokane County plan 
 as used this spring is one that would prove very 
 satisfactory. 
 
 The Eveline "voucher" plan gives the 
 pupil something to watch for. The first 
 paragraph of Mr. Heath's letter explains the 
 use of these vouchers. Below are sample
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 99 
 
 vouchers, and copies of slips made out by 
 the pupils. The pupils rule the columns, and 
 write out their own records, according to a 
 published list which shows the value in min- 
 utes of each task. This work is good practice 
 for the pupil in ruling lines and making neat 
 cards, and it saves the cost of printing cards. 
 
 The vouchers, which are taken home, en- 
 able each pupil to have at home, as well as at 
 school, a record of the total amount of his 
 work. 
 
 Home Credits Voucher 
 
 No. / & 
 No.credits 
 
 K?-SX~4v~-*^ ^tex^rv^ 
 
 Home Credits Voucher 
 
 No. JZ~~ 
 No.credits / 6 / >
 
 100 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Home Credits 
 
 Alberta Lemon 
 
 March 30 - April 4. 
 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Cleaned teeth 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 Made beds 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 
 25 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Wiped milk pails 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 Peeled apples 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 Made lunches 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 Washed milk pails 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 Washed dishes 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 Retired at 9 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 Mended garments 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 Studied 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 20 
 
 Ironed garments 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 215 
 
 75 
 
 Helped with meal 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Went errands 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 
 fl 
 
 Scrubbed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 Took bath 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 135 
 110 
 
 110 
 
 165 
 
 100 
 
 245 
 
 260 
 
 
 165 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 245 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 260 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1015 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 MBS. A. C. LEMON.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 101 
 
 Home Credits 
 Rosa G. 
 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 Made fires 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 
 Preparing meals 
 
 60 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 Set table 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Washed dishes 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Wiped dishes 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Washed milk pails 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 Carried in water 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 Washing separator 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 Fed pets 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Ironing clothes 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 100 
 
 
 400 
 
 Making, beds 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Cleaned my teeth 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Slept with window open 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Retired before nine 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Washed baby 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 Dressed baby '. 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Sweeping floors 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Total 
 
 185 
 
 195 
 
 165 
 
 270 
 
 215 
 
 655 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 .1685 
 
 CHAS. F. CONBADI.
 
 102 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 The Cowlitz County, Washington, plan is 
 a daily record for seven days and a weekly 
 report. The rules governing the work are 
 printed on the back of the credit card : 
 
 Work of Home Record 
 Lavita Fowler [age 12~\. 
 
 For week ending March 13, 1914- 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Trfnl 
 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SO 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 90 
 
 2. Splitting and 
 carrying in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 Milking 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4. Care of horses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6. Care of poultry 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7. Turning sepa- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Churning 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0. Sweeping or 
 dusting 
 
 10. Washing or 
 ironing 
 
 25 
 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 10 
 
 
 20 
 
 105 
 
 11. Preparing meals 
 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 130 
 
 12. Washing dishes 
 13. Bedroom work . 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 45 
 30 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 45 
 
 90 
 
 345 
 50 
 
 14. Sewing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15. Caring for little 
 children. 
 
 30 
 
 90 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 240 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 103 
 
 Work of Home Record continued 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 
 18. Building fires . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17. Bathing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 18. Brushing teeth 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 10. Sleeping with 
 open window 
 
 20. To bed by 9 
 o'clock 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 21. Attending 
 Church or 
 Sunday 
 School . . . 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 Getting sister ready 
 for school . . . 
 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 
 75 
 
 Washing floors . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 160 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 85 
 
 85 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 76 
 
 451 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct record. 
 
 MKS. FOWLER, 
 Signature of Parent or Guardian. 
 
 Rules governing Credit for Home Work 
 
 To PARENTS OR GUARDIANS: 
 
 The scheme of giving credit at school for work 
 done at home by the pupils can be made successful 
 only through your cooperation, and faithful report 
 of the work done. 
 
 Every Friday afternoon a Home Work Record 
 Slip will be given each pupil. Beginning with 
 Sunday all time spent by the pupils in home work 
 should be entered in the proper place. 
 
 Each Monday morning a slip filled in during the
 
 104 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 previous week should be returned to the teacher. 
 This slip must be signed by the parent or guardian. 
 
 Extra work may be listed in the blank spaces. 
 
 To secure credit at school for his work, the pupil 
 should average eight hours a week, thirty-two 
 hours a month, at real, honest, helpful labor that 
 relieves the fathers and mothers of that amount 
 of work. If this is done, the teacher will add three 
 credits to the average gained by the pupil at the 
 school during the month in his studies. Additional 
 credits will be given for more than thirty-two 
 hours a month at the rate of one credit for every 
 ten hours' work. 
 
 Please cooperate with your teacher in this plan 
 for making work more worth while to the boy and 
 girl. 
 
 LUCIA JENKINS, 
 County Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 In the District 61 School, near Belling- 
 ham, Washington, taught by Mrs. Lou Albee 
 Maynard, there is used a system of having 
 the home credit accounts kept by pupils; the 
 children call it the Ruth and Grace System. 
 
 Here is a plan that solves the problem, if 
 it is a problem, of putting extra work on the 
 teacher through home credits. Not only is the 
 teacher entirely relieved of the bookkeeping 
 which the system requires, but the pupils are 
 engaged in practical bookkeeping while they
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 105 
 
 keep the records. Checks are made out in reg- 
 ular bank-check form, and receipts are given. 
 The Ruth and Grace System is thus de- 
 scribed in a neat account written by Emma 
 Ames, a pupil in the sixth grade : 
 
 Ruth and Grace were girls who wanted to learn 
 bookkeeping. In order to give them a chance we 
 took up the credit system. 
 
 At the end of each week the girls give us a slip 
 of paper ruled and ready to be made out. The 
 mothers sign it. Each thing which we do counts 
 so much. At the end of the week these slips are 
 handed back to the girls, and we receive another. 
 We also get a check telling how many credits we 
 received the week before. 
 
 When we make five thousand credits we then 
 receive a composition book. Smaller things are 
 also given for fewer credits. 
 
 The girls keep in their ledgers each person's 
 work. So if any mistake is made they will have 
 something to refer to. 
 
 We call the system the Ruth and Grace System. 
 
 The prize list is as follows : 
 
 Washing dishes 10 credits. 
 
 Wiping dishes 5 
 
 Sweeping 5 
 
 Making beds 5 
 
 Baking bread 15 
 
 Dusting 5 
 
 Scrubbing 25 
 
 Practicing music 10 
 
 Brushing teeth 5
 
 106 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Clean finger nails 5 credits 
 
 Splitting kindling 10 
 
 Splitting wood 10 " 
 
 Carrying water 10 " 
 
 Milking cow 15 " 
 
 Feeding pigs , 5 " 
 
 Feeding chickens 5 
 
 Feeding and bedding cows 25 
 
 Slashing one hour 25 
 
 Getting a meal 15 
 
 Taking charge of house 50 
 
 Charge for father one day 50 
 
 Building fires 10 
 
 Sewing 15 
 
 Making an apron 15 
 
 Carrying wood 10 
 
 Washing 25 
 
 Ironing 25 
 
 The following letter from Mrs. Maynard 
 explains the system further: 
 
 I have been requested to report on our plan for 
 giving credit for home work as we have tried it. 
 One of my pupils has written a report of our system 
 which explains our methods nicely. This has been 
 only a trial, but I am so pleased with results that 
 I intend to use it whenever there are older pupils 
 who can do the bookkeeping, for it represents a 
 great deal of work, and unless the school is a very 
 small one the system would add too much to the 
 already busy teacher's work. 
 
 The girls who are represented by our firm carried 
 on the work on a strictly business basis. They 
 bought the work of the pupils as represented by 
 the weekly reports. This work was then sold to
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 107 
 
 me at a gain of 20 per cent. The girls have worked 
 out a simple system of double entry in six weeks. 
 We, as a school, have spent an interesting and 
 profitable time, keeping track of our work, and 
 of their mistakes, and the various ups and downs 
 of a business. 
 
 We are planning a better schedule of wages, a 
 bank in which to deposit our checks, and a store 
 where the credits may be exchanged for little 
 articles which represent the rewards; but this is 
 all in the making, and may have to wait for 
 another year, as our school term closes soon. 
 
 This is a school whose average attendance is 
 about sixteen. The people are progressive, and 
 see that we have all modern appliances: gymna- 
 sium, school garden, bubbling fountain, sanitary 
 toilets, and a good heating system are some of the 
 good things our country school enjoys. 
 
 Some original features are included in a 
 plan in operation in Algona, King County, 
 Washington. The Algona plan of grading is 
 this : The actual number of minutes employed 
 in doing the daily chores is registered. Thirty 
 minutes is allowed for church attendance. 
 Twenty-five per cent is given weekly for each 
 of the personal care items, bathing, brushing 
 teeth, sleeping with open windows, and going 
 to bed before nine o'clock. Half an hour's 
 work must be done each day, else the pupil 
 forfeits the work done that day. If at the end
 
 108 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 of a month the pupil has made an average of 
 85 per cent on personal care, and has 85 per 
 cent on home work, his grade average for the 
 month is raised 10 per cent. For instance, if 
 a boy should have the required 85 per cent in 
 the home credit department, and should have 
 an average of 80 per cent in his school sub- 
 jects, his final grade for the month would be 
 88 per cent. 
 
 Algona uses a book system of keeping the 
 pupils' weekly home credit grades. The prin- 
 cipal records the final grades for each week, 
 after collecting the cards from his three assist- 
 ants. He expects to substitute the card sys- 
 tem for the book another year, using the same 
 plan of record. Below is given the plan for 
 keeping the records, together with the work 
 of one boy for a month : 
 
 Leon Noel's Record in Book 
 
 Week ending 
 
 Minutes 
 
 Personal care 
 
 Leon Noel 
 
 February 2 
 
 210 
 
 100 
 
 
 9 
 
 210 
 
 100 
 
 
 16 
 
 210 
 
 97 
 
 
 23 
 
 210 
 
 97 

 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 109 
 
 Home Work Record of 
 
 Leon Noel. 
 
 For week ending February 21, 1914. 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8. Splitting kind- 
 
 15 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 1 
 
 65 
 
 8. Bringing in fuel 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Washing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 Care of baby. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14. Care of 
 
 15 
 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 95 
 
 15. Running 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 180 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 x 
 
 
 B. Brushing teeth 
 C. Sleeping with 
 open windows 
 D. Going to bed be- 
 fore 9 o'clock 
 E. Attending 
 Church or 
 Sunday 
 School 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 30 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 65 
 
 65 
 
 35 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 150 
 
 405 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct record. 
 
 (Signed) MBS. C. D. FRENCH, 
 
 Signature of Parent or Guardian.
 
 110 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 A comparison of Leon Noel's home credit 
 record on his slip with the record in the prin- 
 cipal's book shows that while he has 405 
 credits on the former he is credited with only 
 the required 210 on the record. C. C. Cala- 
 van, the principal, expects to allow a holiday, 
 or grant additional credit on school work 
 another year, for credits above the half-hour 
 a day. The children of the school at first 
 insisted on making an hour's work the mini- 
 mum for a day's credit, but Mr. Calavan 
 decided to start conservatively. It will be 
 noticed that Leon Noel lost three points in 
 each of the last two weeks of February. This 
 was because he was not in bed before nine 
 every evening. Mr. Calavan says he is going 
 to change his plan along this line next year, 
 granting three or four evenings a month when 
 a child may be in bed a little later than nine 
 without forfeiting credits. He believes that 
 a happy, wholesome evening, spent in play 
 with companions, has a very valuable place 
 in the child's development. 
 
 Sunday-school and church attendance has 
 become popular in Algona since school credit 
 has been given for it. The little daughter in a
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 111 
 
 non-church-going family had never attended 
 any church services until it was brought out 
 that the other children at school were getting 
 credit for such attendance. The parents 
 dressed the little girl for Sunday school, and 
 sent her off, determined that their child 
 should not be left out in the home credit 
 game. 
 
 A boy's record was perfect, except that he 
 did not have a church attendance recorded. 
 On inquiry the principal found that Albert's 
 family was of the Seventh Day Adventist 
 faith, and that the boy was at church as 
 regularly as Saturday came. He was at once 
 given credit. The children of the Catholic 
 faith are given credit for attending the 
 catechism class that meets in the schoolhouse 
 Tuesday afternoons. 
 
 "The people took hold," said Mr. Calavan. 
 "The Parent-Teachers' Association is enthu- 
 siastic over the plan, and is doing all possible 
 to help. Two decided results that home 
 credits have brought about are that we have 
 a much neater, better-kept class of pupils, 
 and our boys are off the streets. Several 
 persons have remarked to me that the school
 
 112 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 was doing something with the boys, surely, 
 for they all seemed to be busy after school." 
 
 The system introduced in Portland, Oregon, 
 schools, is the daily record and weekly report 
 plan. The following suggestions were sent 
 out early in 1914 by the Portland office: 
 
 Suggestions for using the "Home Record Slip" 
 
 The regular monthly report card should contain 
 two extra columns, one entitled "Home Work" 
 and one "Personal Care," and in these columns 
 the pupil should be marked on the scale of 100. 
 
 One hundred per cent in the "Home Work" 
 column would be secured by a daily record of not 
 less than one half -hour of approved work for seven 
 days each week. 
 
 One hundred per cent in the "Personal Care" 
 column would be secured by daily practice of 
 numbers A, B, C, and D for seven days of the 
 week, and for attendance upon some religious 
 service. Twenty per cent could be allowed for 
 each number and twenty per cent for attendance 
 at church or Sunday school. 
 
 The matter of bathing should not be interpreted 
 to refer strictly to tub baths, since in large families 
 daily tub baths are sometimes impracticable, and 
 inability to make a good showing on the card 
 would have a tendency to discourage. 
 
 Different plans of reward for a given number of 
 minutes devoted to work during a week are out-
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 113 
 
 lined in the pamphlet, "School Industrial Credit 
 for Home Industrial Work." These, however, 
 may be modified or enlarged to suit. All time, 
 including the half-hour a day and the amount 
 allowed for all other operations, should be counted 
 toward a specified total necessary to earn the 
 reward. 
 
 These rules are printed on the back of each 
 home credit record card: 
 
 Rules governing Credit for Home Work 
 
 Every Friday afternoon a home work record 
 slip will be given to each pupil. Beginning with 
 Sunday, all time spent by the pupil in home 
 work should be entered in the proper space. 
 
 Each Monday morning a slip filled during the 
 previous week should be returned to the teacher. 
 The slip must be signed by the parent or guardian 
 as an assurance that a correct record has been kept. 
 
 Any work not listed but of value to the parents 
 may be counted, and the nature of the work speci- 
 fied in the blank spaces. 
 
 At the close of the school month, when the 
 report of school work is made out, in the column 
 "Home Work," the pupil will be marked on the 
 scale of 100 for actual work of not less than one 
 half -hour each day, and in the column "Personal 
 Care" on the scale of 100 for numbers A, B, C, and 
 D, and for attendance at church or Sunday school. 
 
 In addition to credit on the report card, reward 
 may be given at the option of the principal for a 
 specified amount of time spent in useful work at 
 home.
 
 114 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 For purpose of reward credit of five minutes a 
 day will be allowed for each operation listed as 
 A, B, C, and D, and twenty minutes for attendance 
 at church or Sunday school. 
 
 The Portland home work record slips are 
 printed by the city office, and furnished to 
 teachers who wish to use them. On pages 115, 
 117, and 119 are given home credit records 
 of Portland children, showing the class of 
 home work they are doing. A swift review 
 of a child's record gives the teacher a pretty 
 accurate estimate of his home environment. 
 
 Elsie G., whose card is shown, has kept 
 weekly records of her work for more than a 
 year. She and some of the other girls make it 
 a practice to help Miss Wright, their teacher, 
 enroll the records for the class. The method of 
 crediting is extremely simple, but it seems to 
 work. The pupils return the filled-out slips the 
 first of every week; at the end of each month 
 the girls count the slips, and for every pupil 
 who has brought in four slips they register one 
 credit in the book. Miss Wright looks over the 
 cards as they come in, and often makes com- 
 ment on the work, to the individual, or to the 
 class as a whole.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 115 
 
 Home Work Record of 
 
 For week ending December 19, 1913. 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Tnfol 
 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2. Splitting kind- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 135 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 + 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 
 200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 Dusting 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 65 
 
 11. Washing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Care of baby... 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 45 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 45 
 
 60 
 
 360 
 
 
 x 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 B. Brushing teeth . 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 . . . . 
 
 C. Sleeping with 
 open windows 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 D. Going to bed be- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 fore 9 o'clock. 
 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 E. Attending 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Church or 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sunday 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 School 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 790 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct record. 
 MBS. G. H. G- 
 
 Signature of Parent or Guardian.
 
 116 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Miss Wright began this home credit work 
 by taking sixteen of the printed slips and lay- 
 ing them on her desk. The boys left the room 
 to go to manual training, and the girls then 
 gathered around her desk and discovered the 
 slips. "What are these?" they inquired, and 
 they each wanted one to take home. There 
 were just enough for the girls, but when the 
 boys found out about it they clamored for 
 slips, too. 
 
 Miss Wright now leaves a pile of the blanks 
 on her desk every Friday, and most of the 
 pupils take them. They used to ask to have 
 the credit applied to raise their standings on 
 their lowest studies (they are allowed, for in- 
 stance, to increase a mark of seven in grammar 
 to a mark of eight for one month), but now 
 they seldom ask for the increase. They do 
 their home work and record it with no other 
 incentive than the satisfaction of having a 
 record and the honor and approval of their 
 parents, teacher, and schoolmates. 
 
 The ten-year-old boy whose card is shown 
 here goes on week-ends to the country, and 
 brings in his record afterward with great pride 
 to show the other fellows that he has cared for 
 horses.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 117 
 
 Home Work Record of 
 
 Henry F. P- 
 
 For week ending , 19. . . 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 2. Splitting kind- 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 85 
 
 3. Bringing in fuel 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 60 
 
 6. Care of horses.. 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 30 
 
 6. Preparing meals 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7. Washing dishes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 0. Dusting 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. Bedroom work. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11. Washing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12. Ironing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13. Care of baby. . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding chickens. . . 
 Feeding rabbits .... 
 
 A. Bathing 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 X 
 
 S 
 5 
 
 X 
 
 10 
 15 
 
 X 
 
 10 
 20 
 
 x 
 
 15 
 15 
 
 X 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 X 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 x 
 
 70 
 
 85 
 
 B. Brushing teeth . 
 C. Sleeping with 
 open windows 
 D. Going to bed be- 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 X 
 
 
 E. Attending 
 Church or 
 Sunday 
 School 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 340 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct record. 
 FLORA H. P 
 Signature of Parent or Guardian.
 
 118 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 We find many instances, like the following, 
 where boys who at first had nothing to do, 
 seemingly, but to get in the fuel, have begun 
 to assist their mothers with the dishwashing, 
 dusting, and cooking. Not only does this 
 work run up their list of credits at school, 
 but it causes them to appreciate what mother 
 has to do, gets them acquainted with their 
 homes, and keeps them off the streets. 
 
 And it has other uses for a boy. Henry 
 Turner Bailey says : 
 
 Away from home, as lonely art student and 
 young teacher in strange and home-sickening 
 boarding houses, maybe I was n't thankful to be 
 able to sweep and dust, to wash and iron and cook, 
 upon occasion, to sew on buttons, to darn, and to 
 mend. But perhaps my keenest satisfaction came 
 from my ability to make a bed. The boarding- 
 house madonnas are not, as a rule, highly skilled 
 in that gentle art. 
 
 In view of my personal experiences I have often 
 wondered why the advocates of Domestic Science 
 are not more strongly co-educational. What is 
 sauce for the goose seems to me worthy to be sauce 
 for the gander, certainly during the gosling 
 stage. Every boy should know how to sew, just as 
 every girl should know how to whittle. Every boy 
 should know how to cook, just as every girl should 
 know how to swim. Skill in the elemental arts is a 
 form of what Henderson calls human wealth. All 
 should participate. 1 
 
 1 School Arts Magazine, May, 1914.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 119 
 
 Harold R- 
 
 Home Work Record of 
 
 For week ending December 20, 1913. 
 
 
 Sun. 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thur. 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Sat. 
 
 Total 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 Min. 
 
 1. Work in garden 
 2. Splitting kind- 
 lings 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 15 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 15 
 25 
 
 60 
 05 
 
 3. Bringing in fuel 
 4. Milking cow . . . 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6. Preparing meals 
 7. Washing dishes 
 8. Sweeping. . . . 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 15 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 30 
 60 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10. Bedroom work. 
 11 Washing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 B. Brushing teeth 
 C. Sleeping with 
 open windows 
 D. Going to bed be- 
 fore 9 o'clock 
 E. Attending 
 Church or 
 Sunday 
 School 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 X 
 
 X 
 X 
 
 30 
 7 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 23 
 
 17 
 
 52 
 
 67 
 
 37 
 
 32 
 
 101 
 
 310 
 
 I certify that the above is a correct record. 
 
 MRS. P. M. R. , 
 
 Signature of Parent or Guwdian.
 
 120 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 A Portland woman, who is much interested 
 in the schools, says : 
 
 In looking over some of the cards I find that the 
 child soon learns to do his "chores" in less time 
 each week, that he may have more time for other 
 work or play, and yet fill out his record card. This 
 is a great help to the parents. 
 
 I know one boy who cannot be induced to go 
 out to an evening aif air because he wants to get to 
 bed before nine o'clock so that his record card will 
 be perfect. How soon could we dismiss the Juve- 
 nile Court if we could get all children to feel like 
 that! It is worth while to try. 
 
 In Polk County, Oregon, the system has 
 been introduced into rural schools with 
 marked success. The plan here comprises a 
 daily record, and monthly reports. Below are 
 excerpts from an article written for the 
 Oregon Teachers' Monthly, by Mr. R. G. 
 Dykstra, who used home credits in his rural 
 school at Suver, Polk County, in 1912-13. 
 I should like to direct especial attention to his 
 testimony on the tardiness record of the dis- 
 trict; also to his plan of allowing credit for a 
 long walk to school. 
 
 With the following exceptions I carried out the 
 work as started in the Spring Valley School last 
 year: I required the pupils to get eight hundred
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 121 
 
 minutes' credit before taking the holiday instead 
 of six hundred; the number of minutes' credit for 
 milking cows was increased from five to fifteen for 
 each cow and a reasonable amount of credit was 
 allowed for all work not named in the list of chores; 
 children living over a mile and a half from school 
 were allowed credit for the distance they had to 
 walk in proportion to the others, and 5 per cent 
 instead of 10 was added to the end of the year on 
 their final school averages for the carrying on of 
 the work. Only two prizes were offered by the 
 District, three dollars and two dollars respectively. 
 Children seldom took advantage of the holiday 
 given for eight hundred minutes' credit unless it 
 was used for sickness or unavoidable absence, as 
 they were encouraged in the knowledge that a 
 day lost was a day's work lost as well. Tardiness 
 on the part of any pupil doing the work meant a 
 loss of so many credits already accumulated. 
 
 It would be impossible to enumerate the many 
 things this work has done for this community, 
 but the following facts may prove interesting to 
 the reader. During the year of 1911-12, without 
 home credit work, this school had a record of 95 
 per cent in attendance and 59 tardies. For the 
 year 1912-13 just closed, the record is 98 per cent 
 in attendance and 8 tardies. Part of the home 
 credits given have been for proper care of body, 
 sleeping with windows open, care of teeth, hair, 
 etc., and the result of these requirements has been 
 the showing of a healthier appearance on the part 
 of nearly all the pupils. The parents of the district 
 claim that the children are doing more work at 
 home than they ever did before, and the people
 
 122 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 feel that their children are getting an education 
 that will be of value to them and that the money 
 is being well spent in this kind of work. 
 
 The card issued by County Superintendent 
 Seymour is here reproduced filled out by a 
 pupil. It shows daily records for two weeks 
 on each side of the card. The five school days 
 only are counted. 
 
 Home Credit Card 
 
 North Dallas School, Polk County, Oregon. 
 
 Blanks to be filled in each day. Parents sign before return- 
 ing it to teacher. Blanks to be returned each month and a 
 new one secured. 
 
 Edwin B 
 
 Pupil's name. 
 
 February 1, 1914. 
 
 Month. 
 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 w. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Milking each cow 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning barn, each 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 r , 
 
 2"l 
 
 25 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 125 
 
 05 
 
 4o 
 
 45 
 
 4o 
 
 45 
 
 205 
 
 Carrying wood 10 
 
 211 
 
 " 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 . 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleanin M arator 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Churning butter 30 
 
 30 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 
 
 .... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding chickens 5 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 50 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 50 
 
 
 20 
 
 "0 
 
 "0 
 
 m 
 
 "0 
 
 100 
 
 "0 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 100 
 
 Feeding horse 5 
 
 15 
 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 
 45 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 80
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 123 
 
 Home Credit Card continued 
 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 w. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 w. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 Total 
 
 
 ?S 
 
 ?f> 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 75 
 
 25 
 
 H 
 
 11 
 
 U 
 
 15 
 
 95 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making bread 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing dishes 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sweeping floor, each 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning house, each 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Scrubbing floor, each 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bathing ....SO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arrive at school clean 5 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 
 10 
 
 in 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 1(1 
 
 10 
 
 50 
 
 
 5 
 
 ', 
 
 5 
 
 f : 
 
 A 
 
 25 
 
 B 
 
 -, 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 25 
 
 
 t 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 ?, 
 
 15 
 
 Cleaning finger nails 5 
 Sleeping with win- 
 
 6 
 t 
 
 6 
 
 r< 
 
 5 
 ' A 
 
 6 
 
 A 
 
 S 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 t> 
 
 5 
 
 .'< 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 25 
 25 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning and filling 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Errands 5 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 .... 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Distance school, over 
 half-mile .'. 
 
 .', 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 5 
 
 a 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 Total 
 
 1'W 
 
 1",S 
 
 1'tt 
 
 T'S 
 
 m 
 
 755 
 
 15ft 
 
 us 
 
 17.S 
 
 UN! 
 
 KM 
 
 825 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Teacher and pupils to go over list and agree on time for each thing. 
 Distance from school more than one-half mile to be given credit for 
 Any work not listed that is creditable teacher will give credit for. 
 
 MR. AND MRS. W. H. B , 
 
 Signature of Parents.
 
 124 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 The card given on pages 122 and 123 came 
 from Miss Veva Burns, the teacher at North 
 Dallas, with the following letter, dated April 
 26, 1914:- 
 
 I am pleased to explain the home credit system 
 as we use it. I am sending some of the cards filled 
 out by the pupils. We secure these cards from Mr. 
 Seymour, the county school superintendent, and 
 are allowed to use them as we think best. . . . 
 
 We have a two-room school, and have divided 
 it into two divisions, the smaller pupils having 
 five thousand credits as their aim, while the larger 
 ones work for ten thousand. Of course the number 
 to be obtained would vary with the opportunity 
 the children would have to earn credits. On the 
 average, it takes our pupils about three months 
 to earn the required number. When they have 
 secured the number, some prize, such as a book, is 
 given, and they are allowed to start again. Then, 
 at the end of school, the one who has earned the 
 most is given a special prize. Also, Mr. Seymour 
 allows us to give ten points on each child's lowest 
 grade, at the close of school, if he has kept up his 
 home credit work during the school year. Some 
 teachers give a holiday as a reward instead of a 
 prize. 
 
 The cards are taken home by the pupils and 
 filled out each evening. If the pupils are too small 
 to attend to the cards, some member of the family 
 looks after them. We see to it that the system is 
 thoroughly understood by each family. As each 
 card is filled out, it is returned to us.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 125 
 
 We have a school of over sixty pupils, and all 
 but four are working on the credit system. We did 
 not urge any one to take it up, but allowed them 
 to decide for themselves. 
 
 This letter is from Miss Miriam H. Rarey, 
 who has taught near Dallas, in 1914 : 
 
 Work done on Saturdays and Sundays does not 
 count with the exception of bathing. Pupils, as a 
 rule, when they bathe at all, bathe on Saturday. 
 So I told them they could take thirty minutes' 
 credit for that, and put it down in Friday's space, 
 in the hope that it would induce them to bathe 
 at least once a week. It worked pretty well with 
 some of the pupils, but others would rather do 
 without the credits than do anything so unusual. 
 When a pupil gets five thousand credits (every 
 minute counts one credit) he gets his grade on his 
 poorest study raised 5 per cent, or if he does not 
 need that, he gets a holiday without being marked 
 absent. The pupils have all worked pretty hard 
 for credits, and only a few have asked for holidays. 
 The people in the district have all been pleased 
 with the results of home credit and I think it is a 
 good thing. I have seventeen pupils, and they 
 are all using home credits. 
 
 The Idaho plan as sent out by the State 
 Superintendent, Miss Grace M. Shepherd, 
 in a bulletin to teachers is as follows: Miss 
 Shepherd issued two. mimeographed sheets, 
 one of rules, and one a list of credits. The
 
 126 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 blank has a place for a daily record and a 
 report for several weeks. 
 
 Rules governing Home Work 
 
 1. No pupil is obliged to enter the contest. 
 
 2. Parent must sign statement of work done by 
 pupil. 
 
 3. Contest closes when school term closes. 
 
 4. Unexcused absence forfeits all credits. Un- 
 excused tardiness forfeits 25 per cent of cred- 
 its per month. Less than 90 per cent deport- 
 ment, 20 per cent of all credits forfeited. 
 
 5. Suggested awards: 
 
 Names of the six highest at the close of 
 school will be published in a county paper. 
 
 Three highest at the close of school to be 
 offered prize by the School Board or some 
 citizen. 
 
 Five per cent credit to be added to final 
 examination results of all pupils who enter 
 and continue in the contest. 
 
 Urge the hearty cooperation of the parents.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 127 
 
 Record of Home Credit Work 
 
 Month beginning Ending 
 
 School Bounty 
 
 Pupils or parents will fill in the following blanks each day and re- 
 turn to tJie teacher each month signed by the parent. 
 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 Hieing morning with- 
 out being called. . . .10 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Building fire in morn- 
 ing 15m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Milking 10m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning born 10m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning each horse 5 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding horses 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding chickens 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding cows 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bringing fuel for the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Getting breakfast 30 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing and wiping 
 dishea 15 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sweeping floor 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making beds 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making and baking 
 bread 45 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Carine for younger 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing and ironing 
 school clothes 60 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bathiag 20m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning teeth and 
 finger nails 10 m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bed at 9:00 P.M 5m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sleeping with win- 
 dow open 10m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Signature of parent.
 
 128 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 In Charleston, Washington, Superintend- 
 ent H. W. Elliott, of the city schools, put into 
 successful operation, in 1913-14, a plan with 
 several special features, to which I am glad 
 to call attention. The plan comprises daily 
 markings by the tally system, monthly 
 reports, cash prizes to those showing the 
 largest number of home credits, and some 
 reward to every pupil with credits above a 
 certain specified number. For the purpose of 
 raising a fund to meet the cash prizes, his 
 school gave a play; and an autumn fair, in 
 October, was arranged for the distribution of 
 the prizes for both school and home work. 
 The credit card is different from any other; 
 it seems to be the most simple of all the 
 monthly systems.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 129 
 
 How to Keep the Credits in the Home 
 
 For every duty the child has done put down \ after the name of the duty the 
 child has performed. Example: 
 
 Cutting wood UH"1 Uf-H UH"1 I 
 
 Taking bath L-H~1 W"fl I I TM* ** to indicate the number of times. 
 
 ALL THAT ARE 5 CREDITS 
 
 Canning jar of fruit 
 
 Making and baking cake 
 
 Making and baking pie 
 
 Sweeping room 
 
 Making bed 
 
 Setting table 
 
 Dusting furniture 
 
 Making handkerchief 
 
 Making any other thing 
 
 Keeping room ventilated 
 
 Splitting kindling 
 
 Cutting wood 
 
 Bringing in fuel 
 
 Blacking stove 
 
 Scrubbing room 
 
 Running errands. 
 
 Taking care of birds 
 
 Was h ing teeth 
 
 Taking bath 
 
 In bed by nine 
 
 Up by seven 
 
 Helping others dress 
 
 Brushing clothes (self) 
 
 Polishing shoes (self) 
 
 Feeding cow or other animal 
 
 Gathering eggs, 
 
 At school with clean 
 
 Hands 
 
 Face 
 
 Teeth 
 
 Nails 
 
 Hair combed 
 
 ALL THAT ARE 10 CREDITS 
 
 Music practice (30 min.) 
 
 Milking cow 
 
 Crocheting (hour) 
 
 Cleaning basement 
 
 Making apron 
 
 Keeping front yard clean 
 
 Keeping back yard clean 
 
 Keeping sidewalk clean 
 
 Keeping alley clean 
 
 Keeping steps and porch clean 
 
 Politeness to seniors 
 
 Table etiquette 
 
 ALL THAT ARE IS CREDITS 
 
 Up first and building fire 
 
 Sprinkling lawn (1 h.) 
 
 Clerking in store (1 h.) 
 
 Driving team (1 h.) 
 
 Helping with freight (1 h.) 
 
 Making and baking bread 
 
 Attending Sunday school 
 
 Attending Church service 
 
 ALL THAT ARE 80 CREDITS 
 
 Washing clothes (2 h.) 
 
 Ironing clothes (2 h.) 
 
 Taking care of baby (2 h.) 
 
 Preparing meal (family) 
 
 Cleaning barn 
 
 Cleaning henhouse 
 
 Carry ing papers 
 
 ALL THAT ARE 40 CREDITS 
 
 Making dress (self) 
 
 Cutting half rick of wood 
 
 Spading up 400 sq. ft. garden 
 
 Total. 
 
 Send in report on or before the 10th of each month.
 
 130 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Mr. Elliott sent out a mimeographed sheet 
 explaining the rules to be observed in the con- 
 test, giving a list of the credits, and also a 
 list of the articles to be exhibited at the fair. 
 The rules, and the list of articles are given 
 here. 
 
 Rules 
 
 All boys and girls now in one of the eight grades 
 of the Charleston public schools, District No. 34, 
 may enter in one of the four classes; D, first grade; 
 C, 2d and 3d; B, 4th and 5th; A, 6th, 7th, and 8th. 
 Home credits for each month must be reported 
 to the school for record on or before the 10th of 
 each month. Records to be confidential. We hope 
 that every home will enter into this, and that the 
 parent will be very careful and conscientious in the 
 marking. Credits to be kept by parents. 
 
 A List of Articles to be exhibited 
 
 For School Fair Exhibit To be determined 
 by Judges 
 
 Household Economics 
 
 1. Domestic Science: Best loaf of bread, cake, 
 pie, dozen cookies, dozen doughnuts. 
 
 2. Domestic Art: Best made plain dress, plain 
 apron, shirt-waist, sofa pillow, handkerchief, 
 patchwork pillow, darning or repairing 
 specimen. 
 
 3. Canning: Peas, peaches, apples, pears, cher- 
 ries, string beans.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 131 
 
 Agriculture 
 
 Best 5 ears of corn, 5 potatoes, 5 selected apples, 
 5 carrots, 5 onions, 5 turnips, squash, pump- 
 kin, raised by pupil. 
 
 Horticulture 
 
 Nasturtiums, pansies, sweet peas, each 10 
 sprays; asters, dahlias, chrysanthemums, 
 each 5 sprays raised by pupil. Best 5 
 roses cared for by pupil. 
 
 Poultry 
 
 Best cockerel, or pullet, or cockerel and pullet 
 reared from a setting of 15 eggs. 
 
 Manual Training 
 
 Best mechanical drawing, joined work, tabouret, 
 small piece of furniture, large piece of furni- 
 ture, basket, bookbinding, etc. 
 
 School Work 
 
 What teachers see fit to make it drawing, etc. 
 Music 
 
 Best played selection on piano, violin, cornet, or 
 other instrument : or orchestra or band : solo 
 singing or chorus. In band or orchestra work 
 pupils may be judged collectively or singly. 
 Same judgment for all chorus work. 
 Something more may be added later. 
 Yours for a good fair, 
 
 THE TEACHERS. 
 
 H. W. ELLIOTT, 
 
 City Superintendent. 
 
 Mr. Elliott writes: "I believe there is 
 nothing that will link the home and school
 
 132 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 more closely than the system of credits. 
 There is one danger, however, of cultivating 
 dishonesty on the part of the over-anxious 
 one. This we watch, but this tendency is 
 sometimes noticeable. Occasionally we find 
 a youngster attending Sunday school or 
 church fifteen or twenty times a month." 
 
 Examples of the scheme of a weekly record 
 with monthly report are plans in operation 
 in Jackson County, and in Weston, Umatilla 
 County, Oregon. The rules and schedule fol- 
 lowing were published by Mr. J. Percy Wells, 
 county superintendent of Jackson County. 
 
 Rules governing Home Credit Work 
 
 1. No pupil shall be required to enter the home 
 credit contest, and any pupil shall be free to 
 quit the contest at any time, but if any one 
 quits without good cause, all credits earned 
 shall be forfeited. 
 
 2. Once each month the parent or guardian shall 
 send to the teacher, with signature affixed, 
 an itemized statement containing a record of 
 the work each child has done during the pre- 
 ceding month. The child may make out the 
 list, but the parent or guardian must sign 
 the same. 
 
 3. At the end of each school month the teacher 
 shall enter on the pupil's report card the 
 total number of credits for home work during
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 133 
 
 the month, as certified to by the parent or 
 guardian. 
 
 4. Any pupil who has earned at least two hun- 
 dred credits for home work during any school 
 month shall be entitled to have 10 per cent 
 added to his grade in any subject, or distrib- 
 uted among several subjects, and 1 per cent 
 additional for each twenty additional credits 
 up to four hundred credits. 
 
 5. All pupils who shall have earned four hun- 
 dred credits or more during any month shall 
 be entitled to a half-holiday, and shall have 
 their names entered on a roll of honor. 
 
 6. Forfeitures Dropping out of contest with- 
 out cause, all credits earned; unexcused 
 absence, all credits due; unexcused tardiness, 
 25 per cent off all credits due; less than 90 
 per cent in deportment for any month, 10 
 per cent off all credits due. 
 
 These rules may be modified by teachers 
 to suit local conditions. If the half-holiday 
 system of awards is not satisfactory, some 
 other system may be substituted. 
 
 To parents and guardians: 
 
 In this plan for giving school credit for 
 home work it is not the intention of the 
 school to intrude upon the domain of the 
 home, but to cooperate with the home in the 
 interest of the boys and girls. Here is a splen- 
 did chance for the school and the home to 
 come closer together, and we believe both 
 be will improved thereby.
 
 134 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Home Credit Schedule, School District No. 2 
 Jackson County, Oregon 
 
 Name of Pupil, Goldie Trefren. Age, 11. 
 Month ending March S3, 1914. 
 
 Grade, 4th. 
 
 
 Cred- 
 its 
 
 1st 
 week 
 
 2d 
 week 
 
 3d 
 week 
 
 4th 
 week 
 
 Total 
 
 
 *1 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 27 
 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 50 
 
 Splitting and carrying in wood (12 hours' 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 47 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 | 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 50 
 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 g 
 
 Washing, starching, and ironing own clothes, 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 16 
 
 Arriving at school with clean hands, face, 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 ( 
 
 5 
 
 { 
 
 20 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 _ 
 
 28 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sleeping with windows open or with window- 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 Woiknot listed, per hour 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 364 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 L. S. TEEFRENj 
 
 Parent or Guardian 
 
 * A talk counting 1 done once each day, gives seven credits for the week.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 135 
 
 The following letter, dated April 20, 1914, 
 is from Mrs. Bertha McKinney, of a district 
 near Ashland, Jackson County. 
 
 Pupils.of the first, second, and third grades, who 
 have earned two hundred credits in a month have 
 a half -holiday. Those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth 
 grades must have earned three hundred credits to 
 entitle them to the half -holiday, and of the seventh, 
 eighth, and ninth grades, four hundred credits. 
 When all have the required number of credits, all 
 have the half-holiday. I have twenty pupils, and 
 all are doing the home credit work. I keep the 
 record of the credits earned in a notebook, and 
 place the number earned by each pupil on the 
 monthly report card. I think the plan a good one, 
 though in a few cases the parents are not careful 
 enough with their part; that is, they sign the 
 blank form, then the child can put down any 
 number he pleases. I have had only one such case. 
 
 Superintendent Joel O. Davis, of Weston, 
 tells of the manner in which his school began 
 to use home credits : 
 
 The opportunity came in October of last year, 
 when an unexpected influx of pupils made it 
 necessary for us to engage an extra teacher and 
 adopt a departmental plan for the fifth to eighth 
 grades inclusive. This made it necessary for those 
 grades to prepare two lessons at home, thus mak- 
 ing the required home reading a burden. I at once 
 offered these students the choice of reading the 
 required books, and writing the reviews, or toaking
 
 136 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 the points by home work, under the conditions 
 as shown by the accompanying card. Nearly every 
 child accepted the home work plan, and went to 
 work enthusiastically. 
 
 On the opposite page is one of the Weston 
 credit cards, filled out by a pupil, Crete 
 Allen: 
 
 Home Work Record, Weston Public School 
 
 Credits will be given for the performance of the following 
 named duties when this card is returned, at the end of the 
 month, properly signed by the parent or guardian. 
 
 These credits will be accepted in place of the home reading 
 heretofore required, at the rate of 100 points for each book. 
 
 The parent must check the work each day as performed. 
 
 Any evasion or falsification of the record will forfeit all claim 
 to credit. 
 
 To obtain credit each duty must be performed by the child 
 unaided by others, and must be well and satisfactorily done. 
 
 No credit will be given for work that is paid for by the 
 parent or others. 
 
 Parents are requested to see that the above conditions are 
 complied with and to encourage thoroughness and truthful- 
 ness by using care in recording so as to give no unearned 
 credits. 
 
 Make one mark, and only one, for each duty each day. 1 
 
 1 All the marking is done by tallies, thus:.yf| Jjfl Uf| ||||. The 
 reproduction on page 137 permits only the use of figures, to 
 indicate, the total tally marks.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 137 
 
 
 1st 
 week 
 
 2d 
 week 
 
 3d 
 week 
 
 4th 
 week 
 
 Total 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2. Feeding horse 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 56 
 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 36 
 
 5. Feeding chickens 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 6. Milking cow 
 
 42 
 
 36 
 
 43 
 
 39 
 
 160 
 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 10. Making bed 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 11. Sweeping room 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 12. Setting table 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 13 Clearing table 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 14. Tidiness 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 15. Brushing teeth 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 
 6 
 
 | 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 
 
 
 370 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 14 includes general tidiness, hanging hat and coat, put- 
 ting away clothes, shoes, stockings, etc., and will be given 
 more credit than any other one duty. Parents should use care 
 in marking this number, as the aim is to inculcate habits of 
 neatness and thoughtful consideration of others. This end 
 can easily be defeated by careless or unfair marking. 
 
 I hereby certify that the above record is true and correct. 
 MRS. J. E. ALLEN (Parent or Guardian.) 
 
 At the close of a later letter Mr. Davis 
 wrote : 
 
 From my experience with this experiment I feel 
 that the plan is worth all it costs and more, that it
 
 138 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 should be extended to include all the grades, that 
 modifications to meet the needs of different com- 
 munities can easily be made, and that the pupils 
 and patrons of any district will appreciate and 
 support some such plan if it is carried out faith- 
 fully. I kept a ledger account with every child, 
 and at the end of the month posted a bulletin 
 exhibiting the condition of each pupil's account. 
 The interest was shown by the manner in which 
 they gathered about the board and compared their 
 credits. Some of the comments upon some lazy 
 boy's or girl's lack of effort were rather caustic, 
 but served as effective spurs to the delinquent. 
 
 In Pend Oreille County, Washington, six 
 weeks is the unit of time for credit records. 
 Miss Hester C. Soules, the County Superin- 
 tendent, has issued the following circular: 
 
 THE HOME WE WORK TOGETHER THE SCHOOL 
 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 In order that the school and home may unite 
 forces, that the school may help in establishing 
 habits of home-making, and that our boys and 
 girls may be taught that their parents are their 
 best friends and need their help, the following 
 system of credits has been devised for use in the 
 schools of Pend Oreille County. 
 
 Certificate of Promotion with Distinction 
 
 Any pupil who has completed the work of his 
 grade in a satisfactory manner is entitled to
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 139 
 
 PROMOTION WITH CREDIT to the next higher grade, 
 provided he obtains 300 points for Home Work. 
 He is entitled to PROMOTION WITH HONOR if he 
 earns 500 points. 
 
 Six weeks' faithful and regular performance of 
 the home duties listed below will entitle the pupil 
 to credit as indicated. 
 
 Points 
 
 1. Sawing, splitting, and carrying in wood and 
 kindling 25 
 
 2. Building fires or tending furnace 20 
 
 3. Caring for horse or cow and doing other barn 
 chores 15 
 
 4. Caring for poultry and gathering eggs 10 
 
 5. Working in the school or home garden, or on the 
 farm 20 
 
 6. Delivering milk or carrying water 20 
 
 7. Running errands cheerfully 10 
 
 8. Doing without being told 20 
 
 9. Mowing the lawn 20 
 
 10. Feeding pigs 10 
 
 11. Making a bird-house and feeding the birds 20 
 
 12. Making useful piece of woodwork for the home. 25 
 
 13. Cleaning barn 20 
 
 14. Churning 15 
 
 15. Turning Cream Separator 10 
 
 16. Retiring at nine o'clock or before 10 
 
 17. Bathing at least twice each week 15 
 
 18. Sleeping in fresh air 15 
 
 19. Getting up in the morning without being 
 called 10 
 
 20. Preparing one meal alone daily for the family. 25 
 
 21. Blacking stove 10 
 
 22. Helping with the breakfast, and with the dishes 
 after breakfast 15 
 
 23. Preparing smaller children for school 10
 
 140 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 24. Not being tardy 10 
 
 25. Cleaning teeth daily 20 
 
 26. Making own graduating dress Eighth Grade 80 
 
 27. Writing weekly letter to some absent relative 
 
 Grandmother preferred 20 
 
 28. Reading and reporting on one approved 
 library book 20 
 
 29. Reading aloud fifteen minutes or longer each 
 night to some member or members of the family 
 circle 20 
 
 80. Practicing music lesson thirty minutes daily . . 25 
 
 31. Building fence, 10 rods 20 
 
 Fence may be built at intervals during any one period of six weeks. 
 
 32. Clearing \ Acre of land 30 
 
 Land may be cleared any time during the school year and at 
 different times provided the J A. is completed before school closes. 
 
 33. Care of younger children 20 
 
 34. Raising one fourth acre of vegetables 20 
 
 35. Taking sole care of plants and flowers 15 
 
 36. Sweeping floor and dusting furniture 10 
 
 37. Making beds 10 
 
 38. Mopping and caring for kitchen 10 
 
 39. Scouring and cleaning bath tub and lavatory . 15 
 
 40. Helping with the washing 20 
 
 41. Sprinkling and ironing clothes 25 
 
 42. Making and baking bread, biscuits or cake. 
 Exhibit 25 
 
 43. Setting table and serving 15 
 
 44. Helping cook supper and helping do the dishes 
 after supper 20 
 
 45. Doing own mending 20 
 
 46. Learning to knit or crochet 15 
 
 47. Raising six varieties of flowers 15 
 
 48. Making piece of hand- work for the home 25 
 
 Total.- . 840
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 141 
 
 Certificate of Promotion with Distinction 
 
 having completed the work of 
 
 the Grade in the Fend Oreille County Schools, in 
 
 a satisfactory manner, and having earned points 
 
 in our Home and Outside Industrial Work Plan, is 
 
 hereby promoted to the Grade with 
 
 and is commended for Industry, Fidelity to 
 
 Home and Cheerful Helpfulness. 
 
 Given at Newport, Washington, this day of 
 
 , 191 . 
 
 Superintendent. Teacher. 
 
 The city of Los Angeles, California, uses a 
 plan of marking home work on the report card 
 and giving no other incentive. Notice that a 
 certain number of minutes daily for ten weeks 
 is the unit, and that the number of minutes 
 varies according to the age of the child. Ob- 
 serve the emphasis on care of yards and streets, 
 also on care of little brothers and sisters. 
 
 Report of Committee on Home Credits, 
 Los Angeles Schools 
 
 The Committee on Home Credits makes these 
 recommendations : 
 
 1. That the "Home Credits" be not used as a 
 substitute for other work, and also that they 
 be not applied to increase the grade of other 
 subjects except as any work well done neces- 
 sarily improves all work of the child. 
 
 2. That the words "Home Credit" be written
 
 142 SCHOOL CREDIT FOB HOME WORK 
 
 on the new cards just published, and that in 
 the future these words be printed as a regular 
 part of the card, with space for inserting the 
 number of credits. 
 
 8. That in the several grades the following con- 
 stitute one credit : 
 
 (a) First and second grades, 10 minutes of 
 daily work for 10 weeks. 
 (6) Third and fourth grades, 15 minutes of 
 daily work for 10 weeks, 
 (c) Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, 
 20 minutes of daily work for 10 weeks, and 
 that multiples of such work in 10, 15, 20 
 minutes be allowed so that a child may earn 
 several credits each ten weeks. 
 
 4. That the following subjects be selected for 
 the initial trial of the plan: 
 
 1. Taking care of the baby. 
 
 2. Bathing baby. 
 
 3. Washing or wiping dishes. 
 
 4. Washing or ironing clothes. 
 
 5. Washing windows. 
 
 6. Scrubbing floor. 
 7., Sweeping floor. 
 
 8. Setting table. 
 
 9. Dusting and putting room in order. 
 
 10. Sweeping or cleaning yard. 
 
 11. Sweeping sidewalk. 
 
 12. Cleaning street in front of home. 
 
 13. Care of garbage can. 
 
 14. Getting meals. 
 
 15. Making beds. 
 
 16. Mending clothes. 
 
 17. Making new or making over old clothes for 
 family.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 143 
 
 18. Working in shop or store. 
 
 19. Working in and caring for garden. 
 
 20. Running errands, going to market, store, etc. 
 
 21. Driving delivery wagon. 
 
 22. Selling papers. 
 
 23. Taking little brothers and sisters to school, 
 clean and on time. 
 
 24. Clean hands, faces, clothes. 
 
 25. Clean heads. 
 
 26. Raising poultry or rabbits. 
 
 27. Any other outside work peculiar to particular 
 district if approved by Supervising Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 WEEKLY RECORDS, THREE OR MORE 
 MONTHS' REPORTS 
 
 Mr. F. W. Simmonds, superintendent of 
 city "schools, Lewiston, Idaho, has instituted 
 a plan for daily and weekly records with a 
 report for three months, which he writes is 
 "working out most successfully." The state- 
 ment of his particular scheme which he gives 
 in his home credit record folder is accompanied 
 by an excellent presentation of the nature and 
 scope of the home credit plan in general : t 
 
 A Plan for School and Home Cooperation 
 
 One of the vital problems of school administra- 
 tion to-day is that of securing closer cooperation 
 between school and home life. When the child 
 learns that education is living and working the best 
 way he has made considerable progress on the
 
 144 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 educational road. Our school curriculum should 
 encourage this wholesome attitude toward the 
 everyday tasks. 
 
 Children must have time for real play and plenty 
 of it, but let us not forget that real work is also a 
 part of the child's rightful heritage, and that when 
 rightly directed, children like to work they are 
 eager to take part in some of the real activities 
 of life. However, they must not be permitted to 
 attempt too much a reasonable amount of work 
 well done regularly and suited to the child's age and 
 ability is what is desired. 
 
 Filling out this card is optional with the parent, no 
 grade on the quality of the work done by the child 
 is asked for, merely the approximate time regu- 
 larly devoted to that task. Note the time; one 
 half -hour, one hour, two hours, etc., in the proper 
 column on this card. Your filling out and signing 
 this card will assure us that the work was well done, 
 regularly and satisfactorily. 
 
 The work may include any one or more of the 
 multitude of home tasks, or any work done regu- 
 larly, as sewing, ironing, washing dishes, preparing 
 meals, baking, cutting kindling, gardening, milk- 
 ing, caring for poultry, f ceding stock, making beds, 
 music lessons, tending furnace, etc. 
 
 Some tasks occur daily (others weekly, as regu- 
 lar Saturday chores, music lessons and the like). 
 Nothing less than a half-hour is to be recognized, 
 though two or more tasks may be grouped to make 
 a half-hour daily or weekly. The average child 
 will be anxious to figure his home service in the 
 large; but a reasonably conservative "statement 
 of account" will have a greater disciplinary value, 
 and will make for efficiency.
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 145 
 
 The unit of home credit will be one half-hour's 
 daily work throughout the month. Time spent on 
 regular weekly tasks will be adjusted by the 
 teacher to this basis. If the work in quantity, 
 quality and regularity is deemed worthy, the 
 teacher will credit the pupil with the number of 
 home credits earned, which will be added to the 
 pupil's standing at the end of the semester in 
 determining promotion. Each unit of credit in 
 home work will have the effect of raising a monthly 
 grade in some subject one step as from poor to fair, 
 or fair to good, etc. By means of home credits, a 
 pupil has an opportunity to raise his promotion 
 standing to "Promoted with Honor," or "Pro- 
 moted with Highest Honors" as the case may be, 
 if he should lack a point or two, and have earned 
 enough home credits to offset this. 
 
 In the Borough of the Bronx in New York 
 City, Mr. Frederick J. Reilly began to give 
 school credit for home work in the fall of 1914. 
 He issues two cards of different colors, one for 
 the girls and one for the boys. The cards are 
 alike except for the words "he" and "she." 
 Notice that the cards are well planned for use 
 in city homes. At present they are used by 
 the children of seventh and eighth grades. 
 Mr. Reilly says, " The important thing is not 
 the amount of credit the child receives in 
 school, but rather the amount of influence this 
 may have upon the training of the child at 
 home."
 
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 148 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Superintendent E. B. Conklin, of Ontario, 
 Malheur County, in 1912, was the next in 
 Oregon after Mr. O'Reilly to send a letter to 
 parents, and to arrange for giving credits on 
 home work. On page 149 are the inside pages 
 of the folder that Mr. Conklin devised; it 
 was the first of the printed home credit re- 
 port cards. Notice the entries of manners, 
 of " doing before told," and of " kindness to 
 animals." 
 
 Mr. E. G. Bailey, superintendent of On- 
 tario, 1913-14, writes that they have been 
 using home credits continuously there, and 
 that the system has proved to be a wonderful 
 help. "It gets parents and teachers together 
 as nothing else can, and gives the superin- 
 tendent a show. The home work is to the 
 teacher what the school work is to the parent. 
 The teacher is enabled to get an insight into 
 the home life of the pupil, which in turn 
 enables her the better to deal with whatever 
 situation may arise. In the main the parents 
 make an effort to let the teacher know what 
 the pupils are doing at home. We have very 
 few failures from parents not doing their duty
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 149 
 
 E Excellent. G Good. 
 
 Sewing and mending 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing and wiping dishes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sweeping and making beds 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mopping and care of kitchen 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making fires 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Getting water, coal, kindling, etc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feeding stock or poultry 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Milking cows 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Barn or yard work 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Errands 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 F Fair. P Poor. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 150 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 in this matter; where they fail, we refuse to 
 send any report home. Since adopting the 
 system our attendance has been better, and 
 the punctuality has been better; in fact, 
 things have been greatly improved in every 
 respect." 
 
 Early in December, 1913, a large meeting 
 in the interest of social center work was held 
 in Roslyn, Washington. At this meeting the 
 city superintendent, Linden McCullough, 
 explained the school credit for home work 
 idea. He advised that a vote be taken as to 
 whether the schools of that town should 
 adopt the plan. The vote showed that par- 
 ents, teachers, and pupils were enthusiastic 
 over the idea and eager to try it. The 
 Woman's Club of the city volunteered to 
 assist in every possible way. The following 
 from letters from Mr. McCullough gives the 
 result of the trial : 
 
 Seventy-five per cent of our seven hundred and 
 fifty pupils are taking advantage of the scheme. 
 Our truant officer says that every parent he has 
 talked with has praised the plan, for the reason 
 that all the children do their chores with more 
 spirit. Our police officers have noticed a falling-off 
 in the number of children on the streets; so much
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 151 
 
 so that juvenile court cases are much fewer in 
 number. The teachers notice an improvement in 
 school work along all lines. 
 
 One boy in the fourth grade who was disagree- 
 ably indifferent about his personal care now takes 
 baths regularly, and always brushes his hair, and 
 keeps his clothing clean and neat. Roslyn has a 
 large number of foreign people. Teachers in the 
 first three grades say that parents of foreign chil- 
 dren do not grasp the idea very well, but that 
 older brothers and sisters explain its workings, 
 and attend to keeping tab on the reports of the 
 little children. 
 
 On the next two pages is a copy of the 
 Roslyn folder. Notice the entries of mending, 
 cleaning yard, putting away playthings, work 
 done for wages, work "in father's place of 
 business," home study (school work), and 
 reading good books.
 
 152 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Home Credit Report Card, Roslyn Public Schools 
 Name of Pupil Teacher Grade 
 
 
 *" 
 
 Eo 
 
 l 
 
 || 
 c/i S 
 
 11 
 
 Ha 
 
 11 
 
 S 
 
 *! 
 EI 
 
 Caring for cows 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caring for chickens 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caring for horses 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caring for hogs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning barn or yard 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing dishes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sweeping 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing and ironing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Caring for baby 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cleaning teeth 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Going to bed at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arising at 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sewing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Making beds 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Peddling milk or papers 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ICnitting , , , ,,..,.,,.,.,,-,..,,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mending 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Putting away playthings 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baking 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 153 
 
 Home Credit Report Card continued 
 
 
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 ti- 
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 5* 
 
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 Carrying kindling 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Splitting wood 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Work, father's place of business 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Shoveling snow 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Home study, school work 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cooking 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Odd jobs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In Wilbur, Washington, a scheme provid- 
 ing for a credit report for the semester is in 
 successful operation. Here Superintendent 
 E. O. McCormick carries on the plan by 
 means of two report cards, the one sent from 
 the school to the home, the other from the 
 home to the school, every six weeks. The 
 home card is reproduced below.
 
 154 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Report Card from the Home to the School 
 
 Name. 
 
 Parent or Guardian, 
 
 First Semester 
 
 For 
 
 Period 
 
 1 
 
 
 g 
 
 
 j 
 
 
 Subjects 
 Answer yes or no 
 
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 Sleeping with open 
 window 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Keeping temper 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Washing teeth 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Time in recreation. . . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Off streets 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This report sent to the teacher when the report card is returned to the 
 school will help raise the standing of your child in its school work. 
 
 E. O. McCoBMicK, Supt. 
 
 The following subjects are of a suggestive nature; you may use as many 
 as may be applicable to your child. Others not listed may be used. Write 
 in the blank spaces on the front of this card those subjects under your ob- 
 servation. 
 
 Sawing wood. 
 Washing dishes. 
 Care of house. 
 Care of cows. 
 Making beds. 
 Sweeping. 
 Ironing. 
 
 In bed by nine (yes or no). 
 
 Building fire in mornings. 
 
 Care of chickens. 
 
 Churning. 
 
 Making bread, biscuits, etc. 
 
 Preparing meals for family. 
 
 Blacking the stove. 
 
 Any work or interest in home as shown by the child should be noted on 
 the front of the card, under the list of subjects. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Sterling, of Clarke County, 
 Washington, was one of the first county super- 
 intendents to get out a card suitable for use 
 throughout her schools. She strongly urged 
 the teachers of her county to try the plan,
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS 155 
 
 and in 1914 eighty-five teachers were operat- 
 ing it. This card provides a record for the 
 whole school year, with a general average for 
 the nine months. To secure credit the pupil 
 is required to average eight hours per week, 
 or thirty-two hours per month, at " real hon- 
 est, helpful labor that relieves the father and 
 mother of that amount of work." This done, 
 the teacher is to add three credits to the 
 average gamed by the pupil at the school 
 during the month of his or her studies. Addi- 
 tional credits are to be given for more than 
 thirty-two hours per month at the rate of one 
 credit for every ten hours' work. The parent 
 or guardian is cautioned to keep track of the 
 number of hours that the boy or girl actually 
 spends per week at any of the kinds of work 
 named on the credit report card, or any other 
 real work that is not there listed. The printed 
 list comprises : 
 
 Milking. Baking. 
 
 Churning. Washing. 
 
 Turning separator. Ironing. 
 
 Caring for horses. Sweeping. 
 
 Caring for cows. Dusting. 
 
 Caring for pigs. Sewing. 
 
 Caring for poultry. Running errands. 
 
 Cleaning barn. Making beds. 
 
 Splitting wood. Washing dishes. 
 
 Carrying in wood. Building fires. 
 
 Gardening. Caring for little children. 
 
 Cooking.
 
 II 
 
 HOME CREDIT IN HIGH SCHOOLS 
 
 SEVERAL high schools have sent us reports 
 of their plans for giving credit for work out- 
 side of school. Some of these schools use 
 plans that differ considerably from those of the 
 elementary schools where the movement be- 
 gan; they lay emphasis on improvement in 
 work, and to this end they require that all 
 the work be supervised by the teachers of 
 home economics, agriculture, commerce, or 
 manual training. Other high schools try to 
 encourage the habit of industry, no matter 
 what the kind of work, and offer credit for 
 such tasks as running errands, delivering 
 groceries, or carrying a paper route. In my 
 opinion both ideas are good; there is no end 
 to the possibilities of developing skill in home 
 work under the instruction of one who really 
 knows how to do it, and there is also great 
 value in the encouragement of faithful indus- 
 try in routine tasks.
 
 AUBURN, WASHINGTON, HIGH SCHOOL BOYS 
 
 IX RAILROAD SHOPS 
 This is good school equipment. It cost $200,000
 
 HIGH SCHOOL PLANS 157 
 
 Descriptions of parts of the work of a few 
 high schools are given here. 
 
 In the High School of Santa Monica, Cali- 
 fornia, two credits for home work are allowed 
 out of the total of sixteen required for gradu- 
 ation, and pupils with a certain average stand- 
 ing who earn eighteen credits, two of them for 
 home work, may graduate cum laude. 
 
 Below is given a list of tasks for which school 
 credit will be allowed: 
 
 One-half credit per year: 
 
 Regular music lessons, instrumental or vocal, under 
 
 a competent instructor. 
 Making own clothes for school. 
 Doing family darning and mending. 
 Preparing one meal a day for a year. 
 Carrying paper route. 
 
 One-half credit for half-time for a year, or for full time for 
 
 summer vacation: 
 Clerking in store, bank, or office. 
 Cement work, or work in any local trades or industries. 
 Regular work on a farm. 
 
 One-half credit: 
 
 Raising one-fourth acre of potatoes, melons, onions, 
 strawberries, or similar products. 
 
 Employment in a dressmaking or millinery estab- 
 lishment for summer vacation. 
 
 One-fourth credit per year each: 
 
 Sleeping for one year in the open air. 
 
 Retiring at 10 P.M. five days per week for one year.
 
 158 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Taking a cold bath every morning five times per 
 
 week on an average for one year. 
 Walking three miles per day for a year. 
 
 Credit will be given for the following ac- 
 cording to the amount of work : 
 
 Public speaking or reciting. Reading aloud to family 
 or to invalids. 
 
 Horticulture. Gardening. Poultry-raising. Bee- 
 culture. 
 
 Taking care of cows or other animals. General dairy 
 work. 
 
 Sewing for the family. Doing the family laundry. 
 House-cleaning, bed-making, dish-washing, or any 
 other useful work about the house. 
 
 Getting younger children ready for school every day. 
 Caring for a baby. 
 
 Nursing the sick, 
 
 Making a canoe or boat. Taking full care of an auto- 
 mobile. Perfecting any mechanical contrivance 
 for saving labor about the home. 
 
 Recognizing and describing twenty different native 
 birds, trees or flowers. 
 
 Summer vacation travel with written description. 
 
 Playing golf or tennis. Sea-bathing and swimming. 
 
 Keeping a systematic savings bank account, with 
 regular weekly or monthly deposits. 
 
 Keeping a set of books for father or some merchant. 
 Doing correspondence for father or other business 
 man. 
 
 Running errands. Delivering groceries. 
 
 Singing in church choir. Teaching in Sunday school. 
 
 Carpentry work. Cabinet-making, furniture con- 
 struction. 
 
 Working as forest ranger.
 
 
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 160 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 In the High School at St. Cloud, Minne- 
 sota, great attention is paid to vacation work 
 as well as to work done during the school year. 
 At the beginning of the fall term the following 
 questionnaire is sent to high school pupils, and 
 to elementary pupils above the fourth grade: 
 
 Vacation Report Grades Five to Twelve 
 
 School. 
 
 NOTE Teachers are requested to have pupils fill out this blank 
 carefully. It is very important. Explain each question. Caution chil- 
 dren not. to over- or under-estimate. 
 
 1. Name Age Grade or Class 
 
 2. Did you help at home during the summer vacation? 
 
 3. Did you take music lessons? .... Travel? . . . Attend Summer School? 
 
 4. Did you do any work along the line of agriculture, horticulture, 
 
 gardening, bee-culture or poultry-raising? If eo, what? 
 
 Estimate carefully the net profit $..-.. 
 
 0. Did you have a flower garden? Name six or more of the 
 
 leading flowers that you raised 
 
 6. Name wild flowers, birds, or trees you have observed this summer. 
 
 Flowers 
 
 Birds 
 
 Trees 
 
 7. What pieces of hand-work, if any, did you do during vacation? 
 
 Wearing apparel 
 
 Household art 
 
 Wood Iron 
 
 Cement Give estimated value of such hand-work $ .... 
 
 8. What electrical contrivance or other home accessory did you 
 make to save your mother work? 
 
 9. Which of the following home tasks did you do this summer? 
 
 Prepare one meal alone daily? .... Bake the bread? 
 
 Bake a cake? Make the beds? 
 
 Do the washing? Do the ironing? 
 
 10. Are you sleeping in the open air or with open window? 
 
 11. Can you swim 300 feet or more? .... Did you learn this summer? .... 
 
 12. Were you employed elsewhere than at home? 
 
 13. State kind of work done Employer 
 
 14. Number of weeks employed .... Amount earned per week. $ .... 
 
 15. Total amount of cash earned during vacation. $ .... 
 
 16. Fair estimate of the value of your home work. $ .... 
 
 17. Total cash value of your summer work (items 15 and 16). $ 
 
 18. Have you a savings bank account? . . Amount of your deposit $ .... 
 Principals ascertain amount of deposit for lower grades. $ ....
 
 HIGH SCHOOL PLANS 161 
 
 The financial results of this vacation work 
 are summarized as follows : 
 
 Total Deposit 
 
 Cash Home Work Earnings in Bank 
 
 High School $6,393.01 $1744.45 $8137.44 $2793.36 
 
 Total for city 16,422.00 3666.15 9559.25 3144.92 
 
 Highest individual earnings High School $260.00 
 
 Grades 200.00 
 
 Average " High School 76.00 
 
 Highest deposit " " 300.00 
 
 Grades 500.00 
 
 Pupils may graduate with honor from the 
 St. Cloud High School by attaining certain 
 standings and by offering two credits for home 
 or continuation work. One of the sixteen 
 credits required for regular graduation may 
 be a credit for home or continuation work. 
 
 The list of credits is divided into two parts, 
 outside work and home work. Among the 
 many outside activities mentioned in the St. 
 Cloud list, we find: 
 
 Literary society work, or rhetoricals, debate, public 
 speaking, or expressive reading, one-fourth unit 
 per year. 
 
 Granite or paving-block cutting, or work in any of 
 the local trades, shops, factories, or industries, 
 one-fourth unit for each summer vacation. 
 
 Steady work on a farm, followed by a satisfactory 
 essay on some agricultural subject, one-fourth unit 
 for three months. 
 
 Raising one fourth of an acre of onions, tomatoes, 
 strawberries, or celery, one acre of potatoes, two 
 acres of pop corn, five acres of corn or alfalfa, one- 
 fourth unit.
 
 162 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 Running a split road drag or doing other forms of 
 road-building for three months, one-fourth unit. 
 
 Judging, with a degree of accuracy, the different 
 types of horses, cattle, and hogs, one-fourth unit. 
 
 "See Minnesota First" trip under approved instruc- 
 tor, with essay, one-fourth unit. 
 
 Among the home tasks are mentioned: 
 
 Shingling or painting the house or barn. 
 
 Making a canoe or boat. 
 
 Swimming 300 feet at one continuous performance. 
 
 Cooking meat and eggs three ways and making 
 
 three kinds of cake. Exhibit. 
 
 Doing the laundry work weekly for three months. 
 Recognizing and describing twenty different native 
 birds, trees, and flowers. 
 
 The Ames, Iowa, High School course out- 
 lines out-of -school work in three departments : 
 agriculture, manual training, and home eco- 
 nomics. I quote from the home economics 
 prospectus : 
 
 Unless the work is ... made to connect with the work 
 in the home it loses much of its vitality. Our aim is to 
 relate the home and the school and permit each to 
 contribute its share in making the work vital, really 
 worth while. The girl . . . may carry into the home some 
 new ways of working, and there will be an exchange of 
 ideas between mother and daughter as to hows and 
 whys . . . that will result beneficially to both. As the 
 girl carries these ideas and discoveries back into the 
 school we shall be able to know better the needs of home 
 and social life, and hence so plan our work that it may 
 "carry over" into her out-of -school life.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL PLANS 163 
 
 A total of two credits to apply on gradua- 
 tion may be earned in home economics at the 
 Ames High School. Three hundred points 
 equal one credit. 
 
 Two hundred points each are offered for 
 cookery, general housework and sewing. 
 
 Cooking is to be done for the family at home, and 
 whenever possible a sample brought to the school for 
 examination, together with the recipes giving itemized 
 cost, and a signed statement that the entire work was 
 done by the girl herself. A list of things to be cooked 
 is given: ten dishes are required, the other five are to 
 be chosen from the list. The list for the first year fol- 
 lows; dishes required are marked with a star and receive 
 seven points credit, the others receive six points. 
 
 Some fresh vegetable cooked and served in a white 
 sauce. 
 
 Potatoes in some form. 
 
 Tapioca. 
 
 Rice. 
 
 Macaroni. 
 
 Muffins. 
 
 *Baking powder biscuit. 
 *Plain cake, with or without frosting. 
 *Drop cookies. 
 *Rolled cookies. 
 *Pastry. 
 *Gelatin with soft custard. 
 
 Cottage cheese. 
 
 Scalloped dish. 
 
 Custard, or some kind of custard pudding (bread, rice, 
 tapioca). 
 
 Steamed brown bread.
 
 164 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 "Prune whip. | Qne Q{ thege required . eitner may ^ 
 
 Marguerites. ) 
 chosen. 
 
 Fondant candies. 
 
 Salad with cooked or French dressing. 
 *Sandwiches three kinds of filling. 
 *Bread. 
 *Baked beans. 
 
 General housework includes making girl's own bed 
 each day; daily and weekly care of bedroom, helping 
 with general housework one-half hour each day and 
 one hour on Saturdays (sweeping, dusting, ironing, 
 washing dishes, washing windows, etc.). The total 
 credit for this is 12^ points for one month. 
 
 In the course in sewing, the home work is brought to 
 school for examination and grading. The list for sec- 
 ond year sewing follows: 
 
 One-third credit 100 points, open to girls who are 
 taking, or who have completed second year sewing. 
 
 Princess slip 50 points. 
 
 House dress 75 
 
 Shirtwaist 50 
 
 Woolen skirt 75 
 
 Made-over dress 75 
 
 Nice dress 100 
 
 The High School at North Yakima, Wash- 
 ington, gives credit for work in music un- 
 der approved teachers; for practice-teaching 
 (coaching) by normal students in the grades; 
 and for work in agriculture. 
 
 The summer work in agriculture is planned 
 before the close of the school in the spring.
 
 HIGH SCHOOL PLANS 165 
 
 Each pupil informs the instructor in agricul- 
 ture as to the kind of work he intends to do. 
 The instructor visits each pupil several times 
 during the summer, discussing methods of 
 work, results, etc., with him and his employer, 
 and designating pamphlets, bulletins, and mag- 
 azine articles for him to read. In 1914, fifty- 
 four pupils applied for credit for work in 
 agriculture. 
 
 Rules for Summer Agricultural Work in 
 North Yakima, Washington 
 
 1. Students may earn one credit in agriculture toward 
 graduation by work completed outside of school 
 during the vacation period. 
 
 2. At least 250 hours of work must be completed 
 before any credit will be given. 
 
 3. Complete records and systematic reports kept by 
 the applicant, giving all information required, 
 and signed by the parent or employer, shall be 
 filed with the instructor in agriculture every two 
 weeks. 
 
 4. Applicants shall secure such information as a 
 result of reading, study, and questioning experi- 
 enced workers, as may be necessary to convince 
 the instructor in charge that the work has been 
 of sufficient educational value to justify the grant- 
 ing of a credit. 
 
 5. Pupils wishing to receive credit for this work shall 
 make application for the privilege before begin- 
 ning the work. Lists of reference books, kinds and 
 character of notebooks, shall be designated by the 
 instructor in agriculture.
 
 166 SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK 
 
 6. An examination covering the work may be given 
 by the school authorities. 
 
 7. Work may be done along the following lines: 
 
 a. Vegetable gardening work; keeping results 
 of work done in complete form. 
 
 6. Feeding of stock, poultry, etc.; keeping re- 
 cords of foods used, amounts and results 
 obtained. 
 
 c. Thinning, picking, packing, marketing, cul- 
 tivation and irrigation of fruits, etc. 
 
 d. Eradication of blight, other orchard diseases 
 and pests; complete records of attempts to 
 reduce damage done by these causes. 
 
 e. Growing of cereal, grass, or forage crops. 
 
 /. Keeping records of dairy animals; milk test- 
 ing records for monthly periods. 
 
 g. Care of bees, handling of honey, etc.; com- 
 plete records.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 MR. JOHN C. WERNER, of the college extension 
 division of the Kansas State Agricultural College, 
 wrote in 1914 a very valuable bulletin entitled 
 "School Credit for Home Work," the essential 
 features of which are given. 1 Notice that he rec- 
 ommends that pupils furnish the reports them- 
 selves over their own signatures, as putting them 
 on their honor is considered valuable, and in jus- 
 tice due them. 
 
 In a letter Mr. Werner says: "My idea of giving 
 credit is to use the old laboratory method of re- 
 quiring the student to do a reasonable amount of 
 work hi a reasonable length of time. This allows 
 for many of the variable factors that enter into the 
 problem; I think it is better than to give so many 
 points of credit for each piece of work done." 
 
 In the first six grades of the elementary school, where 
 so much depends upon using the child's knowledge 
 which he has gained from actual experiences about 
 home, and the environment with which he comes in 
 contact which is really a part of himself, we have the 
 best basis for his further education. In these grades it 
 will be raising and not lowering our standards when we 
 give credit for home work and add it to the school 
 credits for passing grades. All of the subjects of these 
 grades should be so closely affiliated with the home life 
 
 1 For other quotations from this bulletin, see pages 46, 50, 
 and 51.
 
 168 APPENDIX 
 
 of the child as to warrant our doing this. It is so im- 
 portant that the child be engaged in the actual doing of 
 things that the perfect grade of 100 per cent should be 
 divided into two divisions: (1) A maximum of 90 per 
 cent for school work. (2) A maximum of 10 per cent 
 for home work when proper records and reports are kept. 
 
 In the seventh and eighth grades and in the high 
 school, work corresponding to the age and ability of the 
 pupils should be introduced and made part of the labo- 
 ratory work, giving two fifths of a unit of credit. Here 
 written reports of the operations performed should be 
 worked out by the pupils and presented as class work. 
 Classes should visit the dairy barns, feeding pens, gar- 
 dens, corn or grass fields, orchards, etc. Pupils should 
 carry on considerable individual home work, which 
 should continue throughout the summer as well as win- 
 ter season. This credit should be counted in agriculture, 
 domestic arts and manual-training courses. 
 
 The various contests among the boys and girls, that 
 are conducted in all parts of the state, certainly should 
 be counted worthy of school credit. These contests are 
 directly or indirectly under the auspices of the Agricul- 
 tural College, and numerous bulletins are sent to the 
 contestants. Many children actually receive in these 
 contests almost the equal of a year's course in school. 
 
 Suggestive List of Subjects for Credit for Home Work 
 1. Agriculture 
 
 Milking cows. Digging potatoes. 
 
 Feeding horses. Hitching and unhitching horses. 
 
 Cleaning cow barns. Beating rugs. 
 
 Cleaning horse barns. Hauling feed. 
 
 Feeding cows. Pumping water. 
 
 Feeding sheep. Cutting wood. 
 
 Feeding beef cattle. Carrying in fuel. 
 
 Feeding hogs. Getting the cows. 
 
 Feeding poultry. Gathering eggs. 
 
 Watering stock. Tending to the poultry house. 
 
 Churning. Tending pig pen. 
 
 Turning separator. Bedding of stock. 
 
 Tending fires. Preparing kindling. 
 
 Running errands. Miscellaneous.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 169 
 
 2. Domestic Arts 
 
 Preparing meala. 
 
 Making biscuits. 
 
 Baking bread. 
 
 Baking cake. 
 
 Baking pie. 
 
 Washing clothes. 
 
 Ironing clothes. 
 
 Caring for baby. 
 
 Overseeing home while mother is 
 
 away. 
 
 Scrubbing floor. 
 Washing dishes. 
 Wiping dishes. 
 Making beds. 
 Sweeping the house. 
 
 Dusting rugs. 
 Airing bedclothes. 
 Ventilating bedroom. 
 Dressing the baby. 
 Canning fruit. 
 Caring for milk. 
 Sewing. 
 
 Dusting furniture. 
 Care of self. 
 Making dress. 
 Making apron. 
 Care of teeth. 
 Setting the table. 
 Care of sick. 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 3. Manual Training 
 
 Making farm gate. 
 Making peck crate. 
 Making chair. 
 Making clothes rack. 
 Making pencil sharpener. 
 Making T-square. 
 Making towel roller. 
 Making ruler. 
 
 Making picture frame, halved 
 together joints, end and center. 
 Making mortise and tenon joint. 
 Making bookrack. 
 Miscellaneous. 
 Making ax handle. 
 Making hayrack. 
 Making ironing board. 
 Making cutting board. 
 Making tool rack. 
 Making staffboard liner. 
 Making vine rack. 
 
 Making sandpaper blocks. 
 Making mail box. 
 Open mortise and tenon joint (end). 
 Making halving joint, or angle 
 
 splice joint. 
 Making feed hopper. 
 Making whippletree. 
 Making wood rack. 
 Making bench hook. 
 Making coat hanger. 
 Making nail box. 
 Making table. 
 Making flower-pot stand. 
 Making key board. 
 Making pen tray. 
 Making mortise and tenon Joint 
 
 (center). 
 
 Making dovetail joint. 
 Making panel door. 
 Making work bench. 
 
 4. Home Contests 
 
 Corn acre contest. 
 Poultry and pig contest. 
 Sewing contest. 
 Potato plot contest. 
 Tomato contest. 
 
 Canning contest. 
 Garden contest. 
 Bread-baking contest. 
 Miscellaneous. 
 
 Plan for Allowing Credit 
 
 It is absolutely essential in taking up this work that 
 the teacher make a careful survey in her neighborhood
 
 170 APPENDIX 
 
 of the kinds of home work that the pupils have oppor- 
 tunity to do. The pupils should be put on their honor in 
 reporting their work, and the teacher must work out 
 the amount of credit time the various items are to 
 receive, and from the pupils' reports grade the work. 
 A large number of items should be included and given 
 their relative weight. Quality as well as quantity must 
 be judged by the teacher. This supplies a working 
 basis for cooperation between home and school. 
 
 Besides the credits earned in the particular subjects 
 of agriculture, domestic arts and manual training, where 
 216 hours will add two fifths of a unit, other work may 
 be given some additional credit up to say 10 per cent, 
 as physiology and geography. It is also possible that 
 subjects such as English and arithmetic may be so cor- 
 related as to be at least partially considered in connec- 
 tion with the agriculture, domestic arts, and manual 
 training by the composition required and the problems 
 furnished. 
 
 It is not expected that any boy or girl will enter all of 
 the contests. Contests which require 216 hours' work 
 should be given two fifths of a unit credit in the subject 
 to which it belongs. If the child in the contest is below 
 the seventh grade, the work should add to his entire 
 school grade up to 10 per cent. The fairness of this plan 
 will appeal to the boys and girls, for the girl or boy who 
 has third, fourth or fifth place in the contest deserves 
 credit as well as the one who wins first place. 
 
 It is the object in the credit for home work both to 
 recognize and give credit because of the educational 
 value to the child of such work which he does with his 
 hands, and it is also hoped to develop the child into a 
 better worker, so that the work performed will be con- 
 stantly of a higher order as the child grows older. In 
 other words, we have a constantly changing variable 
 as the child grows older as to the time necessary to do 
 certain work, and the proficiency with which the work 
 is done. Speed in doing things is not the only considera-
 
 APPENDIX 171 
 
 tion, and yet all work should be done with reasonable 
 dispatch. V 
 
 In inaugurating this work it seems that the ordinary 
 laboratory method for giving credit is quite as well 
 adapted to home laboratory work as it is to school 
 laboratory work. If the perfect grade, 100 per cent in 
 the elementary school in grades 1 to 6, inclusive, be 
 divided into two parts, i.e., a maximum of 90 per cent 
 for school work and a maximum of 10 per cent for home 
 work for all pupils who desire to do the home work, 
 then one tenth of the number of hours in the school year 
 may be taken as the basis for credit. Counting the 
 double period, as should be done, 216 hours or 6 hours 
 per week would be the required time for the nine- 
 months' term of school to receive full credit. The pupil 
 would, therefore, need to work at home six hours per 
 week. This work should be scattered throughout the 
 week as evenly as possible, with the opportunity of 
 doing not to exceed three hours' work in any one day, 
 as, for example, on Saturday. As in the laboratory 
 system, the pupils, regardless of the overtime put in, 
 could only receive full credit for any year. Pupils who 
 do not have the chance for home work will not be 
 affected in their work, as the usual method of grading 
 will apply to them. Conditions must determine the 
 time necessary for any given piece of work. For exam- 
 ple, if one boy feeds a team of horses in ten minutes, 
 another in fifteen minutes, another in five minutes, and 
 another in thirty minutes, under similar conditions, 
 perhaps one boy is working too rapidly and another too 
 slowly. From such reports it seems that twelve to fifteen 
 minutes should be allowed for feeding a team of horses. 
 
 The best and most profitable division of time for the 
 home work would be about thirty minutes, both morn- 
 ing and evening, each day. During these work periods 
 different things should be done, and during the year it is 
 to be hoped that a large variety of different kinds of 
 work may be included. If the home is in sympathy with
 
 172 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 the child's work it can help very materially in setting 
 tasks for the child that are of the most profitable nature. 
 
 Reports to Teachers 
 
 The pupils should furnish the reports themselves over 
 their own signatures for the home work. Putting them 
 on their own honor is valuable and in justice is due 
 them. Since results must be produced in most kinds of 
 work, the teacher can judge quite accurately as to the 
 value of work. 
 
 Illustrative Report Card 
 Date.. 
 
 Weekly report home work. 
 Elementary school. 
 
 Pupil. 
 
 Work. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 Time spent each day. 
 
 M. 
 
 T. 
 
 W. 
 
 T. 
 
 F. 
 
 S. 
 
 Feeding horses . 
 Cut wood 
 
 1 team, twice 
 each day 
 
 J cord, stove 
 length 
 
 20 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 150 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Credit for seventh and eighth grades and high school 
 grades should be allowed for efficient home work when 
 properly reported as laboratory requirement in agri- 
 culture, domestic arts and manual training. In these 
 grades all careful, systematic work during the summer 
 season, as well as the regular school year, such as corn 
 acre, garden, potato plot, tomato, poultry, pig, canning,
 
 APPENDIX 173 
 
 sewing, cooking, and butter-making contests, should be 
 used for laboratory credit. Of course accurate records 
 of the work must be made at the time the work is per- 
 formed. Schools that have an agricultural teacher dur- 
 ing the entire year will directly supervise this work. 
 In other schools the reports will be used as part of the 
 next year's regular class work. Suitable report blanks 
 should be used by the pupils and kept in laboratory 
 notebook form. 
 
 The pupils of seventh, eighth and high-school grades 
 who do 216 hours of acceptable home work should be 
 given two fifths of a unit of credit in the subjects of 
 agriculture, domestic arts, or manual training. Here 
 again the pupil should do some different kinds of work 
 and make the experience somewhat varied. In the 
 home laboratory the teacher will determine a standard 
 amount of work of any kind to be performed in a given 
 time.
 
 At the January, 1914, meeting of the California 
 Teachers' Association the following report on 
 credit for work done outside of the school was 
 submitted by Mr. Hugh J. Baldwin: 
 
 Credit for Work Done Outside of School 
 
 Fulfilling the wishes of this organization, your com- 
 mittee sent communications to the heads of depart- 
 ments of large manufacturing and commercial interests, 
 to managers of railroads and educational institutions, 
 requesting information on lines of work upon which you 
 wished a report. Not only were the circulars answered 
 promptly, but, in many cases, the answers were remark- 
 able. Some of them suggested in definite language how 
 outside activities might be made harmoniously supple- 
 mental to our regular school work, better articulated 
 therewith than had been planned. 
 
 Many strong reasons were given ; one of the most 
 potent was that the innovation would change the pres- 
 ent attitude of the average person towards labor in 
 other words, to dignify the labor of the land, to honor 
 and respect the woman who can prepare nourishing 
 food in the kitchen or the man who can contribute to 
 the world's wealth from his garden. 
 
 Another strong thought from this compilation of 
 opinions resulted in the contrast between the systems 
 of American and German polytechnic or manual train- 
 ing education. The German schools secure the coopera- 
 tion of the factories and shops and stores where there is
 
 APPENDIX 175 
 
 particular industrial training given, all without cost to 
 state or municipality for the tuition. On the other hand, 
 in the United States, the only manual training that has 
 been attempted by the school authorities has been at 
 greater expense to the people. 
 
 In communities where there is no special educational 
 industrial training the subject of this committee work 
 is very important. "Outside Activities," or credit on 
 school reports for work done by school children at home, 
 has now a place in the course of study of San Diego 
 County. The plan has passed from the experimental 
 stage, having been given a thorough tryout in all the 
 schools. From all parts of the county reports have 
 come full of enthusiasm telling of the excellent working 
 of the plan. To be sure there are a few adverse reports. 
 We find that communities largely Mexican in com- 
 plexion evince little interest in the plan.
 
 1 4 2
 
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